What do you pay for healthcare premiums

[Running_Man]

1668 retiree medical for family of 3
108 retiree dental
$4,000 deductible
$6,000 out of pocket limit

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Age 60, one person. As a retiree, I pay half of the employer-negotiated group rate for my UPMC (Univ. of Pittsburgh Medical Center) PPO plan which at this time is $248.00 a month. No deductible, but I have co-pays: $15/visit for PCP; $20/Specialist; $50/ER visit. I pay up to $25.00 for a prescription. Some things like flu shot and annual Well Woman visit at gyn are "free". If a doc refers me for X-rays or scans/mammogram or blood work I have no fees for any testing. I am thrilled with this arrangement! I have no dental insurance. My former employer does have a dental plan that I could participate in but my long-time dentist does not accept this insurance so I never bothered with it.

 

[RonBoyd]

We each pay $104.90 a month (Medicare Advantage)... includes drugs, etc.

 

[BobW]

$40 dollars a month. No Dental. $15 co-pay and includes prescriptions.

 

[Silver]

DH 62 and I am 63. We pay $365 a month for medical for both of us. A BCBS high deductible silver plan through the ACA marketplace.

 

[Walt34]

We pay $522/month for two. That is 30% of the premium, the rest paid by former employer. Next year it becomes secondary to Medicare so I'm wondering if that will make the premium drop by at least the amount of the Medicare premium.

Not complaining mind you, I know we have a very good deal.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

$149 per month for an Anthem Blue Cross Bronze high-deductible plan with HSA eligibility, obtained through the marketplace. Maximum OOP is something like $13K. I'm 60, wife is 61.

 

[ejman]

Standard Obamacare Oregon Bronze plan - $383/month. Age 64. Love it, just had a standard annual checkup, blood work and all. cost to me was $17.

 

[ohyes]

$801.52/mo

for DH (61), myself (58) and youngest kid (24).

$2000 individual deductible
$3000 family ded

AR retired teachers

 

[Finder]

$1,281/month for the three of us, for a family Bronze plan, family deductible at $9,000/year, out of pocket max at $12,700 (HSA eligible! Yaaay!) The combination caps our personal medical costs, excluding eye care and dental, including insurance at $28,072 per year.

Yes, this is actually a pretty good deal for individual coverage without subsidies from other parties.

So for somebody retiring early, with no subsidies, health expenses amount to the return of a 1M portfolio (assuming a 2.8 to 3.0% SWR since retiring early).

 

[M Paquette]

So for somebody retiring early, with no subsidies, health expenses amount to the return of a 1M portfolio (assuming a 2.8 to 3.0% SWR since retiring early).

With those assumptions, yes.

Assuming a historical perpetuity-appropriate rate of return (3-3.3%), about 850,000 to 925,000 USD are needed to cover medical costs for a family of three for an indefinite period of time, if one conservatively estimates that Max Out-Of-Pocket will be reached every year.

One of the more interesting exercises I did was to look at the cost of plans with a low Max Out-Of-Pocket, and a higher monthly premium. Oddly enough, they worked out to very roughly the same annual cost. Gosh, it's almost like they had someone really good at statistics and case optimization building their numbers.

In my case, since we are all in overall reasonably good health compared to others in our age groups, we decided to carry much of the risk ourselves and let the insurance cover the more catastrophic cases, under the assumption that we would normally not approach the Max Out-Of-Pocket limit every year. We pay for the Bronze level coverage, and make a maximum contribution to our HSA every year.

 

[W2R]

Single, age 66, $295.18/month. This covers both $104.90/month for Medicare, Part B, and $190.28 for federal retiree health insurance.

 

[Sue J]

One of the more interesting exercises I did was to look at the cost of plans with a low Max Out-Of-Pocket, and a higher monthly premium. Oddly enough, they worked out to very roughly the same annual cost. Gosh, it's almost like they had someone really good at statistics and case optimization building their numbers.

I recently visited Health Sherpa and the quotes for plans now include a figure for the lowest cost for the year (just the premium cost) and the highest cost which includes a year worth of premiums and maximum out of pocket. Nice to see it all in one place.

www.healthsherpa.com

 

[Telly]

I should have mentioned that I was looking for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. It seems this is the age group that gets hit the hardest.

For the two of us via DW's w*rk group medical, $575/mo. for BCBS PPO 80/20 High-deductible, no vision or dental.

 

[calmloki]

$1257/mo for she and me at 64, $1500 ded, $6350 max out of pocket each.

 

[Texas Proud]

So far I got everybody beat by a mile.

I think it has to do with what kind of plan you have... I could get up to your payment, but would be in the top metal level... I was in bronze and paid $660 per month for family of 4.... but I also paid 100% of medical until reached the max deduction the law allowed...

 

[Finder]

With those assumptions, yes.

Assuming a historical perpetuity-appropriate rate of return (3-3.3%), about 850,000 to 925,000 USD are needed to cover medical costs for a family of three for an indefinite period of time, if one conservatively estimates that Max Out-Of-Pocket will be reached every year.

One of the more interesting exercises I did was to look at the cost of plans with a low Max Out-Of-Pocket, and a higher monthly premium. Oddly enough, they worked out to very roughly the same annual cost. Gosh, it's almost like they had someone really good at statistics and case optimization building their numbers.

In my case, since we are all in overall reasonably good health compared to others in our age groups, we decided to carry much of the risk ourselves and let the insurance cover the more catastrophic cases, under the assumption that we would normally not approach the Max Out-Of-Pocket limit every year. We pay for the Bronze level coverage, and make a maximum contribution to our HSA every year.

Pretty sobering, motivating us to continue saving, thanks for your post.

 

[TimSF]

$177 a mo for 2; ACA silver plan (KP). (Would be $900 a mo w/out subsidy.)

 

[Turn_the_Page]

When I retire, it'll be around $800 a month w/ no dental. Retirees pay the entire premium with our mega-corp. It's not great, but the company hasn't ditched the retirees either, since it doesn't cost them much.

 

[davemartin88]

DW and I are in our late 50's, we pay $1050 per month for medical, dental, and vision.

 

[tomz]

DW & I are 62. Florida Blue Silver Plan - $1300 w/o ACA subsidy. $182 w/subsidy.

 

[athena53]

DH and I pay about $750/month combined for healthcare plus dental for DH. (I may get Dental as well but haven't decided yet.) DH has Medicare plus a supplement and he's got a fairly high deductible on his Prescription Plan. The prescriptions he takes currently are fairly low out-of-pocket so that made sense. My plan is through Coventry, not through the exchanges, and has a $6K deductible. I'm pretty healthy and absorbing the deductible wouldn't be a financial hardship (although it would be traumatic!) if we had to. Reading some of the figures above, I feel better.

I'd think that these costs would put a lot of people into the position of being able to deduct most of their premiums, medical and dental costs off on the taxes- more so than in previous years with all the shifting of cost to the consumer. Because of DS's age, our threshold is 7.5% of Adjusted Gross. We're gonna get a big refund next year. I plan to file as soon as I get the W-2 from my previous employer!

 

[Tadpole]

Premiums $792/mo (includes $99/mo dental);
Total yearly cost (premiums + prescriptions) ~$12,000

 

[psweath]

Ripper1, I got you beat! $1,434 a month for two of us, retired, both age 59. That's a high-deductible HSA plan with Aetna. Here's the deal - when our company took away retiree medical, they set us up with an account with some cash in it to try to cushion the premiums blow before Medicare age. The catch is, you must use it only for the company's plans - which are not subsidized at all for retirees. So, I am using some of that money to help me pay that outrageous premium, so in actuality the full $1,434 is not out of pocket until the money runs out. Then I will look at the whole market and see what's best for me.

 

[Car-Guy]

It cost us $450 a month for me and the DW. And, we still get a good insurance subsidy from my mega corp in retirement.


I'm not sure how much value there is in these numbers since benefits can vary so widely based on your plan type. bronze, silver, gold, platinum, etc.