Tired of All the Conservative Lies and Awful Reporting About Health Care Reform? - Here’s the Detailed Experience Mr. Money Mustache, an Actual Independent User

The Truth Hurts – Conservative Opinions

There is a gentleman out in Colorado who authors a blog called Mr. Money Mustache.  His thing is that if a person or family saves a lot, is very careful with their money and doesn’t spend their income on useless unneeded things the person or family can retire very early with a nice investment portfolio that produces a very comfortable income.

Of course Mr. Mustache is not typical. He has the skills and experience to build a house, repair a car and do all sorts of things that the average person just cannot do. He also leads a healthy lifestyle.   But his philosophy is sound.  His health insurance is a high deductible ($10,000) plan, but he has to change with health care reform.  Here are his conclusions.

Obamacare: Friend of the Entrepreneur and Early Retiree . . .

 

So we would be doubling our premiums, but cutting the deductible in half, as well as gaining prescription drug coverage (a $20 copay after deductible) and some other goodies. And the new plan is HSA-eligible, which means all costs will be covered with pre-tax money. More insurance for more money – not my favorite bet to make, but also not completely devoid of value.

 

But wait, there is more.  His premiums do not double.  There are generous subsidies under health care reform!

When you select a 2014 plan, a little box pops up: “check if you are eligible for a subsidy on this plan”. Working through the options, here is what I see for my own family:

Whoa. So although I could pay a maximum of $5520 per year for this new and improved coverage, in reality I will only pay this much in years where my annual income is over $80,000. For incomes below that generous level, the federal subsidy kicks in and my net cost drops, until I get to the point of free health insurance somewhere around $26,000. With annual living expenses of about $25,000, we could in theory structure our investments such that we live the current lavish lifestyle and get fully subsidized health insurance simultaneously**.

** Unfortunately, I have to admit that this year we will have a household income above $80,000 and thus would not be eligible for a subsidy. Higher-than-forecast investment and Lending Club returns, rental house, carpentry, and real estate income plus this blog have all contributed to this.  Please don’t tell the Early Retirement Police. If this terrible condition persists into 2015 and we are kicked into a new plan, I guess we will have to settle for a slightly lower savings rate. What an oppressive country! 

As for difficulties in signing up, well his experience is this.

*Wow, I notice that the healthcare.gov site is snappy and fast now. Despite widespread controversy in the news about the supposedly catastrophic launch of this new website. 

Again the Low Information Diet prevails: stay calm, tune out of 24-hour-news cycle talking heads controversy, check site again a few weeks after launch, get health insurance quotes quickly.

Well don’t expect that to be reported by the press, it doesn’t fit the script that health care reform is a disaster.