The Healthcare Bridge: Retiring at 62 Without Breaking Your Cash Flow
A practical guide to the three years between retirement and Medicare.
8 min read · Rumesh Senanayake
The three years between retiring and turning 65 are the most expensive years of a typical retiree's life — and the most important for tax planning. Almost no one hits them with a written plan.
Why it matters
Before Medicare, you're buying health insurance on the open market. An ACA plan can run $1,500–$2,500/month for a couple — but the subsidy schedule rewards keeping modified AGI low. At the same time, this is the lowest-taxable-income window you'll likely ever have as a retiree.
What to plan together
- ACA premium tax credit eligibility — hinges on modified AGI.
- Roth conversion runway — taxable events at lower rates now, tax-advantaged later (subject to qualified-distribution rules).
- HSA deployment — spend reimbursements from years of receipts instead of taxable accounts.
- Social Security timing — claiming early vs. waiting until 70.
These four decisions aren't independent. Move one lever and the others shift. The Pre-Retiree Income Map is designed to show them all on one page.
Want this applied to your situation?
30-minute Cash-Flow Clarity call
No product pitch. You talk, Rumesh listens, and you leave with at least one specific cash-flow move.
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