# Self-employed? Retired early? How much are you paying for health insurance? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662 "2015-12-17T03:51:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/21 "2015-12-18T18:30:02Z")
When I was unemployed last year and had to pay for health insurance on my own, it was over $1000 a month for a family of three. That’s the main thing keeping me from retiring early. ---
**Author:** ![edwardcoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@edwardcoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwardcoast)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/22 "2015-12-18T19:00:48Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > When I was unemployed last year and had to pay for health insurance on my own, it was over $1000 a month for a family of three. That’s the main thing keeping me from retiring early. Would it still cost you that when you’re retired? Is that what it says here? > **[HealthSherpa | Fast, Easy ACA Enrollment](https://www.healthsherpa.com/agents/features)** > > Start enrolling faster with HealthSherpa, the largest ACA quoting and enrollment platform for agents and agencies. Because when you retire, I’m assuming your gross income will be less than working, so I would expect it to lower your insurance costs with ACA. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/23 "2015-12-18T19:35:47Z")
I retired from the military, my Tricare plan costs $50 a month for me and 2 dependents with no deductibles. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/24 "2015-12-18T21:22:42Z")
> [@edwardcoast](#): > > Would it still cost you that when you’re retired? Is that what it says here? > [https://www.healthsherpa.com/](https://www.healthsherpa.com/) > > Because when you retire, I’m assuming your gross income will be less than working, so I would expect it to lower your insurance costs with ACA. It depends if my wife retires with me. If not, our income won’t be low enough to for a significant subsidy. That’s why the insurance cost so much before. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/25 "2015-12-18T22:06:12Z")
My wife is on Medicare, so our costs for drug and supplemental policies for her, plus my individual coverage is just shy of $600/month. My plan is truly craptastic, with a 5,250 deductible, and so it has never given me a single cent of benefits in ten years. At least I get a nice tax write off because I’m considered self-employed through an S Corporation. That way I get the SEHI deduction (saving 15% on income tax) and it is not subject to either payroll or self-employment tax (saving about another 15% on those taxes). So my after-tax cost is about $400/month. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/26 "2015-12-19T03:01:37Z")
For 2015 we had a gold plan for my wife, our kid and I with a $4K deductible that ran $780/month. In 2016 we’re using medicade which is $0 as long as we make less then $53K which seems likely. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/27 "2015-12-19T18:53:37Z")
Can’t afford it. Don’t have any. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/28 "2015-12-19T19:16:18Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I just purchased a Platinum level ( no deductible) ObamaCare policy for $595.00 a month. I had been getting insurance through work but they lost their insurance and couldn’t get another policy because they are a very small business that employs some incredibly unhealthy and accident-prone people. It cheesed me off because I’m incredibly healthy and haven’t put in a claim for anything other than routine physicals during the past 10 years yet my costs were tied in with the healthcare dollar sucking bozos that I happened to work with. > > Pre-ObamaCare I couldn’t get an individual policy for less than $900 a month. I was paying the full cost of the policy I got through work at $750 a month. When I got the Obamacare policy my agent quoted me $900 a month for a non-ACA policy. I picked the Obamacare policy. What’s an “Obamacare Policy”? Isn’t every policy now an “Obamacare Policy”, since they all have to be compliant? Or did you just mean “a policy you got from an exchange”? ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/29 "2015-12-19T19:36:00Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What’s an “Obamacare Policy”? Isn’t every policy now an “Obamacare Policy”, since they all have to be compliant? Or did you just mean “a policy you got from an exchange”? I’m not sure what Ann Hedonia meant exactly, but not all policies are offered on the exchange. My current insurance company notified me that my current marketplace plan is still available in 2016, with the premium going up from $993 to $1,303 per month, but the 2016 plan is NOT available on the marketplace and won’t qualify for any ACA subsidies or tax credits. A very similar plan on the marketplace, which does qualify for subsidies and/or tax credits (depending on income), costs $1,823 a month. The insurance company has reported that marketplace customers are using more medical care and running up higher medical bills than non-marketplace customers. So, if I want to keep a plan similar to what I have now, it costs me either 31 percent more if I don’t want to be eligible for tax credits or 84 percent more if I want to maintain eligibility for tax credits. Being self-employed, I don’t know what my MAGI will be from year to year, and I like to maintain eligibility for tax credits to help recover some of my health insurance cost. Oh yeah, this “Affordable” insurance welfare plan is working out just peachy. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662/30 "2015-12-25T21:29:02Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Oh yeah, this “Affordable” insurance welfare plan is working out just peachy. Not sure what the complaint is here. The Democrats wanted to cover a lot more people who weren’t getting covered now: it’s doing that. The Republicans added hundreds of changes to make sure that the business interests that were making money on it [health coverage] would be making even more money. It’s doing that, too. Everybody’s happy, no? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-employed-retired-early-how-much-are-you-paying-for-health-insurance/740662.md?page=1)