health care insurance

[brianbbc]

After working on TN for years in USA as Canadian citizen, will live and work in USA for 7 months with healthcare coverage from employer, quit, then move back to Canada. file 1040 for the year. We have a good salary in the US. Will we still be responsible to maintain healthcare coverage for the months we no longer live in the US, or have to pay a penalty?

[nelsona]

Search for form 8965 on this board.

[brianbbc]

got it, thanks

[brianbbc]

I remember seeing a post some time back on when to take social security but can't find it. Most "experts" say wait at least till 67, preferable to age 70. But, as a Canadian, contributed to SS for 25 years while working in USA, , moved back to Canada age 53, will be able to stop working at age 62 completely as Canadian residence, does it still make sense to wait to age 67 to start to take my benefits? I will have stopped contributing for almost 10 years and wondering because of my situation its best to start at age 62. Can the amount be that much different to wait 5 more years, plus I want to enjoy the money while I have my health.

[nelsona]

The math is pretty easy on this. If you start taking SS whether at 62 66, or 70, you will get tables that "meet" at a certain age (SS stats that they meet at the normal life expectancy. So, there really is no reason to wait, unless you KNOW you are going to live longer than "expected" which is the height of vanity. They always dangle the 8% increase every year by waiting, but conveniently forget that you LOST 100% of the money you could have had that year.

However, the one valid reason that one would wait to take SS until 66 or 67 is that if you are still working, and paying into SS, they will take it away from you. As a CDn resisnt, this is not the case. You can work all you want before before 66 in Canada and it will not affect your SS. So you can take your SS at 62 when living in Canada regardless of whether you are working or not in Canada. Obviously it will be taxed more if you still have other income sources,

We deeply analyzed this (and the same for CCP and OAS) on Keats, before that forum was closed.

[nelsona]

The other driving force for a CDn resident to take SS early, is to take it perhaps BEFORE taking CPP, as the moment you take CPP, your SS is reduced by WEP. So by taking SS 'early', you get a couple of years of WEP-free SS.

[Bubba Gums]

"We deeply analyzed this (and the same for CCP and OAS) on Keats, before that forum was closed."

Nelson,

Could you provide a little more color to this statement.

Is the CPP retirement benefit actuarially similar, regardless when one claims the benefit? It is my understanding that this is true for SS.

Thanks.

[nelsona]

AS I said, the bonus/penalty system for all these programs is still designed to give everyone the same amount by the life expectancy.

The other factor to consider is the WEP penalty when taking both SS and CPP, so one needs to take one before the other. If working in US, the choice is obvious,: take CPP, since your SS will be taken away in years you both pay into and collect SS (until your full retirement age, when that stops).