Retiring before medicare age in the usa, what did/will you do?

[KarenC]

After reading several replies of folks saying they're healthy and aren't worried about insurance. My story, I'm healthy workout no issues and then one day simple blood test indicated possibility of cancer. Biopsy indicated stage 2 cancer and underwent surgery. Thankfully I had Insurance otherwise I would have been on the hook for about $70,000 worth of healthcare. Don't fool around. You can be going great and carefree one day and the next day your world falls apart. Get adequate insurance and get annual check-ups cuz if I hadn't gotten an annual check-up I wouldn't be posting this right now. BTW, I was just 50 when I was diagnosed.

My experience is similar. I was very healthy until I was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer earlier this year. (This was after a completely clean colonoscopy 3 years prior.) If I hadn't had insurance, I would be on the hook for $366,000, and that's with 5 more chemo cycles to go. The total will probably be about $450,000 by the end of the year.

 

[NoEZmoney]

So sorry for your diagnosis. I wish you a speedy and successful outcome.

 

[eytonxav]

I was lucky, when I retired at 54 was able to keep my mega-corp coverage until 65, and it also covered DW who is 5 yrs younger than me until she went on medicare.

 

[Doribe]

Retired at 59. Buying megacorp insurance at 50% cost until Medicare.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

My experience is similar. I was very healthy until I was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer earlier this year. (This was after a completely clean colonoscopy 3 years prior.) If I hadn't had insurance, I would be on the hook for $366,000, and that's with 5 more chemo cycles to go. The total will probably be about $450,000 by the end of the year.

In 2014 I was 55 and diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. I had an MRI, bone scan and biopsy, then Davinci robotic surgery to remove my prostate. The pathology came back as stage 2/3 cancer. My co-pay was $37 for all of it.

Three years later my cancer came back. Then I had to go on hormone therapy followed by 45 radiation treatments. I got hormone shots every 6 months, for 2 years, each of those shots counts as an office visit with a $10.80 co-pay. The radiation treatments were three days a week, for them I was charged for one doctor's visit per month again at $10.80 each. I think those co-pays total at $86.40

Tricare has been good to me.

 

[tb001]

We’re on cobra and will likely stay on it for the full 36mo offered, though ACA would be much less expensive. DH has some health issues and the dr who has managed his care for years is in another state, so we don’t want to lose access. That dr is moving to a concierge model, so at some point it will make sense to just pay him out of pocket and switch.

Our plan went up by 15% this year. Around 35k for a family of 4. Our biggest expense. We could have chosen a step down plan, but then our deductible resets and we’ve almost always hit it early on.

 

[F.I.R.E User]

From age 55 - 65 I bought health insurance directly from the providers except for one year at age 64 I went on the ACA. I generally bought HSA bronze plans with a high deductible.
The last two months just prior to Medicare my premiums were up to about $650/mo.
The previous year when I was on the ACA premiums were about $150/mo.

$150 a month only?

What kind of coverage and deductible?

 

[Koolau]

Blessed beyond belief, my Megacorp provided continuing health insurance (subsidized). It was not, however, guaranteed for all time. Over time, Megacorp required retirees to pay more of the premiums and shoulder higher co-pays and deductibles. Eventually, I paid as much as $10K per year total when we had a 'bad' year. Still, just having group health insurance with a known upper limit, was a blessing that made me Financially Independent.

Going on MC solved many issues and Megacorp provided a sum of money each year to purchase supplements. It's been good since but YMMV.

 

[bobbyr]

Retired at 56/57. Made the mistake of doing COBRA for first 18(?) months, then went with non-ACA-compliant Farm Bureau plans.

If you are healthy and have access to them, they are well worth a look--far cheaper than ACA, and good for those who are ensuring against the health risk of getting hit by a truck, as opposed to prepaying for normal doctor visits and prescriptions.

ditto - in the middle of Farm Bureau application process right now.

 

[MarieIG]

Initially, we thought that DH was going to have to work until I turned 65 and we would both me on Medicare. (He is one year older but has better medical insurance.) However, it turned out that insurance was available through his retirement plan, and we are going with that.

 

[homestead]

$150 a month only?

What kind of coverage and deductible?

I got a big discount because I didn't take any ira distributions that year.
It was a PPO BCBS Bronze HSA and I think deductible was about 6500.
In Oregon. Didn't have any health problems so I didn't really use it.

 

[indiajust]

I chose to avoid payment plans and insurance altogether. I signed up for direct primary care so that I would have a doc on call. I use FMMA to shop around for better rates for procedures. I have generally found direct pay discounts run in the range of 50-80% off from insured price rates. Oklahoma has the best prices by far, especially the OKC area.

Plus the travel and expenses are all 100% deductible, once you exceed the AGI limit. So my costs were $75 a month. I have been paying about $5k a year in direct charges, all on the credit card. That boosts my credit card cash kickback feature.

IMHO, insurance is so expensive and deductibles so high, for healthy folks with a good nest egg, the cash discounts and tax benefits make this a wash.

Obviously taking a risk on a catastrophic condition. If cat only coverage were available i would buy and supplement.

But I have found the day to day expenses are better paid in cash. Just make sure to carry extra cash buffer contingency expressly for medical.