So you retired at 62... what are you doing for health insurance?

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BigSkyTrailerGuy

BigSkyTrailerGuy

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(Paralleling my other thread on early retirement)... I'm close to doing it now at age 62.

But that's three years until Medicare eligible.

I'd love your suggestions again, this time on health care possibilities before 65.  Am I missing something?
 
I cheated.  I started drawing my military retirement at age 60 and also TriCare medical insurance as a result.  Then I found out I could buy into retirement from the US Courts (I worked for US Bankruptcy Courts) at age 60 if I had 5 years with the Courts.  I did and that small additional pension put me over the top.  I retired at age 60 with paid medical insurance.  Sorry, I doubt that helps you.  :p
 
I having been paying through the nose for private health insurance...there is no easy way to accomplish insurance.
 
When we retired early the DW and I just purchased a "Catastrophic Only" policy that would cover us until I was old enough to get the medical from my previous employer.  In order to kick in we would have had to have been hospitalized and had a hefty deductible to boot. But it was only intended to be for the big unknown things, not routine medical.  I bought it through South Dakota at the time as we were full timing.  Never needed it fortunately.  But when Obama care kicked in, the policy rate doubled in 2 years. It is still cheaper than buying a full coverage medical policy out right though.

Oh yeah, stay healthy, exercise, don't smoke, and eat right. It keeps the medical bills down.
 
When I turned 62 I was healthy as a horse and had never been sick. I got Medicare and signed up for secondary insurance with United Health Care. One month later I had two brain surgeries. Pretty much paid for my premiums for the rest of my life.
 
We have used Blue Cross/Blue Shield for years... even before retirement. I turn 65 next month and have signed up for Medicare, & secondary insurance. DW is three years away from being eligible and will keep her BC/BS until then.
 
In my case when the Govermanure offered me Early Retirement, and being tired of shoveling his fecal matter (manure) I took it.  Full reetirement complete with full health coverage, Same as I had when I was working... When the Affordable care act passed.. The plan I had EXCEEDED the minimum requirement so no changes were necessary.

Health care is still too expensive.. But that's a topic for elsewhere. at the moment.
 
Tom retired at age 52 and I am nearly seven years his junior.  We paid dearly for Blue Cross coverage with a $2,000 deductible for years.  I had breast cancer during those years.  Tom finally reached Medicare age, which helped considerably.  Years later, I qualified for Medicare in December and had a stroke while in Alabama one week later.  There is no easy (or cheap) solution.  Research carefully, make sure you can afford the medical catastrophes which might occur, and go for it.  Retirement is actually quite good for your health!  Less stress.
 
my wife and I are 62/63,
when I/we retired and I switched my healthcare to the V.A. (pre paid from the 70's and better than nothin') she's still hmo/obamacare (a knotch above mine),  in a couple years she will be 65 and then we are both 'home free".
 
I've known a lot of people that had healthcare and they still died... :)
 
no,  the police said no one could survive that accident ....
 
Give it up, Tom... We all know of situations where people have died under circumstances where the best health insurance in the world wouldn't have made a bit of difference. When someone is pronounced dead at an accident scene, all the health insurance in the world isn't going to bring them back.
 
SeilerBird said:
When I turned 62 I was healthy as a horse and had never been sick. I got Medicare and signed up for secondary insurance with United Health Care. One month later I had two brain surgeries. Pretty much paid for my premiums for the rest of my life.
Click to expand...

You are not saying that you got Medicare at 62 are you? You remained healthy until you were 65 and got Medicare?

I would like to retire at 62 (will be 60 in December) but medical insurance is holding me back.
 
DH retired at 60, but I was still working so I carried the insurance. I retired last year at 60 (DH was 62), and we did some heavy investigating on this exact subject. Our options were COBRA for the first 18 months and then see what was available, retiree medical from a former employers, and private insurance (aka "Obamacare"). I was uncomfortable with the term limitation of COBRA, plus it was quite expensive. The private insurance had so many options that it took a long time to evaluate. We found there were very few offered in my state that had national coverage so that helped the winnowing process. We finally went with the retiree plan ($6,000 deductible but relatively low premiums). It was about the same price as the equivalent private plans but I didn't have to re-enroll every year. It was also a national BC/BS plan. Note our financial advisor said we really needed to plan on $12,000-$14,000 a year in total medical costs, so we put that into the budget before pulling the trigger on my retirement. Note that all these numbers are for a couple, no kids. Even though we have a daughter still under 26, she has a real job and her own insurance.
 
I retired at 62, but my employer continued group health coverage for my wife and I for the next year as specified in my employment contract. After that, because I also operated a small web site development business, we qualified for a NY state subsidized health care plan for small business owners and employees at very reasonable rates. When I hit 65, my year younger wife stayed on the state plan while I switched to Medicare via a United Healthcare zero premium Advantage Plan with Part D. The following year, my wife followed with the same UHC plan, which we both still have.
 
I retired at 60 and picked up the same plan I had with the company for about $450 per month. It was a "Cadillac" plan with $15 co-pay and no paper or payment for anything which, when emolpyed, I had been paying $200+.

Five years later, in 2010, I was paying about $780 per month for the same plan. Can't imagine what it would cost per month today.
 
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