Health Care Costs Pre-medicare

[tom_sjc]

Hello Villagers,

Thinking of retiring before 65. Would need to purchase health insurance on my own. Anyone have experience on this?

Non-smoking couple age 63/61:

Cost estimate?
Suggested health care insurance companies?
Dental, vision costs?

Presently living in San Jose and have Kaiser through work. They probably offer a Cobra plan; but not sure it would work in FL.

Thanks,

Tom

[Bjeanj]

We were on COBRA when we first moved here from Indiana, for almost the whole 18 months. COBRA ensures you have insurance that your employer offered, but you pay the entire premium, rather than having your company chip in part/all of the cost. So, cost depends on that. I could only guess that COBRA would be less than what you could get as two individuals. One of you should be eligible for Medicare, right?

[tom_sjc]

Sorry, typo, should have had ages as 63/61. So not eligible for medicare.

[Paper1]

Hello Villagers,

Thinking of retiring before 65. Would need to purchase health insurance on my own. Anyone have experience on this?

Non-smoking couple age 63/61:

Cost estimate?
Suggested health care insurance companies?
Dental, vision costs?

Presently living in San Jose and have Kaiser through work. They probably offer a Cobra plan; but not sure it would work in FL.

Thanks,

Tom
There are no bargains out there in healthcare. My wife and I will both be on Medicare as of New Year’s Day. My guess is you will be looking at $1600 a month with $3600 individual deductable maybe more when the changes in Obamacare happen. My advice is to age quickly, at least until you hit 65. Best of luck to you though.

[Bjeanj]

Yeah, I think Paper1 will be close, cost wise after your COBRA runs out.

[villagetinker]

There are some reasonable costs, my step son just got a silver plan for around $100/month. This was through Florida Blue. Hope this helps.

PS if you want to be in the Villages Health, call them BEFORE you make any decisions to see what they accept, and then plan on giving up Medicare if you want to stay in the Villages Health when you turn 65 as they ONLY accept ADVANTAGE plans for those 65 and older......

[tom_sjc]

1600 month, 100/month. That's a big swing.

I thought through my work COBRA was 1300/ month.

Thanks for the responses. On TV web site I see Advantage if eligible for Medicare. But accepts other commercial insurance if under 65. Does that make sense?

[biker1]

Figure $1200 to $2500 per month for the two of you through BC/BS, depending on the plan. If you have access to COBRA that will most likely be your best option. I was in your shoes.

Hello Villagers,

Thinking of retiring before 65. Would need to purchase health insurance on my own. Anyone have experience on this?

Non-smoking couple age 63/61:

Cost estimate?
Suggested health care insurance companies?
Dental, vision costs?

Presently living in San Jose and have Kaiser through work. They probably offer a Cobra plan; but not sure it would work in FL.

Thanks,

Tom

[Marathon Man]

Go to Healthcare.gov. Your income may qualify you for a supplement. That makes the plans affordable.

United Health Care offers some relatively inexpensive plans - not great coverage, but you can weigh your health vs cost and decide on how much risk to take.

Dental and vision coverage - you will need to estimate your total cost for the year and compare to premium cost, deductables, etc.

None of this is fun. I've done it the last two years.

[Kahuna32162]

We are in the same boat, still have a year and a half until 65. Our current provider is Florida Blue for healthcare, Florida Combined Life for Dental and VSP for vision. Total cost is just over $1,500 a month.

[rustyp]

Go to Healthcare.gov. Your income may qualify you for a supplement. That makes the plans affordable.

United Health Care offers some relatively inexpensive plans - not great coverage, but you can weigh your health vs cost and decide on how much risk to take.

Dental and vision coverage - you will need to estimate your total cost for the year and compare to premium cost, deductables, etc.

None of this is fun. I've done it the last two years.

This is true. Under approx $57K joint income you can get assistance and it is substantial the less your income is below $57K. You project your income forward I.E. not based on previous tax year. Be careful if you go over your projection you can get a substantial penalty. There are ways to limit your income like home equity instead of 401K withdrawals.

[biker1]

I don't believe there is any penalty for underestimating your income. You will, of course, have to repay the portion of the subsidy you aren't entitled to but they won't add a penalty.

This is true. Under approx $57K joint income you can get assistance and it is substantial the less your income is below $57K. You project your income forward I.E. not based on previous tax year. Be careful if you go over your projection you can get a substantial penalty. There are ways to limit your income like home equity instead of 401K withdrawals.

[rustyp]

I don't believe there is any penalty for underestimating your income. You will, of course, have to repay the portion of the subsidy you aren't entitled to but they won't add a penalty.

I think you are right. One thing I forgot to mention is this process is not painless, You will be hard pressed to find two people representing the .gov give you the same answer.

[Marathon Man]

I don't believe there is any penalty for underestimating your income. You will, of course, have to repay the portion of the subsidy you aren't entitled to but they won't add a penalty.

Correct. Or, you can choose to apply a percentage of the subsidy to the monthly premiums. The rest is "banked". That way, if you exceed your estimated income, you will not end up writing a check at tax time.

The big concern is to make sure you don't exceed the upper limit. The subsidy will go to zero in one big jump and you will have a big tax bill.

[biker1]

There is a BC/BS office on one of the side streets on the north side of 466. They are pretty helpful and can process the Obamacare paperwork for you. Your only choice is BC/BS.

I think you are right. One thing I forgot to mention is this process is not painless, You will be hard pressed to find two people representing the .gov give you the same answer.

[spring_chicken]

1600 month, 100/month. That's a big swing.

I thought through my work COBRA was 1300/ month.

Thanks for the responses. On TV web site I see Advantage if eligible for Medicare. But accepts other commercial insurance if under 65. Does that make sense?

Anyone paying $100/month is receiving a large subsidy from obamacare.

[FenneyGuy]

Get ready for sticker shock. My wife is almost 61 and has been on Obamacare for 4 years. I pay a mortgage sized premium every month.

Your monthly premium will depend on the level of plan you choose and whether you are eligible for a subsidy. Amy has a gold plan since I was getting killed with deductibles and copays in her earlier plans.

I also suggest you check what plans the doctors you might use will accept.

I also recommend you get a PPO plan rather than an HMO in order to have more choices in doctors. I have a regional PPO plan for myself and find that I have lots of flexibility in choosing doctors.

[rustyp]

Anyone paying $100/month is receiving a large subsidy from obamacare.

As ridiculous as it sounds this is true. For 2018 if you project a joint income of $41000 you are eligible for a subsidy of over $1800/month (yes per month) towards marketplace health insurance.

Will you save? Do a quick check | HealthCare.gov (https://www.healthcare.gov/lower-costs/)

It's a simple plug the numbers in calculator.

[tom_sjc]

We are in the same boat, still have a year and a half until 65. Our current provider is Florida Blue for healthcare, Florida Combined Life for Dental and VSP for vision. Total cost is just over $1,500 a month.

Thanks that's good info.

[FenneyGuy]

As ridiculous as it sounds this is true. For 2018 if you project a joint income of $41000 you are eligible for a subsidy of over $1800/month (yes per month) towards marketplace health insurance.

Will you save? Do a quick check | HealthCare.gov (https://www.healthcare.gov/lower-costs/)

It's a simple plug the numbers in calculator.

My wife's gross premium is $1250 per month. Her net is $725 per month.

[Wiotte]

As ridiculous as it sounds this is true. For 2018 if you project a joint income of $41000 you are eligible for a subsidy of over $1800/month (yes per month) towards marketplace health insurance.



Will you save? Do a quick check | HealthCare.gov (https://www.healthcare.gov/lower-costs/)



It's a simple plug the numbers in calculator.



Not ridiculous considering if you had to pay the full premium it would give you only about $19,000 a year to live on. Hence the large subsidy.


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[billybye]

Healthcare.gov (Obamacare) is the best out there, at least what of it is left. Not great, but better than nothing, or what might be available in future.

[tophcfa]

Hello Villagers,

Thinking of retiring before 65. Would need to purchase health insurance on my own. Anyone have experience on this?

Non-smoking couple age 63/61:

Cost estimate?
Suggested health care insurance companies?
Dental, vision costs?

Presently living in San Jose and have Kaiser through work. They probably offer a Cobra plan; but not sure it would work in FL.

Thanks,

Tom

Healthcare costs are outrageous. I am retired and my wife is self employed and we are both still in our late 50's. Our income does not allow us to get any subsidies and we have both had health issues so we get very good insurance through BC/BS. We pay just under $2,000 a month or about $24K per year. With inflation, we are looking at about $200,000 in premiums before Medicare kicks in, assuming it hasen't been gutted by then. The premiums would have gotten much worse if congress managed to pass the health care reform on the table earlier this year. Thea reform being pushed would have hit people between 50 and 65 very hard by eliminating the cap on risk pricing for seniors currently in place under Obamacare. Don't get me wrong, I don't like Obamacare, but it's better that what congress was trying to replace it with. What is sad is that my wife does not want to retire, but if she does we can get our income down to the point where the subsidies will kick in and we will be better off financially. Something is very wrong when the system gives people a disincentive to work?