Oh my, Humana has ‘earned’ a reputation similar to UnitedHealth Care. Certainly some plans of both companies work well for some. Humana had a bigger hospital network and they found they can earn more money with insurance. I have become acquainted with a friend of a relative whose job as secretary to a high level Humana executive on appeals for denial of claims or coverage. I have a HS classmate that is now a UnitedHealth Care attorney that helps write up their contracts (she doesn’t disclaim openly who she works for). I worked in health care (and have two graduate business degrees in addition to BSN) so I do understand how these companies have gotten where they are (I was Administrator and CFO of a specialty physician group in the 1990’s) and have kept in touch with how these companies generally operate.
There are some specifics to avoid later penalties - be it with Medicare enrollment or having credible coverage and enrolling later w/o penalty - penalty charge per month per life; signing up for any drug plan without a late charge - for life - because you didn’t sign up during the period to avoid the late penalty.
Senior who do not ask for any help or ask their adult children to help them sort it out - they don’t know what is important (with the penalties) and how to avoid the sharks in the water where they sign up for what they do not understand but then either pay too much for bad coverage or they end up later paying more to switch out of bad coverage.
I retired with going from employer plan ending the last of Sept 2021 and starting Medicare A, B, Supplement, and D plans Oct 1 2021. I enrolled in Medicare B, Medigap with BCBS of AL C Plus, and drug plan that fit for what I use. Yes, if I even wanted to change around to open enrollment the big C would be a factor on underwriting and thus paying a big cost on a new plan. Chose a great plan, and DH is using same Medigap with Medicare B. We know our monthly cost for our C Plus supplement plan for each of us is $176 now at age 65, age 66 - 69 it will be $194/month each, and age 70 and above it will be $215/month. Of course that is 2022 premiums - and they could go up for each year but their pricing structure is telling you that they have prices for age with your age with enrollment - premiums may change on Jan 1 2023.
I have NO idea why a Medicare B supplement would use C Plus as part of their name – it confuses people who are looking at Medicare C, and Medicare Advantage. Blue Cross has Advantage plan but call it Blue Advantage in our State. Layers of confusion!
So if I reduce my working hours or stop working before 65 and have had advanced cancer in the past - my ACA premiums are going to be significantly higher than for others because of that prior diagnosis?
Yikes I hadn’t thought of that; was just calculating the ‘ACA would be higher than my employer subsidized because employer had economy of scale, etc…’
I turn 65 in a few months and so does H. My retiree benefits do provide a nice amout of money to help cover this. We are have an appointment with a Medicare broker next Monday to discuss our options. It’s a bit complicated because we will be moving out of state in less than 2 months so we do not have doctors yet in our new location. But that’s one of the things we will discuss with the broker.
This is another way employers are providing retirement benefits - allowing the individual to utilize the resources in the best way they see fit.
I have friends that are government retirees that have an excellent health care/drug plan to continue their insurance at a reasonable cost prior to 65 - if they have saved enough for their comfort level in retirement and ready to leave their job. I know one retiree from a company (having over 35 years of service and was younger than 65) that provides seamless benefits going from working to retirement - health care coverage for spouse and himself – he retired with a ‘golden handshake’ - was also provided a financial amount monthly (similar to what social security would pay) until he filed for SS at age 65. Spouse and he didn’t have to worry about anything - having health coverage and drug plan. He turned 65 and his company health coverage is his supplement and drug plan when he signed up for Medicare A and B. He then also signed up for his SS benefit and started receiving. When his wife turns 65, the same thing - she signs up for Medicare A and B. IDK if she signed up for SS spousal at 62 - I imagine she worked the numbers.
There are so many variations out there that one cannot ‘generalize’ on the specifics for someone who has company benefits, government employment benefits, etc.
We are probably with many who have their company health insurance while working at least a certain number of hours each week, then have COBRA or open market options until 65/Medicare options.
UCB was saying that you would have had trouble obtaining insurance prior to the existence of ACA. I am not 100% certain of the details, but ACA plans are based on age and location. I believe some states impose their own age band limits, but in most states, you will pay more as a 60 year old than as a 30 year old. States that limit the ranges result in higher average premiums for younger enrollees. I believe NYS is one example.
Absolutely not. ACA is not allowed to price by existing or pre-existing conditions. ACA plans are only allowed to price by age bracket — the oldsters pay more – and tobacco use. (A lot of posters on another thread believe Congress should change the laws ACA can also price by covid vax status…)
What I think UCB was getting at was that ACA plans are usually a lot more expensive than your former employer plan, so if you quit work before 65 (Medicare eligible), you should plan for much higher medical premiums. His/her other point (about pre-ACA) was just confusing as the ACA has been around for more than a decade so mentioning something that happened years ago…
btw: ACA plans, bcos they are individual age-rated, can be more expensive than paying full COBRA rates, which are group-rated.
… compared to the employee share of an employer subsidized insurance plan. If you know the full cost of your employer plan, the cost of an ACA plan may be less of a shock, though the shock may be having to pay all of it rather than a small portion of it.
No, that was the case before ACA (if you could have gotten any insurance at all after a cancer diagnosis). With ACA, there is no longer medical underwriting.
I wonder if the tobacco use question varies by state? CT asks if each applicant is pregnant but I don’t know how the response is used. No mention of tobacco use when enrolling in CT plans.
Do employees still get annual statements which indicate the amount of health insurance premiums the employer paid on their behalf? I remember getting those back when I was an employee. Have been self employed for a long time so I no longer get those but I also get to pay the full cost of coverage. Though even if those statements are still being provided, I think many people do not pay any attention to them.
Years ago (when employers were shifting significanly higher percentage of total cost to employees) I remember talking with a group of friends. And they were all complaining about the cost of their medical coverage. Ranged from $500 to $1200/month. At the time I was paying about $2,000/month. Their insurance coverage cost about the same but their employers were subsidizing a portion of the costs.
I know I’ve said this before, but it is worth repeating for newer folks Seek the advise of a Medicare Broker 3 or 4 months prior to age 65.
Medicare Broker is a free-to-you service, and the premiums are identical to what you’d pay doing the research on your own. So really no down side, except time for the appointments.
Go ahead and do your own research (here and elsewhere) ahead of your first appointment to become familiar with options. And maybe even have a tentative choice. But then let the broker look at your factors (including meds list) and advise.
My husband used a local broker recommended by our financial advisor, but if you have older friends you could check with them. The broker came to our house twice during the process.
We travel a lot and are out of our state at least 4-5 months out of a year. We chose Medicare supplemental plan instead of an Advantage one even though it is much cheaper esp with drug plan included and my H’s ex employer (large N. CA healthcare organization)offers one and we mainly see their doctors. I have read horror stories of huge medical costs not covered by Advantage plans should you become ill in another state.
You need to be careful with generalized statements. Once Medicare eligible, switching back and forth between various types of health care coverage CAN involve underwriting/higher premiums for a particular plan.
@1214mom, one thing that some people look for in retirement is proximity to a university. So university towns seem to be highly valued on some of the retirement lists.
As @Bromfield2 noted, a number of the best places to retire lists seem to prioritize cost of living and taxes. I have generally only lived in higher COL places. Part of what makes them higher COL places is that people want to live there (demand drives up prices). I have lived most of my adult life in the Boston area. What makes Boston desirable is neither the weather, infrastructure nor politics. Because of the universities, biotech firms, consulting firms, think tanks etc., there are more interesting people per capita (for my taste) than any other city that I know. The Bay Area (pre-Pandemic) had this great sense of excitement and potential. Half the people I talked with were figuring out some way to change the world. I’m now in Florida and I don’t get that same sense of excitement from the people here as a general rule. Nothing wrong with most of them, but people here tend not to be as intellectually alive as what I’m used to. But on the whole, they are not as interesting to me. Your item “Not too far in the opposite direction of us politically” is something that I don’t think that would have been on my list until a few years ago.
For me, views matter a lot so we have houses on rivers/lakes and I looked once at buying a house on a lake just outside of Boulder, @Colorado_mom. But, I couldn’t convince ShawWife to leave the east coast and couldn’t see having one house in Boulder and one in the Boston area.
The other thing is weather – I feel much freer when the weather is temperate. I do not enjoy the cold (Massachusetts winters) or the hot (Florida summers).
Another possibility. If you cook, availability of local and/or organic ingredients. We were amazed at the farmers’ markets in Marin County when we lived there. On our first visit to the San Rafael farmers’ market, ShawWife asked someone “Is this local?” They looked a bit bemused because they were wondering whether local was within an hour or two hours, I think. Almost everything (except maybe apples and berries) is grown within 5 or so hours. Boston is not comparable.
I guess there is another question. Do you want to live in a mixed age area with lots of young folks like a university town or a place that many people retire in like Florida. The last time we went to a concert in Florida, we at mid-60s brought the average age down significantly. Very different feel than a university town where the students get younger every year.
That’s if you have an HMO or other limited network plan.
There are Medicare Advantage PPO plans in some places that cover you anywhere that Medicare is accepted. These are not available everywhere…but they do exist. I have one of these plans…but it’s a very large group.
I think this is an excellent post. I’ve seen many people leave high cost of living areas for areas with low costs. They get caught up in trading their tiny Ca home for a brand new house in a southern state or Idaho and sometimes realize they are missing temperate weather, like minded people.
