Edit: Thank you for all the downvotes for me calling out the weird correlation between tech benefits/politics and plumber skill-shortage + high-reward wages. Your wokeism will forever benefit society.
The average salary for a journeyman lineman in Michigan is $161,000 per year
https://www.salary.com/research/salary/alternate/journeyman-... https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/DTE-Energy-Journeyman-Linem... https://www.linemancentral.com/states/michigan
I would not accept their personal anecdotes over documented tax returns.
Do you think they don't earn 30-40 per hour and have the ability to make tons of overtime?
The power company pays office workers time and a half to do "line watch" where they just park by a downed power line with a light on their roof until a crew shows up to fix it.
In my experience, for a typical ACA bronze plan, the annual maximum out-of-pocket payout is roughly $20,000, and the monthly dues are about $700, meaning worst case you're looking at ~$30,000 out pocket for a year. Add about 50% if you have children. Sadly, none of this is tax-deductible as far as I can tell.
Another issue with ACA marketplaces that I found was they churn a lot; every year when you have to renew coverage you can have an entirely different set of providers and plans. The constant enrollment and transfer paperwork becomes non-trivial, even without trying to qualify for an income-based discount.
https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...
The annual max family out of pocket is legally capped at $18,200, but most plans will be less than that.
>Another issue with ACA marketplaces that I found was they churn a lot; every year when you have to renew coverage you can have an entirely different set of providers and plans.
This is not my experience, I have been able to purchase the same BCBS health plan from the same insurer for many years.
In NJ, I would budget $30k per year for premiums for a gold level plan for a family of 4, assuming you are not getting any premium tax credits. Of course, out of pocket maximum is up to another $18k.
https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...
>Sadly, none of this is tax-deductible as far as I can tell.
It should be tax deductible if you are self employed:
https://www.healthinsurance.org/obamacare/self-employed-heal...
And if you are working for a small business that does not offer a group health plan, you should be able to get premiums reimbursed from employer with pre tax income:
There are a bunch of restrictions and loopholes though. I once opened an HSA and then actually had to close it because it turned out my insurance plan had *too* high of a deductible to be eligible, go figure.
Normally it just means you get to pay the full cost of your health plan, which is often double or more what you were paying as an employee. It's just so you're not immediately ineligible for the employer's group.
Unless yours is also paying the premium those 18 months, which I've never heard of but I suppose is possible.
You can see premiums for 2023 for NJ here for all ages and plans, and adjust up or down 20% for other states.:
https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...
https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...
They even have metal levels so you know you are getting the same actuarial value. A silver BCBS plan from an employer is basically the same coverage as a silver BCBS plan from healthcare.gov.
The state of things here:
1) Most insurers don't offer anything on healthcare.gov. Most years, there are two providers on there, though sometimes one will drop off and another will come in, so it does vary a little year-to-year.
2) Zero insurers here offer individual plans outside hc.gov, so if they're not on there—and most aren't—you can't get one. Seriously. Ask them, ask insurance brokers: "nope, no insurers offer individual plans in this state anymore—if it's not on hc.gov, it doesn't exist"
3) The networks for the hc.gov plans usually suck compared to the ones available to businesses. This may not be captured in the "actuarial value".
4) I've also never seen an employer mention which metal-level their plans is so you can compare them, but maybe they can find out if you ask. I know for a fact the top-level employer plans cost quite a bit more than the best-available plans on hc.gov (and they're waaaaaaay better)
You mention BCBS. They do operate in this state. They are not on hc.gov (not the version we see, anyway) and will not sell you an individual plan outside of it, either.
NJ even has a public document listing all the insurance prices, and they matched the amount quoted to me by the insurance agent for my business.
https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...
BCBS is also a network, not the insurance company. So you never buy insurance from BCBS, but rather whichever insurance company has chosen to be a franchise, such as Regence, Horizon NJ, Independence, Elevance, etc.