Is this Santa Barbara?

It's not a dilemma, I just don't own anything in light colors or whites.

10/10 So if you're about to lose your subsidy and face a huge increase in cost, look into a combo of short-term health insurance and direct primary care. It's definitely better than nothing! And likely better than what you'd get on the marketplace.

9/ So all told, I spend about $400/month on all my healthcare combined. That's a lot! But it's cheaper than any equivalent marketplace plan, and I'm not paying any additional copays. And it's pretty decent care!

Hey, has anybody seen my falcon?

My first thought was "We went through all this FOR NOTHING???"

that makes sense. i can't help but wonder what i'll do when i eventually do need actual medical care, as i age or sooner if something happens earlier.

15/15 please reach out! The system sucks, and it doesn't care if we die. I've managed to cobble together something that works for me, and I've been doing it for a number of years now, so I'm happy to help if you happen to be in a similar situation. /The End

14/ which is what I would get from a marketplace plan anyway. I recognize that everything related to ACA coverage just got a lot worse. But my point is simply that it was never great to begin with. I'm always happy to talk about any of this, so if you're dealing with insurance issues...

13/ So to me, it makes a lot more sense to cobble things together and hope for the best. Like most Americans, I will be absolutely cooked if I ever get a serious diagnosis or get in a serious accident. But it doesn't make sense to pay many hundreds of dollars per month for basically nothing...

12/ The obvious caveats apply. I currently don't have significant health needs that, in the US, are very expensive. But even if I did, I've realized that I would pretty much be on my own anyway, even if I had an ACA plan. If I'm ever in a serious medical situation, I'm screwed either way.

11/ So all of this, from catastrophic insurance coverage to therapy to prescriptions, adds up to under $300 per month. That's half the cost of an insurance plan from the ACA marketplace, which does not include dental.

10/ I pay out of pocket for therapy, as my therapist doesn't accept insurance anyway. She has a sliding scale, so I don't pay that much more than I would if I had a therapist who accepts insurance.

8/ A pay out of pocket for any specialists I might need, mainly a dermatologist. This adds up to a couple hundred per year depending on how many suspicious moles I find. I also pay out of pocket for my Rxs, which turns out to be pretty cheap when you tell them you don't have prescription coverage.

7/ on top of this, I pay $100 per month for direct primary care. Direct primary care exists in midsize to large cities, and it's basically a subscription based healthcare model. For $100 per month, I get to see my GP whenever, for free. I also get low-cost annual blood work, paps, etc.

6/ So basically, if I'm ever smashed up on the side of the freeway, I have SOME coverage.

5/ These plans have roughly a $10K deductible, which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't that much more than the deductible on a standard ACA plan. But it comes at a fraction of the cost. I pay $60/month. My coverage only lasts 3-4 months, so I have to re-enroll a few times per year.

4/ So instead, I got off the marketplace and opted for what's called "short-term health insurance" (equivalent to so-called "catastrophic insurance," except I'm too old for that officially).

3/ With a deductible that high, I knew that I would end up paying for everything out of pocket anyway, absent some wild catastrophe I could never possibly foresee.