Near retirement - health insurance

Paul
Deb & I looking into the same, fulltime by next summer! Thanks for the post.

RM

dahkota wrote:
Here are a couple of blog posts from fulltimers regarding health insurance and how they deal with it. They may be of some help.

Technomadia

Wheeling It

Thanks Dahkota - I appreciate you sharing this information with me. We are currently running thru the numbers as well as deciding were to domicile. At this point, we hope to have things worked out by the end of the year and fulltiming sometime next summer. If not, there's always next year. We don't want to make any decisions that we'll regret later.

-paul

Here are a couple of blog posts from fulltimers regarding health insurance and how they deal with it. They may be of some help.

Technomadia

Wheeling It

Flanz wrote:

So, at this point you pay $600/month or $7200/year for health insurance? This is a silver plan form BCBS? For us, we're planning on $700/per month for a Bronze plan. We need to look around at SD, Texas, and FLA for completive plans and cost over the next few months. Out of pocket plus deductibles will also play a roll in the decision, but keeping an emergency fund for this will help.

$552 per month for 2 to be exact. We went direct through BCBS (got our quote off their website) rather than through any of the exchanges. To shop rates, try ehealthinsurance.com. Use the zip code of any mail service you are considering.

If you want a national network, you have to be careful with which plan you select. For BCBS, you must choose a PPO plan - I have been unable to find an HMO plan that has a nationwide network.

In the example above, with the aneurism, deductibles mean nothing - the entire bill was probably significantly more than the max out of pocket. Regardless of what the deductibles are, if one has a significant medical event, one will have to pay at least the max out of pocket. (It is also important to check out of network coverage - some plans will not even cover you outside of network). You aren't saving any money by having low deductibles if you have a high max out of pocket.

In South Dakota, there was one insurance company that may cover fulltimers but they had a very limited national network and it was more than three times what our current premiums are (for us).

It took me months of research (and lots of spreadsheets) to work through all the cost/benefit analyses of various states for domicile. Health insurance was a huge factor in our decision. Ease of setting up residency was second. Texas and Florida came out on top for all the factors involved, with Florida the winner because of health care costs.

I wish you the best. There are many things to work through and in the end, only you can make the decision that is best for your family.

Flanz wrote:

TechWriter wrote:

Flanz wrote:

Good choices above for research, but I wouldn't use COBRA. I'd also look at this site, http://rverhealthinsurance.com

I retired before Obamacare and compared with the private, individual plans of the time, COBRA was the best bet -- and still is.

Eventually you'll have to come off of COBRA......

I guess you missed this part:

TechWriter wrote:
I've used COBRA, but when it runs out, I'll use a plan from www.healthcare.gov or www.ehealthinsurance.com until Medicare.

dahkota wrote:
We are just now establishing domicile in Florida. We are waiting for our bank to send us a statement so we can get driver's licenses. We got our address through Good Sam Mail Service in Crestview. Currently, our motorhome is registered in Florida.

We are fulltimers - have been for 6 months. Florida has no income tax and rv tags are fairly cheap, depending on what they were in your previous state. We are coming from a fairly high tax state (Maryland) so Florida seems very cheap to us.

We will be paying about $1200 more per year for health insurance but saving about $3500 a year in income tax. Car/motorhome insurance is about 2/3s of what it is in our area of Maryland (DC suburbs) so we will save another $600 there.

We really wanted to declare residency in South Dakota - it is so easy! But, once we crunched the numbers, we would actually pay more for adequate health insurance than we would save in taxes. Nevada and Texas were about a wash - there was a little profit in getting residency there but it was offset by other issues such as vehicle registration or inspection. Tennessee was definitely the best state over all, but they make it difficult to get residency and it wasn't worth the hassle.

So, at this point you pay $600/month or $7200/year for health insurance? This is a silver plan form BCBS? For us, we're planning on $700/per month for a Bronze plan. We need to look around at SD, Texas, and FLA for completive plans and cost over the next few months. Out of pocket plus deductibles will also play a roll in the decision, but keeping an emergency fund for this will help.

TechWriter wrote:

Flanz wrote:

Good choices above for research, but I wouldn't use COBRA. I'd also look at this site, http://rverhealthinsurance.com

I retired before Obamacare and compared with the private, individual plans of the time, COBRA was the best bet -- and still is.

Eventually you'll have to come off of COBRA......

PghBob wrote:
Mornin' All: I just want to provide something to think about. I especially want to address those of you who regard themselves as healthy. I have high blood pressure well controlled on meds and DW has been very healthy, no problems, no meds. In June, DW and I were on our way to Alaska. Four hours after starting out, DW suffered a first-ever seizure. I pulled over, called 911, medics came, took DW to the ER where multiple scans showed a large aneurysm involving several arteries in her brain. Since then, DW has had surgery and is doing very well and we are now planning the Alaska trip for next year. The point of this post is that you can be very healthy now, but in a few hours that might not be the case. Please plan your insurance purchases very carefully and make sure you will be covered in the event of a serious medical situation.

I couldn't agree more. But, you have to start somewhere and plan for the worst. This is why we have an "emergency fund" with enough money to cover an unexpected health issue. We will plan for a Bronze plan and make sure that we can cover the out of pocket as well as all deductibles and extra costs.

-paul

Flanz wrote:

Good choices above for research, but I wouldn't use COBRA. I'd also look at this site, http://rverhealthinsurance.com

I retired before Obamacare and compared with the private, individual plans of the time, COBRA was the best bet -- and still is.

Mornin' All: I just want to provide something to think about. I especially want to address those of you who regard themselves as healthy. I have high blood pressure well controlled on meds and DW has been very healthy, no problems, no meds. In June, DW and I were on our way to Alaska. Four hours after starting out, DW suffered a first-ever seizure. I pulled over, called 911, medics came, took DW to the ER where multiple scans showed a large aneurysm involving several arteries in her brain. Since then, DW has had surgery and is doing very well and we are now planning the Alaska trip for next year. The point of this post is that you can be very healthy now, but in a few hours that might not be the case. Please plan your insurance purchases very carefully and make sure you will be covered in the event of a serious medical situation.