Health insurance

What happens when your income is low enough to qualify for Medicaid in early retirement? Many FIRE and early-retirement households focus on maximizing ACA premium subsidies, but at very low MAGI levels you may be moved into Medicaid instead. This post explains how Medicaid eligibility works, what benefits and limitations come with coverage, and why keeping your income too low can create tradeoffs that many retirees overlook.

How do you protect your health insurance subsidies today without triggering a massive tax bomb tomorrow? In Part 4, we dive into the delicate balance of early retirement planning: engineering your income to maximize ACA tax credits while strategically using Roth conversions to defuse future RMD traps.