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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]$90K... Ok

$25K for health insurance (monthly, co-pays, things not covered). Remember, having babies means tons of appointments! And little kids injure themselves-- sprains and breaks, broken teeth, and all the random ear infections and rashes and fevers other stuff that necessitates an appointment. Don't forget your wife's medical care-- pregnancy complications, C-section care, mastitis, all kinds of stuff.

3K for property taxes plus assessments. LCOL areas love to claim low tax rates but slap homeowners with "assessments" when funds are needed.

Home maintenance... Gonna say $1K per year for basics, assuming a lot of DIY, plus every so often a major expense in the $5K-$25K range (roof, boiler, exterior paint). Let's set aside $4K a year for that. Total of $5K.

$2K a year for utilities and phones, maybe $3-5K if it's a cold climate. Heat uses more in a single family home than a condo.

5K for gas and car maintenance. Probably two cars, since LCOLs tend to be less dense, you'll be  driving a lot. Also, set aside $1K per year to replace the cars as they depreciate. Snow tires if it's cold.

$5K a year in college savings, to contribute to SOME of the cost of an in-state education. Mr. My Parents Supported Me After College needs to do the right thing here.

$5K for travel to his and her family. Remember, if you fly, that's 4 plane tickets.

See how fast that goes? We've spent more than half the $90K already, and nobody's eaten any food or worn any clothes, and nothing bad has happened yet. But it will![/quote]

OMG, you people are so dramatic about healthcare! I just went on the Maryland Health Connection website to get quotes for a family of four (50-year-old male, 45-year-old female, two kids ages eight and 10). The plan costs…wait for it…$246/month!

This is a Kaiser Permanente bronze plan with an annual out-of-pocket max of $7,200 per person and $14,400 per household. It’s only $246/month (i.e., less than $3,000 per year) because a $90,000 income for a family of four allows a $422 monthly tax credit.

This means to reach even $17,500 in annual spend you’d have to have not one, but two, people hitting the annual out-of-pocket max EVERY year. How are you people spending $25,000 a year on healthcare as a baseline? Do you have family members who just repeatedly cycle through various types of cancers??[/quote]

[b]You're not remembering that the out of pocket max only applies to covered services and there are a lot of services not covered. And you have to go to preferred providers, so if you need something and can't find an appointment with a preferred provider, you're outta luck.[/b]

OP needs to stop thinking that he, and everyone in the family, will always be as healthy as he is now. One major illness or chronic health problem will definitely put them at the max, and with a family of 4, it's 4x more likely that an issue will come up.[/quote]

Can you provide some examples of this that would *materially* change the numbers?  I'm the OP and posted the $246 example above.  If there's something major I'm missing, I'd like to know because I'm really not seeing it yet.[/quote]

It's hard to say without knowing the exact document you're looking at, because there are a few different KP MD Bronze plans. But, for example, adult dental care and adult eyewear are not covered and don't count towards the deductible or the out of pocket limit. You won't have a dental problem every year, but as people age, their teeth tend to deteriorate.

Read up on "balance billing"-- it's when a provider is in-network but charges more than the plan is willing to pay, so the patient pays the remainder. You can say you'll always go to preferred providers that don't do that, but in a LCOL area you might not have many providers to choose from. It can happen with many services. [/quote]

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