pre-medicare insurance costs for retirees?

[sammyg2]

Question for those who are retired and under age 65 and don't qualify for medicare yet:
What are you doing for health insurance and what does it cost?


Background: a previous employer had a policy where they paid the majority of their retiree's premium cost based on years of service yada.
But with the economy booming, too many of their employees were retiring early.
Throw in the tight labor pool and they decided to reduce the incentive.
My cost for health insurance went up $900 per month for my wife and I and one dependent (over $1700 now).
According to their army of lawyers, they had the right to do that.

So what are the alternatives, is there good health insurance out there for a reasonable price?

[GH85Carrera]

I am so lucky with my wife of 27 years. She used to be the HR director at a local university. I just let her handle any and all insurance stuff, and she pushes a form to me to sign ever so often.

As you get to age 64 you will start to be bombarded with Medicare providers. As you get to 64.5 and closer to 65 the calls will go to 12 or so per DAY, and tons of crap in the mail.

I don't know what the answer is for your situation. There is no good affordable health insurance now. The reasons would make this a PARF thread, so I will stop.

[carreradpt]

As a Tricare prime enrollee I paid an annual $550 (approx.). My pcm is on base and referrals for specialists are easy. I will be kicked off of Tricare in a couple of months when I fall under Medicare w/TFL. Tricare worked fairly well for us.

[rfuerst911sc]

Very difficult to find good insurance that is reasonable in cost . I retired 2 years ago and am on my 3rd health insurance plan . All have been ACA type plans . Had to drop one because local hospital stopped accepting it .

Dropped the 2nd one because they wouldn't pay for hardly anything . Current one is decent but because we had 40,000.00 in bills from previous insurance we had to dip into savings to pay those bills . But dipping into the savings made our income too high so we have to pay back 8,000.00 !!!!

You can expect a decent conventional ( non ACA ) plan to cost 1500 to 2000 a month for a couple . Deductibles will be around 5K each and may have other copays . Health insurance in this country is a joke ........ I will stop there or we'll end up in PARF ☹️

[Sooner or later]

I was paying 900 a month. Now that I am on Medicare I am paying 400 a month after paying into it (and maxing it out for the last 30) for 50 years.

[McLovin]

Wow, looks like my wife won’t be retiring any time soon!

[Scott Watkins]

A couple worth watching.

I spoke to a buddy last week that just recently retired, late 50's, and is paying $600/month. He lives 1/2 year in Colorado and 1/2 year in Texas.

Wife and I are budgeting at least $20k/year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EifmaBpeyrQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AletbjFzpcM

[sammyg2]

After phone calls to corporate,
....$1540 /month for full family coverage Blue Cross PPO, with premiums dropping to $1125 in 16 months.
still a lot more than before but I'll take it.
Dad always said, don't fight a battle you can't win or that isn't worth winning.
Gonna be a good day, tater.

[Bugsinrugs]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

I was paying 900 a month. Now that I am on Medicare I am paying 400 a month after paying into it (and maxing it out for the last 30) for 50 years.

That seems excessive but I’m no expert. My supplemental is Kaiser at $92 a month. Medicare takes $130 a month from my social security. I’m for Medicare for all and I’ll leave it at that.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

That seems excessive but I’m no expert. My supplemental is Kaiser at $92 a month. Medicare takes $130 a month from my social security. I’m for Medicare for all and I’ll leave it at that.

Depends on wage from 2 years ago for Part B.

[LWJ]

Sammy

Rates have not been filed for 12 months out. The actuaries and accountants don't know what to charge down the road. Odd that you were told this? I'm in the industry and we have ZERO predictability on rates.

[red-beard]

Boiling it down

Originally Posted by sammyg2

So what are the alternatives, is there good health insurance out there for a reasonable price?

Since the implementation of the ACA, no. My health insurance went from $225 to $850 for catastrophic care coverage. "Full" coverage is around $2K/mth for me and Mrs. Beard.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by LWJ

Sammy

Rates have not been filed for 12 months out. The actuaries and accountants don't know what to charge down the road. Odd that you were told this? I'm in the industry and we have ZERO predictability on rates.

They might have said something like that but it went over my head.

The excuse I was given was that benefits management was outsourced to a third party and there was nothing they could do.
I didn't buy all that so I called in an old marker. Good enough for now.