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Health Insurance for the Retired

Started by TravelGirl, September 25, 2018, 04:12:53 AM

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TravelGirl

Hi everyone.  I retired about 4 years ago and traveled the world for 2 years before coming back to the U.S. to settle.

I've taken low paying jobs to get covered by insurance because ObamaCare was not and is still is not a good alternative.  But I'm tired of the crap jobs and at the end of the year I'm "retiring" again and have already setup a plan to work with an existing work from home travel franchise.  It'll give me some spending money and of course, travel discounts.

Anyone come across or have any good health insurance plans for retirees?  Medicare is a long way off still for me!

Orphan

Look at Medi-Share. I believe that is the name. It appears to be like a co-op. Where everyone pays their premium into a fund and health related bills are payed through the company.

ThE ACA has been a disaster for a lot of people. There are other options out there depending on the state you live in. Best of luck..

Sam

We're doing our annual healthcare enrollment now, and we're gonna be paying $1,760/month for a family of three. It's a business expense, and we used a broker to shop around for us. It's a platinum level plan as a gold plan was like $1,600/month.
Regards,

Sam

kristieschultz

Hi Sam,
You live in the bay area right?  So do I, and also a family of 3.  We were both able to retire in our early 50's.  I have Blue Shield and we have the bronze plan that covers basically, Nothing, and they are upping our premium this year to $1860, yikes!!!!!!  Can I get the name of your broker person, I have one but I'm shopping around.  I think you are younger than us, maybe that is why your plan is cheaper, but it it still seems a lot cheaper given that it is a platinum plan which I believe pretty much covers everything.  This is getting scary expensive.  We are in a good place financially with two pensions and not a lot of debt, but I really feel for other people and I just don't see how people are affording this.  Crazy! 

Orphan

Quote from: kristieschultz on October 01, 2018, 03:26:30 PM
Hi Sam,
You live in the bay area right?  So do I, and also a family of 3.  We were both able to retire in our early 50's.  I have Blue Shield and we have the bronze plan that covers basically, Nothing, and they are upping our premium this year to $1860, yikes!!!!!!  Can I get the name of your broker person, I have one but I'm shopping around.  I think you are younger than us, maybe that is why your plan is cheaper, but it it still seems a lot cheaper given that it is a platinum plan which I believe pretty much covers everything.  This is getting scary expensive.  We are in a good place financially with two pensions and not a lot of debt, but I really feel for other people and I just don't see how people are affording this.  Crazy!

Look at Medi Share. They offer a alternative. That price for a bronze plan seems excessive. What is the deductible?

kristieschultz

For 2017 we paid $1622 a month and are deductible was 4800 PER PERSON.  yep thats right.

kristieschultz

I looked up Medishare and that is not something I am interested in, it's a religious based thing where everyone agrees to pay everyone's medical bills.  Sounds way too sketchy for me but thanks for the idea!

Orphan

Quote from: kristieschultz on October 01, 2018, 04:41:08 PM
For 2017 we paid $1622 a month and are deductible was 4800 PER PERSON.  yep thats right.

Kristie,
Wow, that payment is up there for a bronze plan. However, that deductible sounds very low for that plan. I have seen them triple that. I had the platinum plan and it was around 1750 a month for two and the deductible was around 2000. I would call the exchange and go over those prices again. They just seem out of whack..

TravelGirl

I have the same problem with high rates and high deductibles through the ACA.  Texas is not supportive of the ACA plans.

I will probably contact a broker after the new year and see what they can offer me.  I'm not sure about whether I'm going to create an LLC for myself or not yet.  I'm still looking at the positives vs. negatives.  It sounds like health care rates may be one of the positives.

Money Ronin

Has anyone received a 2019 quote for self-employed/retired medical insurance, particularly in CA. 

I haven't had to face this issue yet, but healthcare cost is a big early retirement hurdle to overcome and is preventing my wife from giving up her job.  Not only would we lose her income, but we would lose health insurance.

Sam

Kristie,

Sure, feel free to shoot me an email.

The thing is, I'm assuming your health insurance plan is simply more expensive because you guys are older. We pay $1760 for a platinum plan, that might cost well over $2000 for you guys.
Regards,

Sam

Gigadodo

Hi Everyone, new to the site, but I have a question. I'm really considering parting way's w/ my job and have a question about buying health insurance on the exchange.  I was playing around w/ the calc on the healthcare.gov and get an idea on the cost.  Does anyone know how the subsidies really work? My wife works for herself and she has the ability to control her income via deductions/contributions to get our income down into the subsidy range, but how does this really work? It seems like it's a monthly subside, but do you project your income for the year and they give you the discount throughout the year, but then when you do your taxes the following year and you go above/below the projected income you either owe or refunded the difference depending on what your final income was?  Anyone know how this works?  Thanks.