Husband wants to retire but we are worried about healthcare

[Gumby]

If you ever decide to leave your husband, give me a call !!

A rather odd first post. Why don't you introduce yourself in the "Hi I am" section? Then we can determine whether you really should be hitting on our female members.

 

[Jetlag]

A rather odd first post. Why don't you introduce yourself in the "Hi I am" section? Then we can determine whether you really should be hitting on our female members.

You don't need to dertermine anything about me ..... it was just an attempt at humor. Remain calm.

 

[Dawg52]

FWIW you are almost a poster child for high deductable coverage. You need catastrophic coverage, not first dollar.

I agree. Why not self insure for the first $10k with your assets? Go apply and get approved. Then enjoy your retirement. Oh yes, welcome to the board.

 

[JBmadera]

I agree. Why not self insure for the first $10k with your assets? Go apply and get approved. Then enjoy your retirement. Oh yes, welcome to the board.

I agree. I guess I am at a loss as to where this tread has gone. If folks out there think there is a "risk free" way to retire I think they are mistaken. The idea that staying with a firm is a risk free way of keeping health coverage then they may want to look more closely at Enron, Worldcomm, various airlines, certain cities and counties. Point is life in general is about risk management. Personally I don't feel it is riskier to go on to aenta.com and sign up for a high deductible policy (like I have, and friends and family have) then to stay at any particular job with the thought that benefits are guaranteed.
Apparently this is a very emotional topic - whether it's investments, benefits, etc I try to remove all the emotional garbage and just, to the best of my ability, objectively review the facts.

 

[MichaelB]

Midpack - thanks for the post - so glad to see that we are not alone in our dilemma re: healthcare. I also appreciate all of the other posts since early this am - Again, our main hesitation is the uncertainty - i.e. even though we can go out and purchase individual coverage or any other kind of coverage on the open market once DH retires, who is to say those policies won't be eliminated at some point because of the changes coming in 2014? Many companies right now are considering eliminating employee and/or retiree coverage because they see that it may not be economically feasible in the future to offer those plans. That's what we are worried about. Until the dust settles or the future becomes clearer and more certain, we will probably remain in this waiting pattern as we do not want to do anything that would risk us being put into a plan we don't want. And yes, we realize that the plan we are currently on could also be eliminated as well - its probably a case of being more comfortable right now with what is familiar. Sorry if this thread turned too much into a healthcare discussion but again, I do appreciate all of the responses.

Glad to be of help. Hope you hang around the forum – lots of friendly people and good advice. Your situation is better than you feel – you have viable options and financial strength, and healthcare is not going away any time soon. Like many of us you are probably better off taking care of your health than worrying about your healthcare, and don’t let your fears get the best of you. Good luck!

 

[folioboost]

First of all, based on your assets and desired lifestyle, I agree with the other posts that you should be in good shape and can retire if you will get more out of life in that status.

I recently studied the average costs of healthcare for a website I run. Some facts may be of interest to you:

According to a 2010 study by Fidelity, a 65 year old couple will need an average of $250K to pay for health care expenses. Other studies by The Employee Benefit Research Institute and Boston College have a similar result. What is more interesting, however, is that both of these studies show the 90-95th percentile of costs to be only about 50% higher. What this means is there is only about a 5% chance you will need more than $375K or so.

For most people, this may not be very reassuring, but in your position it should be. One other item of note, unfortunately the expected expense doesn't decline much as you age. An 80 year old couple still has $200K in expected costs. In other words, most of the cost usually comes at the end.

 

[dex]

According to a 2010 study by Fidelity, a 65 year old couple will need an average of $250K to pay for health care expenses. Other studies by The Employee Benefit Research Institute and Boston College have a similar result. What is more interesting, however, is that both of these studies show the 90-95th percentile of costs to be only about 50% higher. What this means is there is only about a 5% chance you will need more than $375K or so.

Need more info...
Is that to end of life and does it include health ins premiums? What is the expected life from 65?

 

[folioboost]

Yes, it does include premiums, but it probably assumes Medicare after 65. I believe expected life would be the standard (roughly 78 for men and 80 for women). You can see the summary of the Boston College study here if you are interested:

http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/ib_10-4.pdf

 

[dex]

Yes, it does include premiums, but it probably assumes Medicare after 65. I believe expected life would be the standard (roughly 78 for men and 80 for women). You can see the summary of the Boston College study here if you are interested:

http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/ib_10-4.pdf

Does the section below mean that one person would have an out of pocket cost of $100K? If that person were a woman it would be 15 years of life remaining or about $6,666/year? I can see medications being 50% of that amount/year.

I think the article should have had a earlier period of time for comparison e.g. 50 to 65.

++++++
This brief outlines the findings of new research
that calculates the distribution of lifetime health care
costs.2 The research shows that the expected present
value of lifetime uninsured health care costs for
a typical married couple age 65 is about $197,0003
– including insurance premiums, out-of-pocket costs,
and home health costs and excluding nursing home
care.4

 

[WineLover01]

Thank you folioboost for this information.