How much will health insurance cost in retirement?

[REWahoo]

An agent would tell you the truth instead of giving you a BS line like that.

 

[OrcasIslandBound]

Wouldn't an independent agent also be able to surmise your chances of actually getting the insurance and not being turned down? I've heard that once you are turned down, you have put that fact on any future applications for health insurance. You probably don't want to apply for it if the agent tells you you will be rejected.

 

[dgoldenz]

Wouldn't an independent agent also be able to surmise your chances of actually getting the insurance and not being turned down? I've heard that once you are turned down, you have put that fact on any future applications for health insurance. You probably don't want to apply for it if the agent tells you you will be rejected.

Better than ehealth, yes, since they will tell you to just submit the application anyway. Some companies ask if you've been declined/rated/postponed, others don't. Getting declined or rated doesn't change your insurability with another company, but it does give them a red flag to check out a bit more extensively.

 

[explanade]

But the agent is getting paid by the insurance company?

You wonder about the rate hikes, with anecdotes about double-digit rate hikes every year.

Hard to get visibility on premium costs if say you retire 10 more more years before MC eligibility. Not to mention needing supplemental MC Advantage coverage too?

 

[dgoldenz]

But the agent is getting paid by the insurance company?

You wonder about the rate hikes, with anecdotes about double-digit rate hikes every year.

Hard to get visibility on premium costs if say you retire 10 more more years before MC eligibility. Not to mention needing supplemental MC Advantage coverage too?

The agent gets paid a commission, but so does ehealth. People mistakenly believe that buying from a source like ehealth is buying direct and they will save money, but it's not. Ehealth gets the same commission (probably higher because of volume) than an independent agent would. Health insurance rates are set with the Department of Insurance and the insurance company can't charge a lower rate for buying directly.

Yes, it is difficult to plan for early retirement when it comes to healthcare costs unless you have a retiree benefit, hence all of the threads on here about it.

 

[Gone4Good]

FYI: I went through ehealthinsurance, had UHC, after 1st year they raise my rate by 20%, when I called to ask why, they said I had a special introductory rate. This might be business as usual, I don't know.
TJ

That's really interesting.

Like I said earlier in this thread, I got the same exact price from an agent that was listed on e-healthinsurance.com. My premium this year went up 8%, not 20%.

I know I got jacked on my auto insurance through Progressive because I didn't qualify for the 'internet rate' for year two. Definitely sounds like a scam to get folks in the door.

If I were you, I'd check with an agent to see what the pricing for your same exact policy would be. If it comes out to be 10% lower I might re-apply to get the better price (as long as I had zero issues with my health in the last 12 months).

 

[dgoldenz]

That's really interesting.

Like I said earlier in this thread, I got the same exact price from an agent that was listed on e-healthinsurance.com. My premium this year went up 8%, not 20%.

I know I got jacked on my auto insurance through Progressive because I didn't qualify for the 'internet rate' for year two. Definitely sounds like a scam to get folks in the door.

If I were you, I'd check with an agent to see what the pricing for your same exact policy would be. If it comes out to be 10% lower I might re-apply to get the better price (as long as I had zero issues with my health in the last 12 months).

Rate increases will vary between states and blocks of business. Car insurance has different rules and regulations and will also vary by state.

 

[teejayevans]

If I were you, I'd check with an agent to see what the pricing for your same exact policy would be. If it comes out to be 10% lower I might re-apply to get the better price (as long as I had zero issues with my health in the last 12 months).

I did that, ended up switching to Aetna but went back to work so I don't know if they would have done the same thing after the year was up, maybe all 1st year rates are lower. I no longer have clean health record, and 20% increases over a a 15 yr ER would break the bank no matter how low the rate started out to be.
TJ

 

[Gone4Good]

Rate increases will vary between states and blocks of business. Car insurance has different rules and regulations and will also vary by state.

I realize that. He was saying that ehealthinsurance uses a similar [-]scam[/-] pricing strategy as the one I ran into at Progressive . . . online discounts that only apply to the first year. If the initial price is the same between ehealth and using a broker, as it was in my case, then the 'online discount' is bogus and his year 2 increase is too high by precisely the amount of the expiring bogus discount.

 

[dgoldenz]

I realize that. He was saying that ehealthinsurance uses a similar [-]scam[/-] pricing strategy as the one I ran into at Progressive . . . online discounts that only apply to the first year. If the initial price is the same between ehealth and using a broker, as it was in my case, then the 'online discount' is bogus and his year 2 increase is too high by precisely the amount of the expiring bogus discount.

There are no online discounts with health insurance...the year 2 rate won't be determined until a couple months before the renewal. I've had some clients this year actually get rate decreases.

 

[Gone4Good]

There are no online discounts with health insurance...

I think we're in agreement. He said he was told his health insurance increased 20% because of the expiration of an introductory discount. If there is no introductory discount, then there should be no increase for the expiration of said discount. That means his increase is partly the result of getting jacked by ehealth . . . which was my point, three posts ago.

 

[dgoldenz]

I think we're in agreement. He said he was told his health insurance increased 20% because of the expiration of an introductory discount. If there is no introductory discount, then there should be no increase for the expiration of said discount. That means his increase is partly the result of getting jacked by ehealth . . . which was my point, three posts ago.

We're on the same page then....sarcasm can be hard to detect on the internet. Now that I re-read it I see what you're saying.

 

[Buckeye]

dgoldenz - Are the reductions due to the huge profits being reported?

 

[dgoldenz]

dgoldenz - Are the reductions due to the huge profits being reported?

Probably a combination of MLR requirements from PPACA and the fact that some companies, at least here in VA, are getting obliterated by Anthem on their rates. If they keep jacking up rates, they will lose a ton of business to Anthem. Anthem's increases have been relatively small on old blocks of businesses and they haven't increased rates on their new plans that were introduced last year at all....yet.

 

[Mulligan]

Probably a combination of MLR requirements from PPACA and the fact that some companies, at least here in VA, are getting obliterated by Anthem on their rates. If they keep jacking up rates, they will lose a ton of business to Anthem. Anthem's increases have been relatively small on old blocks of businesses and they haven't increased rates on their new plans that were introduced last year at all....yet.

I agree with DGoldenz. Anthem's rates in Missouri were way lower for me than others, and they have actually decreased my premium since my initial rate was given to me.

 

[Buckeye]

probably a combination of mlr requirements from ppaca and the fact that some companies, at least here in va, are getting obliterated by anthem on their rates. If they keep jacking up rates, they will lose a ton of business to anthem. Anthem's increases have been relatively small on old blocks of businesses and they haven't increased rates on their new plans that were introduced last year at all....yet.

mlr? Ppaca?

 

[teejayevans]

I think we're in agreement. He said he was told his health insurance increased 20% because of the expiration of an introductory discount. If there is no introductory discount, then there should be no increase for the expiration of said discount. That means his increase is partly the result of getting jacked by ehealth . . . which was my point, three posts ago.

Just to be clear, the info that I had a "special low rate" for the first year came from UHC, not ehealth. I wasn't being jacked by ehealth, I was being screwed by UHC.
Which brings us back to the original point, unless you have a spotless record and can afford to reapply every year, there is nothing that prevents health insurance companies from jacking up your rates , resulting in massive increases in your health insurance costs. So if you are deciding how much HI is going to cost in ER, I would assume at least 10%-15% inflation rate.
TJ

 

[dgoldenz]

mlr? Ppaca?

Medical Loss Ratio
Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (i.e. healthcare reform bill)

 

[Corporate ORphan]

I haven't spent a penny yet. Had a check up and blood work right before I retired 10 months ago everything great. I dont get sick, so I have never gone more than once a year, just to have doc check me out and say hello to him. I should preface I am not quite 47. Will I skimp on preventive care? That's a good question.... I am funding my HSA to have funds to do this, but being honest I won't go too often. For me, working out, eating right,etc, is important preventive care which I am doing. I didn't skip my first dental cleaning that I had to pay out of pocket, so maybe I will not skimp. Not saying I'm right, but I treat all insurance as minimal as possible except for my liability auto which I have more of. Insurance companies don't make profit by everyone being sick and making claims, they take the majority of the peoples premiums who are healthy and pay for the fewer who are sick. I am taking the favorable odds that I am one of those (at least until 65) and taking the minimal premium, with the knowledge that I have the resources to cover the 5k annual yearly in a worse case scenario.

We plan to do this approach also. THis is the first month we haven't been covered by meg-company's health plan that covered almost everything. It feels kinda weird. Like going out in the rain without an umbrella.

 

[SteveL]

When you work for a big company that offers health insurance, the rate the company is charged is a function of the average ages of the workers being covered. The company provides a census, along with a claims history for the group. These two sets of data are then crunched by the actuaries in providing a rate for the average individual.

Insurance sold to individuals is priced very differently. The insurance company groups together all the people who buy a particular plan in a given year. The future rates this group pays depends on what claims they have, and who continues to pay premiums and thus stay in the group. Generally, these groups start out with a much older average age (than an employer group), and thus can be predicted to have more claims. The older the average age, the higher will be the claims paid for the group. Within a group, each year the group ages one year. No one new is added. Some people will leave, either getting a job with insurance, or dropping out for some reason. So, over time each group will diminish in size. Generally, as rates rise over time, the healthier members of the group find they can start the process over by joining another group, and thus the remaining group members are left to pay for the sicker remaining members.

Companies do the same thing with their retiree medical, separating their statistics from those still working, and thus younger. This makes the retirees pay more, and keeps costs down for the younger, still productive workers.