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Yeah, so this is why I plan to early retire to Europe where I can get nearly free healthcare.

Whereabouts? It's not easy in many countries to get permanent residency. People assume they can just flounce into any country and oh, won't they just be so glad to have you? No. Especially when you're going to leech on a system you haven't paid into.

Portugal is widely considered one of the best EU countries for expats to retire to... and guess what! You have to provide proof of health insurance and pay for your own health insurance for at least the first 5 years. You aren't eligible to participate in their publicly-funded health care until (and unless) you become a permanent citizen which can take more than 5 years too.

I have an Irish passport - do u think I still have to wait 5 years?

1 or 2 years depending on how you establish residency.

Signed --
Irish woman who just brought her dad back to US for cataract surgery -- Irish wait time for it was 18 months or 6 months with private insurance

Yeah, so the European system is way better for young retirees, until they get too old -- at which point Medicare is better system in terms of benefits/access.

We retired mid-40’s and moved to Portugal (only on US ppts). On year 3 now, and will apply for citizenship in 2 more years. True, we cannot access the virtually free public health care system, but private comprehensive insurance for a family of 3 here is 250€/month. Wait times depend a lot on what you’re looking for. I’ve had 2 elective surgeries that cost me 15€ copay + ~200€ each and were scheduled in <1 month from first assessment appointment. Was it as luxurious as a Swiss clinic? No. But the quality of care was at least as good as anything I’ve seen in the US.

Can I ask -- what are you doing for schooling -- I assume family of three means you have a child?

Private international school. IB curriculum - costs ~12k/ year, which is still reasonable vs what we would have paid in DC.

Would you do it again -- it's kind of what I am interested in doing -- so I am curious. Thanks!!!!!!!

In a heartbeat! I live 30m from the ocean, have met lovely people here, QOL is so much better than before. DS is prob 50-50 in whether he wants to apply to uni in the EU vs US. But we’ve saved enough for college in case of the latter, so not too worried. No regrets!

We want to do this too, but can never afford early retirement in US because of insurance. Can you please share which town in Portugal? Was it easy to obtain residency? Are you allowed to work at all? Thank you!

Lisbon. DH recently wrote publicly about our move in financial terms (a big part of the savings comes from not being stuck in the US health net) & includes a link to a spreadsheet that might help compare the cost of staying in pace vs retiring overseas using your own, personal numbers: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4210988-suze-ormans-take-fire-movement. For questions beyond that, you can write directly to him on SA.

I’ll stop commenting here, as I think OP’s post isn’t so much about escaping overseas as it is about figuring out a way to cope with quickly escalating health costs while staying in place in the US.

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Anonymous wrote:Every career decision DH & I made was about health insurance, since our mid-30's (pre ACA). DH had cancer young and after recovering had to hold on to his job for dear life or it meant he was uninsurable. Same for life insurance. We have been scared re: cost and insurability our entire adult lives.

Why can’t you’re DH move to a job w health insurance? Most corporate employer health insurance do not have pre-existing clause.

In fact, the law requires that health care be portable between jobs (and did, even prior to Obamacare).

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Anonymous wrote:This is making the Tricare premiums for a retired reservist under age 60 sound absolutely peachy at 1200/mo ish for two adults. Hoping they’re too much of a political third rail to ever raise much.

Wow! I thought retiree Tricare was much cheaper than that!

It is cheap as heck for retirees from active duty (who are as young as 38) and age 60+ reservists. It’s $1038/mo this year for younger retired reservists under age 60. Sucks if you’re like my husband and did active duty for a long time before switching to reserves, but keep getting activated as a reservist / frequently away anyway, but don’t get the active benefits.... sigh. But really this thread is making me really grateful we’ll get access to the $1038/mo insurance.

He should have stayed active duty. He knew hew was giving up the insurance when he choose to leave active duty. The choice was his. I never get comments like this.

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Anonymous wrote:Uh that's why people don't retire in their mid 40s with kids?? Even most of the FIRE community seems to be people who are single/married w/o kids or kids who are independent.

If you wanted to retire bc you could afford it bc DH sold a tech company for billions -- congrats -- then pay the 52k/yr for insurance and stop complaining.

+1.

I’m 55 and DH is 60. We both work and make good money. I cover the health insurance (Kaiser Permanente) and pay $240 per pay period. We are a family of 4 with two teenagers. The subsidized health insurance is an incentive for me to work another 10 years. I don’t want to think what we would pay if we were retired or unemployed. OP, thanks for letting me know.

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Anonymous wrote:How much longer until your kids can get their own insurance? Are you 50s now or still in your mid 40s?

We are almost 50 now. It is essentially the only ppo. Kaiser is the other option.

Why not Kaiser? I have it and like it.

DP. I was told by two different doctors that the care for routine issues - a broken leg, strep throat, etc. - are fine, but they fall short when specialists are needed.

A friend of mine has a muscular disorder, and they won't pay for physical therapy.

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Anonymous wrote:This is making the Tricare premiums for a retired reservist under age 60 sound absolutely peachy at 1200/mo ish for two adults. Hoping they’re too much of a political third rail to ever raise much.

Wow! I thought retiree Tricare was much cheaper than that!

It is cheap as heck for retirees from active duty (who are as young as 38) and age 60+ reservists. It’s $1038/mo this year for younger retired reservists under age 60. Sucks if you’re like my husband and did active duty for a long time before switching to reserves, but keep getting activated as a reservist / frequently away anyway, but don’t get the active benefits.... sigh. But really this thread is making me really grateful we’ll get access to the $1038/mo insurance.

Anonymous wrote:The average health insurance is actually around 20k a year, its just that most people either have employer subsidzing the cost or get subsidies from the government. You need to start reading the ER bloggers to see how you game the system into giving you cheap insurance. Root of Good is one playing the game to fine effect, 2 million in assets and gets health insurance for pennies.

Not sure this is correct, but I suppose it could be. However, there are many options out there for health insurance. Some cost more, some cost less.
I retired this past year at 61, my partner is same age. I also have a 24YO son in law school that I need to cover.
I was paying $1400/month for a HD family plan. Since my son will be 26 and still a student, thus not eligible for my plan due to his age, I moved him onto a student plan at his university. The cost was “only” $300/month. My premium for my plan dropped almost $500/month to about $925. This was a real savings for me so I moved him early to it, knowing I would have had to move him at some point down the road.
I am now investigating other options for my own plan to see if I can find further savings in the marketplace.
IMO, many people just blindly pay their insurance premiums of all types (health, life, homeowners, Auto...) without doing their due diligence.

Why not use a HDHP, OP? We find the premium difference makes up for the high deductible and then some. We’ve come out ahead doing this.

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corporate employer health insurance do not have pre-existing clause

Before ACA this was NOT true.

Really? I worked at multiple different employers prior to ACA and none offered health insurance w pre-existing clause.

NP here and I remember they used to issie some type of letter when you left a job verifying you had qualifying coverage or something like that. You could still get insurance but I think pre existing conditions werent covered for a year or something if you had a gao in coverage.

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corporate employer health insurance do not have pre-existing clause

Before ACA this was NOT true.

Really? I worked at multiple different employers prior to ACA and none offered health insurance w pre-existing clause.

Anonymous wrote:The average health insurance is actually around 20k a year, its just that most people either have employer subsidzing the cost or get subsidies from the government. You need to start reading the ER bloggers to see how you game the system into giving you cheap insurance. Root of Good is one playing the game to fine effect, 2 million in assets and gets health insurance for pennies.

New poster here, I have followed him for a long time. I really enjoy his blog and how much detail he gives, but he comes across as pretty smug sometimes. Some of the comments he makes and the way he talks about money really rub me the wrong way. He talks about certain kinds of grants that he wants to get for his kids for college for being low income while having a $2 million net worth. Get out of here

OP, thanks for posting this. DH and I are mid-thirties and we would love to retire early. No way could we afford $4k monthly insurance premiums for any extended period of time. I will be working until I die!

corporate employer health insurance do not have pre-existing clause

Before ACA this was NOT true.