New and wondering..

[sgilbert2]

Hi, I retired from full time in 2009 and am currently 59, wife 58. No pension, on our own for health insurance, and so far handling the everything with a about a 3.5% withdrawal rate.

Cobra gives out 4/30/13 and finding out how expensive individual health insurance is. Are there any groups you can easily join (but not going back to work) to get a group rate? Or any other suggestions? My guess is Obabmacare will have a lot of unintended consequences..

Planning to retire to Lake Norman NC in the near future.

 

[Midpack]

Welcome. Maybe these would be helpful to start?

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f47/faq-archive-buying-private-health-insurance-30756.html

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f47/patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act-61961.html

And if you use the search function, there are many threads on health care as you might imagine with an ER audience. Best of luck...

 

[pb4uski]

I formed an LLC for my consulting work that buys small employer group medical insurance for me and DW. The LLC employer passes the total cost through to its employee and dependent (me and DW). We have a high deductible plan (like when I worked). We are both relatively healthy so our main interests in having health insurance are financial protection from catastrophic risks and access to negotiated rates for medical services. IIRC the small group rates were ~20% lower than if we had bought individual insurance. My plan is through the chamber of commerce so I also have to pay annual chamber dues, but the difference in rates far exceeds the cost of the dues.

For 2014 and beyond you might well qualify for Obamacare subsidies depending on you income. See National Health Care Calculator

 

[rbmrtn]

One advantage to doing COBRA and using it up is you are guaranteed access to a HIPAA plan. What that is varies by state.

 

[heeyy_joe]

Try AARP, I think it goes thru Humana.