Myrick ACA Health

03/30/2026

💰 A standard CBC blood test can cost anywhere from $5 to over $600. The difference is where you go, not what gets tested.

Hospital outpatient labs charge the most because they add facility fees on top of the test itself. A published study comparing Florida hospitals found that the average hospital-ordered CBC cost $401, while the same test ordered directly by a patient cost $32.

The trick is direct-to-consumer lab services. You order the test online, then walk into a Quest or LabCorp location for the blood draw. The lab processing is identical. The billing is not.

A full wellness panel covering CBC, metabolic panel, lipid panel, and TSH runs $25 to $60 through one of these services. The same set of tests at a hospital lab can run $300 to $500 or more before insurance.

Under the ACA, cholesterol and diabetes screenings ordered as preventive care during an annual physical are covered at $0 with no deductible. But a CBC, liver panel, thyroid, and vitamin D are generally not classified as preventive. Those are the ones that hit your deductible.

If you have a high-deductible plan and haven't met your deductible, the insurance "negotiated rate" for blood work can still be higher than the cash price through a direct service.

Most of these services accept FSA and HSA payments. A few states (New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island) restrict direct-to-consumer lab ordering.

The venipuncture fee (the blood draw itself) is usually $15 to $35 at a standalone lab. Hospitals can charge $30 to $100 for the same draw.

03/30/2026

💰 The bill you get in the mail after a hospital visit is rarely an itemized bill. It's a summary. It lumps charges together and hides the details you need to spot errors.

An itemized bill lists every procedure with a CPT code, which is the industry-standard identifier hospitals use to assign prices. That's what lets you see if something was billed twice, coded at a higher complexity than what was done, or charged for a service you never received.

Hospitals are legally required to send you an itemized bill within 30 days of your request under HIPAA. They just don't send it unless you ask.

The $1,300 average error figure comes from an Equifax analysis of hospital bills over $10,000. The Medical Billing Advocates of America estimates that roughly 3 out of 4 hospital bills contain at least one mistake.

One common error type is "unbundling." That's when a single procedure gets split into multiple smaller charges that add up to more than the bundled rate. Another is "upcoding," where a routine visit gets coded as a complex one.

After you get the itemized bill, compare it line by line to the Explanation of Benefits from your insurer. Mismatches between what the hospital charged and what your insurer processed are where most errors surface.

Many hospitals also have financial assistance and charity care programs for low- and moderate-income patients. They're not advertised. You have to ask.

03/21/2026

Most people think life insurance is something you set up and then hope you never need.
They're missing half the strategy.

A properly structured policy grows tax-deferred, can be accessed tax-free, and has no contribution limits like a Roth or 401k.
The government actually caps how much you can put in
because it's that good of a vehicle.

If you're a business owner who hasn't looked at this
You're leaving money on the table.

Comment “INFO” to learn more! Or click the link on my bio to schedule a one-on-one!

03/18/2026

⚖️ The ACA premium tax credit is a subsidy that caps what you pay for a Marketplace health insurance plan based on your income. For 2026, the enhanced credits that were in place from 2021 through 2025 have expired.

That means the subsidy cliff at 400% of the federal poverty level is back. For a married couple, the cutoff is $84,600 in modified adjusted gross income. One dollar above that line and you lose the entire subsidy.

The income calculation uses ACA-specific MAGI, which includes all Social Security benefits, not just the taxable portion. It also includes IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, Roth conversion amounts, capital gains, pension income, and tax-exempt interest.

This is where the planning gets tricky for early retirees between 60 and 65. A Roth conversion that makes sense from a tax bracket perspective can destroy your health insurance subsidy if it pushes MAGI over the cliff. The cost of that conversion is not just the tax bill. It is the tax bill plus $12,000 or more in lost premium credits.

Traditional pre-tax contributions to a 401(k), IRA, or HSA reduce MAGI and can keep you under the threshold. Roth withdrawals do not count toward MAGI at all, which is one reason having a Roth balance before you retire early matters so much.

The cliff disappears once both spouses reach 65 and move to Medicare. But for the years between retirement and Medicare eligibility, managing income around $84,600 is one of the highest-stakes planning decisions a couple can make.

The premium amounts vary significantly by location and age. The scenario shown uses illustrative numbers. A 62-year-old couple in a high-cost state could face premiums well above $20,000 per year without subsidies.

03/13/2026

Too funny not to share

03/10/2026

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid Questions?

Free Social Security calculators & guidance from Former SSA District Manager. Check your benefits, optimize retirement, get insider tips. 1000+ videos!

03/05/2026

⏳The 2026 Seasonal Countdown is on⏳

🌅 8 Days: Spring Forward
📅 Sunday, March 8, 2026
Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour at 2:00 AM! We lose an hour of sleep, but we gain brighter evenings and more sunshine! ☀️

🌸 20 Days: First Day of Spring
📅 Friday, March 20, 2026
Say goodbye to winter chills and hello to blooming flowers, fresh air, and colorful days ahead! 🌷🌼

🌞 113 Days: First Day of Summer
📅 Sunday, June 21, 2026
Beach days, sunshine vibes, vacations, and warm sunsets are on the way! 🏖️🌊

03/02/2026

AI has changed everything.
If you are curious what it costs to get life insurance but don’t want to deal with the same person, you don’t need to.
You can find the best plan for you, pick the price, and even get the policy without even talking to anyone.
If you’re interested in a Quote to see what it would cost to leave your family in a much better place, just comment or dm me the word “QUOTE” and I will send you a link so you can check it yourself.
The best part is you already know I’m too busy to harass you about buying it.
So ask for what you think.
I send the link
And what you do with it is up to you.
I will be snowboarding 🏂
But for real, how cool would it be if you left your family with a few hundred thousand or even a million dollars on your way out?
DM me the word “Quote.”

Never Settle

02/18/2026

Pssst.

That ATV you’ve been running around in the snow in (or your kids have been riding)...

Or maybe it’s a golf cart…

Is probably not covered by your home insurance.

No physical damage...
No liability protection...
Nothing. Nada.

May wanna check into that before Lil Suzy takes out the neighbor's fence and her bestie breaks her arm.

Cause you're paying for those damages out of pocket.
🙃

02/15/2026

💰 Once your car is paid off, your lender no longer requires full coverage. But that does not mean you should drop it right away.

The 10x rule gives you a simple formula. Take your car's current value and divide by 10. If your annual comprehensive + collision premium is more than that number, keeping coverage is no longer economical.

A car worth $20,000 has a threshold of $2,000 per year. The national average for comprehensive + collision runs about $1,164, so most people at that value are well under the line. Full coverage still makes sense.

A car worth $5,000 has a threshold of $500 per year. At that point, your premiums are getting close to or exceeding that number. That is when dropping starts to make financial sense.

The catch is that when you drop coverage, you become the insurance company. If your car is stolen, totaled in a storm, or hit while parked, there is no check coming. You need the cash on hand to replace the vehicle. If you do not have that in an emergency fund, the math does not matter. Keep the coverage.

One thing to do immediately, regardless: drop gap insurance. It covers the difference between what your car is worth and what you owe on the loan. Once the loan is gone, there is no gap.

And keep uninsured motorist coverage no matter what. If you get hit by someone with no insurance, it comes out of your pocket otherwise. That is not a risk worth taking at any car value.

02/05/2026

02/04/2026

Joining in on the fun, lol. I did not tell Chatgpt any of this. All I did was enter the prompt below and upload a picture. Too funny 😂
To try it yourself, Ask ChatGPT this:
"Create a caricature of me and my job based on everything you know about me."
POST YOURS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW! ⬇️