What do you do for health insurance? FIRE / Quitting your W2 9-5

Question

I'm sure there are articles on this if you want to link them, but I was wondering what the options are. As someone who is considering going full FIRE / quitting my job and doing what is enjoyable, how do people get by as far as health insurance? Are there plans for those that are self employed? Do you just use an HSA? Any advice/experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Justin Tahilramani · Answer

Wow - reading this makes me grateful for the military. It may not be the best health care out there, but the bill is always $0.00 - all day - everyday.

Natalie Kolodij · Answer

I've been using some healing crystals and thoughts and prayers so far because that's all I can afford on the currently offered plans.

Llewelyn A. · Answer

@Vincent Sottile

I don't think it is very wise to become a full time Investor without any real kind of group health insurance such as those provided by a full time job.

If you are single, I actually think you should continue to work full time and only invest part time or as much as you can handle. But, it might be best to do it in a specific way.

House Hack it on a multifamily. Make the Investment as easy as possible to manage while you work, continuing your full time job.

I am one of the few who would advise to continue to build up the profession that you studied so hard to become, excel at it, and then build up your real estate portfolio as your career moves up.

When you reach the point that your RE Portfolio makes you Financially independent, even if you have to live below your means, AND you can afford the Self-Employed Healthcare costs, then you have the option to quit your profession.

To do it differently is a Risk that I did not take.

It only took me 9 years from starting my first full time job to quitting after I had a property portfolio of 3 buildings. At that time, my salary reached 6 figures and I was able to pay off a Mortgage to increase the Cash Flow, which made me Financially Independent at the age of 36.

The discipline that it took me to learn and the experience that I built up during this time was very helpful for me. Now my Partners and I have a portfolio of 10 buildings worth $20 million in Brooklyn, NYC.

I continue to use the skills and connections I have in my previous career and have become a Partner in a Software company.

There are so many advantages and safety in progressing in both your profession and your Investment careers.

To me, unless you were born with a Golden Spoon in your mouth, an Entrepreneur that had nothing will be working harder than a 9 to 5 employee.

If you do it this way, I fully believe you will increase the odds of your success significantly.

Brie Schmidt · Answer

I use the marketplace and for a gold level HMO it is $450/mo for myself.  That was a $1000 deductible and included 3 PCP visits and 20% coinsurance.  I had a baby and my out of pocket costs were like $3k for the year.

Lauren Juarez · Answer

So glad you asked this! I have been wondering the same thing!

Eric X. · Answer

Health insurance for self employed is terribly expensive. We are in our mid 30s with kids but overall we are decently healthy so we have a high deductible plan with HSA through Lively. It is 1000+ monthly premium with a 6k deductible but that's the world we live in. We are in Illinois....sometimes I wonder why I'm still in this state.  Pay 2000 monthly for health insurance and property tax on primary home...sigh.

Eric X. · Answer

The $1,000 covers everybody. But you will get charged quite a bit per doctor visit anywhere from 100 to $300. In actuality health insurance now is basically catastrophic insurance. For the thousand dollars a month you are basically buying into the pre-negotiated rate of whatever insurance company you select.  Until the deductible you pay in full whatever they pre-negotiated rate is.after that I think you pay 40% up until the maximum out-of-pocket which I don't know off the top of my head.

I didn't see that you were from New York.New York New Jersey and Illinois are all pretty bad in terms of property taxes.

the premium outlet does depend on your age so if you're in your forties fifties or sixties it will go up significantly.

I am still a bit a ways from 60 but I would not be surprised if the premium is 2 to 4k monthly if things go unchecked.

I actually talked to some of my lower income tenants about this from time to time. some of them have very low income and thera quote on quote insurance is subsidized but they can't afford to go still because they are still responsible for a deductible. So while it may look better on paper that more people are "insured" that is not really the case.

However, if you consider that the USA has a favorable tax rate overall and extremely favorable tax deductions you can probably consider the price of health insurance as a first world problem. Still... There is nothing affordable about the affordable Care act. my costs have significantly increased while my benefits have significantly decreased.

For now I will just keep on using a HSA high-deductible plan and use it as a catastrophic insurance with pre negotiated rates until things change.

there are alternative health plans that are faith-based but they can get a little quirky

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

I'm retired, so for me medicare works great. My wife is also retired but too young for medicare, she gets her health care through our LLC.

Vincent Sottile · Answer

I was reading the 4 Hour Work Week and the author recommends a few sites for health insurance. I'll share them here and also create a new post. Hope these can help people!

www.ehealthinsurance.com

www.aetna.com

www.kaiserpermanente.com

www.american-community.com

What do you do for health insurance? FIRE / Quitting your W2 9-5

Most Popular Reply