Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?

[chinaco]

I am wondering how people are covering their health care needs in ER. I think I covered the basic categories without slicing it too fine.

If you have a variation of one of the listed categories, please vote the category that closest fits your situation and add comments to explain further.


Cheers

 

[crazy connie]

I currently have a company plan. Do I think it wil last? NO. So I have monies earmarked and invested so when it is over I can cover it. If it continues then I will get a retiremnt bonus later on or leave money on the table for the heirs.

 

[kat]

I don't remember the exact name, but NY has a community rating approach, like other northeastern states, which means healthy young people pay the same as older and possibly sicker people, but everyone has the opportunity to buy health insurance. I shopped around for the best bare bones/cheapest among the providers, which isn't cheap. I only decided to buy it because I wanted to protect my assets. (I rarely go to the doctor.) When I find a high deductible type policy, I'm bolting.

 

[Red-y]

My approach isn't listed as one of the poll choices -- become a Permanent Resident of a country with nationalized health insurance (Canada).

 

[Caroline]

My approach isn't listed as one of the poll choices -- become a Permanent Resident of a country with nationalized health insurance (Canada).

I have a British passport (born there to a US serviceman) and may well get an Irish passport (mother's birthplace) for this very purpose. Originally I thought these would be useful for work in Europe.

Lately I think of having them as a fallback medical plan in case of financial catastrophy.

 

[73ss454]

NYState is crazy, my DW went back to work after 27 years taking care of the family. After working for 5 years she was vested and left with health bennies that we pay 10% for. It's about $1500 a year and I'm not complaining.

 

[kumquat]

My approach isn't listed as one of the poll choices -- become a Permanent Resident of a country with nationalized health insurance (Canada).

Ah, but we pay dearly. It's called income tax

 

[youbet]

Company plan, but it's not cheap at about $700 a month for DW and myself. Megacorp capped their subsidy a while back and the monthly premium has been climbing quickly.

 

[perinova]

NYState is crazy, my DW went back to work after 27 years taking care of the family. After working for 5 years she was vested and left with health bennies that we pay 10% for. It's about $1500 a year and I'm not complaining.

Wow...
You meant she worked for the State of NY?

Does any one know any similar examples working for other state governments? Is there corporations vesting employees after 5 years too?

 

[chinaco]

I work for a company and get retirement insurance if I retire with >= 15 years of service. I can retire early @ 55 if I choose and receive health insurance... of course, the pension amount is reduced @ 55.

 

[amaryllis]

Does anyone have an HSA "health savings account"? I've been looking at those, but don't know very much about them.

 

[REWahoo]

Does anyone have an HSA "health savings account"? I've been looking at those, but don't know very much about them.

Several posters have HSA's, including me. This information is a little outdated, but it will give you a good overview of HSA basics: http://www.hsaadministrators.com/forms/hsa-basics.pdf

You can find other threads discussing HSA's by going to the search button at the top of the page and searching on "HSA" and "health savings account". Be sure to use the quotation marks.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I've been writing out checks for my own health insurance since I was 19. I've had it worked in my budget since then, and it's in my projected RE budget. I've seen the tax laws change to allow the self employed to write off 100% of their premium, that was a big change. Now I just hope it changes to allow EVERYONE to deduct their premium weather self employed or not (including Early Retiree's) that would take a nice bite out of the tax load in retirement.

HSA's are deductible for everyone, I've had one since they became available, and a MSA before that. They work well, I plan on contributing the maximum each year, even into retirement - it's fully deductible for everyone (without itemizing) and it's still your money. Without getting into too much detail, if you're paying your own health insurance they're definitely worth considering.

I've been self employed paying my own Health Insurance for 23 years. Even if I went to an employer that offered a health plan, I'd rather keep my own and pay the premium, that way I can go if I want and not have to worry about finding health insurance again. I'm with BCBS and I plan on staying there til I become eligible for Medicare (assuming there is any in 24 years) and then converting to a supplement.

 

[Retire Soon]

We have a group health plan paid for by my former employer. Our cost is $371 a month.

 

[Linney]

I work for a company and get retirement insurance if I retire with >= 15 years of service. I can retire early @ 55 if I choose and receive health insurance... of course, the pension amount is reduced @ 55.

I could have posted this last week. This week -- no longer true, Mega Corp has just revoked this benefit. (See topic "Rolling with the Punches..." in Young Dreamers forum)

 

[ziggy29]

I could have posted this last week. This week -- no longer true, Mega Corp has just revoked this benefit. (See topic "Rolling with the Punches..." in Young Dreamers forum)

Yeah, it seems like "the deal" just keeps getting worse for each successive generation. I worked at a megacorp from 1987 to 1999, and I'm vested in a small pension there (about $250 a month at 55 or $620 a month at 65, which ought to buy one tank of gas by then). Every now and then I worried that I made a mistake by leaving a company with a pension and at least some early retiree medical coverage.

Of course, they have since frozen the pension and discontinued the early retiree medical plan, making them like almost every other company these days. If nothing else, it helped me stop regretting my decision to leave.

 

[audreyh1]

I am truly blown away that so many ER people have a company health plan. You guys are so lucky! That is a huge benefit.

Audrey

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Needs another option "Pay for group insurance through spouses employer"

If its not a majority situation for many posters here, its at least a strong contender...

 

[FIRE'd@51]

I am truly blown away that so many ER people have a company health plan. You guys are so lucky! That is a huge benefit.

Audrey

My guess is that most of those plans are for government retirees.

 

[mickeyd]

No choice for my situation, so I failed to cast a vote in the poll.

As a retired military reservist, I am eligible for Tricare. It costs me $19.17 each month. No co-pay, free meds, labs etc. Not a bad plan. When DW retires in May she will jump on it also at the same monthly rate.

 

[audreyh1]

My guess is that most of those plans are for government retirees.

49.5% of ERs responding here are government retirees? Really?

Audrey

 

[W2R]

49.5% of ERs responding here are government retirees? Really?

I'm one of those responses who is (or rather, will be as soon as I ER). There do seem to be quite a few of us here.

It's one of the biggest incentives to consider federal employment, these days. So, life being the way it is, I'm expecting it to become more limited or changed substantially pretty soon.

 

[Dog]

I retired from megacorp a couple of years ago (back as a contractor for 2 years). Part of my package includes medical coverage at about 67% of medical premium, but it is not guaranteed. So, we converted to DH's medical plan through USPS. Healthcare seems to be the wildcard for retirement planning.

 

[toofrugalformycat]

State of Alaska retiree health insurance. If you worked for the state before the mid-1980's, you could be vested with 5 years or more of work, retire at age 50 (early) or 55 (normal) and have health insurance for yourself, spouse and dependents. They've been making the deal worse for people who started later, but for us oil-pipeline era workers who would accept the low state salary back then, it was a great deal. It's made my early retirement possible. Before retirement, my DH and self were paying about $1000/mo for private insurance, and we had no serious health problems!
Wish I could say I planned it, but it was just dumb luck.
We'll see if the State figures out a way to get out of it. They'd have to change the State Constitution but I wouldn't put it past them. I'd be angry as a young person seeing us geezers getting health insurance for free, and they can't without working a lot longer than we did.

 

[HelpMeRhonda]

Pay thru the nose plan...

Currently have temp (30 day) coverage.

I'm looking to be covered under state high risk pool.

DW and kids under individual plan.

It appears somewhere around 1000 - 1200 / month.

The health insurance system / medical system truly sucks. Doctors are motivated to document every possible illness (even if it turns out to be incorrect) to cover their A##. Then the insurance companies, read this bogus info and adjust coverage cost accrdingly.