The cost of health insurance

[MRGALT2U]

Yes, AARP has health insurance now and it might be
"new". At least the literature I received said so.
They make it a point to say that it is not "major
medical" but may work as a "bridge" until
Medicare kicks in. I think if you had a health
disaster you would still be in trouble.. What I liked
was the info was quite understandable and clear, the application simple,
and the possible cost (various classes/limits)
was well explained. We checked into insurance in
Fla. and Texas, our 2 ultimate preferred locations.
I thought the cost was quite high in both states.
We did find much lower costs in some northern states.
However, as my wife said, that would be "going
backward". Thus we are sticking with our first
choices and struggling with the health insurance
conundrum.

[Telly]

Insurance Premiums are also affected by whether you live in a rural area, or in or within reasonable distance from an urban center. Can be much higher in the urban. I don't know if that is because of pricing of health care costs (what the market will bear), or because of more "procedures" available in a city. Maybe the costs are lower rural, because a person may just die, instead of being rushed by Paramedics to a full-featured hospital where they will be kept "alive" with tubes and whatnot till their insurance runs out!?

Sorry, I know that's not nice, but health care IS a big business, and in the end we are all just, well........ meat!

Selecting coverage is tricky too. I know I had a tendency to think "hey, I'm in great shape, I just need the minimum of insurance". But I'm not the only one to cover. And if/when something does happen to one of us, it will be too late to try to get more coverage. A sick person trying to get health insurance on their own is like a leper in the insurance world.

I hope I'm not scaring anyone away from considering Early Retirement. But I see health insurance as the biggest unknown to try to get a handle on. We all like to talk about investing, and much info on that is available, both good and bad. But even Consumer Reports didn't come up with much of a solution for private medical insurance.

[RYD]

Though I am not retired and I have excellent coverage due to my employer I have been giving thought to this issue. When the day comes and I do retire my general plan is to 1. start a small consulting business that would allow me to buy group insurance. I have a unique situation in my industry that would allow me to do this if I choose to. I do not plan on working the hours I do today or travel nearly as much but be involved enough to coverage costs and do engagments I enjoy. The other option would be to get a part time position that had coverage. I admit that neither of these qualify as full time retirement but one needs to be practical on an issue as serious as medical coverage.

[MRGALT2U]

I have options for less expensive health insurance,
as I still own my own company. We used to manufacture products, but since my retirement it is
a holding company only, although it still requires a
little time. Anyway, the corporation is based in another state. To use this option I would have to relocate to
the state where my company is based. I could do it,
but it is not my first choice. As someone else said,
I may be forced back if health insurance is not
obtainable, or too costly. Jury is still out..................

[MRGALT2U]

And another thing.......................I agree with Telly.
For me. health insurance has been the number One
problem in my ER life. Nothing else is even close in terms of continuous worry and hassle.

[newellcr]

Hello Folks,

Good thread! Would some early retirees please post your health insurance costs? I saw a couple of posts early, but had a tough time following details. I saw $7400yr, $4800/yr, $480/mo, etc. Are these me or we numbers? I hope to retire before my kid(s) are 18 and may need a family policy or maybe my wife will work til 52 and will get her teacher benifits in a non-early retirement. (She says that's how long she wants to work, don't beat me up... My suggestion is to beat feet earlier )

What's "high deductable"? A few posts with more details would really help. Please and thank you!

Kind Regards,

Chris

[Michael]

High deductible means you pay all medical costs out of your own assets until the deductible is met, for example around $2500 per year. After that, the insurance company pays most of the tab. If you opt for a Blue Cross PPO, the doctors in the network will only charge you the negotiated rate for services until the deductible is met. The annual cost of the policy will depend entirely upon your family's health status when you apply. It can range from approximately $150/month or so per person (450 for a family of 3), to thousands of dollars per person. If you go high deductible, make sure that you can pay the deductible out of your own assets every year until you are 65. Once someone gets sick, you will not be able to change over to a low deductible policy, as you will then be uninsurable.

If your wife is close to her 30 years, it may indeed make sense to wait. Health care is going up much faster than the rate of inflation.

[MRGALT2U]

For me "high deductible" has always meant around $5000 to $10,000 a year. Figured I could stand that and if something really bad happened, I would be dead and so health insurance would be a non-issue. I had 2
things occur which caused me no end of grief.
First, I switched companies/plans for various reasons
several times since I ERed. At the same time, I was
developing some chronic health problems which
(while not terminal nor very expensive to treat)
scared off some insurance companies and/or drove up
premiums severely in the plans which were still
available. Don't think my premiums currently would be of interest
for the coverage we have as the coverage is
quite non-traditional. We like it so far, but it is
new. We'll see if it stands the test of time. BTW, I was
quoted premiums for some insurance which exceeded
my total annaul income.

[dory36]

We have seen $2000 deductible rates for a healthy couple in our early 50s run in the $3800-5000 range.

We've switched a few times, as every company has raised the rates by 20% or so at the first anniversary, even though we've made no claims.

Dory36

[newellcr]

Mike, John, and Dory36,

Thanks for the replies. I have always wondered about covering my own health insurance. Folks say it's expensive - I don't know how much "expensive" is but I know how much $5k is . "Expensive" and "high" are relative terms, opinions, if you will. These words don't always translate to other folks. It means so much more when numbers are also applied.

We're probably 15 years away from our comfort goal which gets us pretty close to her 30 and out numbers.

Thanks again,

Chris

[JWR1945]

For newellcr:

Consider Federal employment toward the end of your career. Federal Retirees get exactly the same health insurance benefits as active employees. The Government continues to pay its part of the bill and that part is getting bigger and bigger.

This is not necessarily the best solution for you. But it is a major league benefit for those of us who can make use of it.

Have fun.

John R.