What health tests did you get pre-RE?

[Surewhitey]

So I was thinking about getting any tests done prior to DW stepping away from her company health insurance. What tests would you do/have done prior to leaving the mega Corp Healthcare coverage? We're pretty healthy so they never run extra tests on us. Both recently had colonoscopies...

I'm a 53 yr old male.
She's a 59 yr old female.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

What is your plan for health insurance after leaving employment? I went on ACA plans and where I live, we have good options. Few, but good. My insurance coverage after retiring is as good or better than I had from my employer. So I did nothing special before I retired.

 

[jollystomper]

I have been getting annual physicals with bloodwork since the age of 40, so I just relied on those items. In addition, I had my first Echocardiogram in my 40s, which detected an enlarged heart, for which I was able to undergo surgery and correct. Along with that came nuclear stress tests and MRIs to check out the blood flow through the vessels in my heart and neck.

 

[old medic]

I would go see my regular Dr and ask them to work you over. DW went for her routine physical, and they suggested a chest CT, and caught early stage 1 lung cancer.

 

[MichaelB]

When I was preparing to quit my job my wife suggested I get a sanity check.

 

[big-papa]

While on employer's insurance and employed, just my annual checkup, which included the usual bloodwork I get every year. After retirement, but on Cobra with former employer's insurance, my second ever colonoscopy. After Cobra and on an ACA plan, again my annual checkup. That's it for any testing. Certainly had visits for other things between my DW and myself all along.

 

[Surewhitey]

What is your plan for health insurance after leaving employment? I went on ACA plans and where I live, we have good options. Few, but good. My insurance coverage after retiring is as good or better than I had from my employer. So I did nothing special before I retired.

Probably ACA here too. Kinda depends on Roth conversion amounts. Sounds unanimous to do normal testing and bloodwork here so far.

 

[rk911]

I was able to stay on my employer's plan (I paid the group rate premium) until I turned 65. So, no...no health visits just prior to RE for the purpose of RE.

 

[Koolau]

When I was preparing to quit my job my wife suggested I get a sanity check.

I take it you turned her down?



When I retired, my Megacorp kept me on the same in-house health insurance for several more years. I paid highly subsidized premiums and typical co-pays. So, I didn't do any last minute health check-ups. For one thing, I decided on a Thursday to retire and was gone the next week on a Friday. Not much time to see a doc or do much testing.

My sanity check was self administered. It went something like this: "Do you want to go back to your original assignment from 30+ years ago?" (in essence be a lackey for a PhD scientist.)

I passed the test by saying "No!"

 

[MarieIG]

Another colonoscopy, but not due to insurance issues.

 

[sengsational]

I my experience, insurance will pay for sick visits and one well visit aka annual physical. So the idea that you might leverage health insurance while you have it doesn't seem like a "thing" to me. Certainly you can go to a concierge doc and have a bunch of poking around done, but insurance won't pay for that.

One thing you could do, though, comes to mind. Order a comprehensive blood test from a place like "LifeExtension", then schedule a sick visit to address whatever "bad stuff" you find. And if you don't have anything bad to go to the doctor with, you will have a baseline on a bunch of stuff that wouldn't be in your medical record, but might be nice to know if, later, you get out of whack and wonder what your personal normal is for those labs.

 

[pacergal]

Full medical, full dental annual exams including:
For me; yearly mammogram and colonoscopy; lab work recommended by doc
For DH: colonoscopy, lab work

 

[W2R]

I planned to get everything tested, from head to toe.
In reality, it turned out that I got nothing tested. Just kept up with my regular doctor appointments as usual.

 

[Car-Guy]

When I was preparing to quit my job my wife suggested I get a sanity check.

Maybe she was subconsciously thinking of her own with you soon being underfoot 24 hours a day.

 

[Midpack]

I have always done annual physicals, and DW and I made sure we'd addressed any medical or dental issues we knew of before retiring. DW had a hip replacement before I retired, a deliberate decision - I had better coverage than her company, so had it done while I was still working. DW worked a little longer with her own coverage.

 

[Koolau]

Maybe she was subconsciously thinking of her own with you soon being underfoot 24 hours a day.

Yeah, what's that they say? RETIREMENT: "Half the money and twice the husband."

 

[RetiredHappy]

Retired or not, I always had my twice yearly blood work, annual mammo and pap smear done. I see my doctors regularly, maybe because I am a little bit of a hypochondriac. Retirement did not trigger getting more tests done.

 

[MichaelB]

Maybe she was subconsciously thinking of her own with you soon being underfoot 24 hours a day.

It wasn’t subconscious.

 

[I am He]

Our employer plan was pitiful so going with ACA HSA-Bronze was actually cheaper. Just be sure to get it in place. Cancer struck within one season of FIREing. Maxed the MOOP for 2 years (went Gold plan for that second year as we knew it was going to be expensive but back to Bronze ever since where we're guaranteed to save on premiums and rolling the dice on the OOP portion).

Just KNOW if a mammogram reads "dense tissue" that it really means the reading is incomprehensible (but by no means that cancer is there). We saw it but it was like looking through a facial tissue. Even the ultrasound missed it but the MRI was the real deal.

 

[Chuckanut]

None. My medical insurance remained the same other than me paying the full tab.

 

[brett]

None.

 

[5Miler]

I did nothing special when I retired as I continued the same coverage. I had been on DGF's medical coverage for many years as my Mega Corp health plan sucked rocks. Unfortunately, her Mega Corp changed their policy 4 months later and dropped my coverage as we weren't a same sex couple. Go figure.

This was during the ACA formative years, after the signing into law but before the major parts of the plan went into effect.

In a change of fortune, I found that the VA had just recently started coverage for priority 7 and 8 veterans for health care so I have been using that since 2012.