[RickeyD]

Originally Posted by Abby10

Rickey - I agree with all that you say and apologize if I came off in anyway that I was attacking you and/or your decisions. My post was just an attempt to explain what I think gomoho may have meant by "trouble". Truth be told, my husband and I are currently on insurance through the ACA, although not necessarily by choice. We both lost our jobs within 1 year of each other because of cutbacks, and our biggest expense was healthcare. Luckily, over the years we lived frugally enough to be in a position to pay for our living expenses otherwise, but we struggled to continue paying our healthcare premium. We are just one of many examples of people who are able to get subsidies (although we did not even know that when we applied for insurance) because we currently have so little income and assets are not considered. Our plan was not to retire so young, but who would have thought that times would change so drastically. Ironically we are both in the healthcare field and in many areas they are doing with less workers. To top it off there is a LOT of ageism going on. Unfortunately, experience and dedication are not valued in the workplace anymore and jobs (at least full-time ones with benefits) are scarce. So, I speak from direct experience, although I am not entirely comfortable with the choice we had to make. I do not see how it will sustain itself as it currently operates and welcome other ideas and/or avenues for the future as we have quite a few more years until Medicare. It is not easy being in your 50's these days - I'm just thankful that we were not foolish with our money during the years that we were able to work and save.



And by the the way, Rickey, I just want to say thank you for your service. I greatly admire those who serve and have served. Best wishes for your early retirement - I hope all goes well for you. I will warn you though, be prepared to call the marketplace every month if you are one of the "lucky ones" that has to prove income early on in the process. And thanks for the reminder that I need to call them first thing tomorrow morning - they have lost my paperwork 3 times now and threaten to cut me off every other month or so. I just love having to deal with the feds ! Believe me, I'm still looking for affordable alternatives - that's why I want to keep this thread alive.

When you say you have to prove income, what exactly does that mean ?