The healthcare environment in the US has changed greatly since the 2003 Medicare reforms.
Many people who retired early did have employer retiree healthcare. Prior to 2003, most retirees from industrial companies never used Medicare. It was a secondary supplement to their employer provided plan. My father retired at age 62 in 1987 and never used Medicare except for Part A as a supplement when he had surgery - until 2003.
But the 2003 changes allowed companies to void their contractual obligations for retiree healthcare and convert those to Medicare supplements.
That includes some folks on this forum/ thread.
Since then, it has become more difficult for early retirees. Many have had to purchase healthcare on their on from some providers which did offer individual plans. Many did without any healthcare coverage, hoping nothing serious happened until they got old enough for Medicare.
Since the implementation of ACA it has become an even more difficult issue to resolve because balancing the requirement to have a healthcare plan with the geographic limitations in many states are at a conflict with the full-time RV lifestyle.
Some of us are lucky enough to have retired from positions which still provide healthcare coverage for retirees. My first retirement was from the US Navy, and I'm still under Tricare for about a year. There are several military retirees on this forum.
Some are retired from police/ fire positions which almost always provide retirement healthcare between the time of retirement and Medicare. So to most teacher retirements.
