Converting vehicles to moderate stay campers?

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by JSH

This is really key. I just got my 2018 W2 which now includes how much your employer paid for your healthcare. Mine paid $16,382.66 for a high deductible family plan. ($5,000 medical deductible plus $5,000 prescription deductible per person / Family Max-out-of-pocket $13,300)

That is $1,365 per month for just the premium. My company covers 100% so I'm not paying out of pocket for the premium we are lucky there. (I also picked my current employer based on generous benefits even though the pay is below average for the area)

My wife an I are looking to retire and travel the USA in a campervan. However, health insurance is a key limiting factor. We can't see shelling out $15K a year for coverage just in case we get sick or ill. We will likely end up moving out of country instead.

That's $15K a year if you don't ever have to go to the doctor. If you do then you have to pay up to that out-of-pocket expenses. So add $13K to $15K and your health care could cost upwards of $28K a year. Plus the older you get the higher the premiums are. My parents have to pay about double what I do for the same plan.

Originally Posted by slowmover

Versus doing the right thing and reserving a campground site. Where it’s FAR easier to spread out all the hiking gear, bathe and wash clothing. And it’s hardly an inconvenience to arrange a ride from that campground or secured parking somewhere else.

Where I live there are a lot of camping sites and RV parks. But they all close for about 4 months out of the year.

[JSH]

[QUOTE=Isaac Zackary;589423]That's $15K a year if you don't ever have to go to the doctor. If you do then you have to pay up to that out-of-pocket expenses. So add $13K to $15K and your health care could cost upwards of $28K a year.

Yes and no. Most preventative visits are covered 100% before deductible. That came out of the ACA. So things like yearly physicals for my wife and I and her yearly gynecological visit are covered 100% by the insurance company. Last year we paid a total of $55 for medical costs. Beyond the preventative visits, I pay 100% up to my $5000 deductible. After I hit my deductible, the insurance company pays 100%. That is how it works for each family member, but the maximum we can pay is $13,300. (The $13,300 is the maximum allowed by Federal law, also from the ACA)

How it works out for us is most years we pay almost nothing (less than $500) and about once a decade we pay the max. We have money to cover paying the max-out-of pocket in our emergency fund. (6 months expenses)

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

Plus the older you get the higher the premiums are. My parents have to pay about double what I do for the same plan.

I’m well aware of that. The ACA used to only allow companies to charge up to 300% more based on age. The recent changes bumped that to 500%. We are looking at 20 years paying out of pocket for insurance. With no certainty with the current system and no hope for a fix, we will need to move out of the USA.