Health Insurance
Hello, My husband is of Medicare age, put I am not. I had to change my already in place Anthem BC/BS because of Obamacare. I went from a PPO to an HMO. NOW, I learn that when we are in Florida f...
Forum Discussion
stormysmom wrote:
Thanks for all your input. I could've kept my BC/BS but not the same plan. The policy that was offerred to me would've cost about $700.00 a month. Not a possibility. I will explore the websites that were suggested. Thanks to all.
There's the rub. The coverage is available, but not a price you like. When I retired early (7 years before Medicare for me, 8 for my wife) I was able to retain "pay anywhere" 80/20 coverage with $5000 deductibles and $25,000 out of pocket caps, but it jumped from about $400 a month for my share to $1200 in retirement, going to $1600 before I went on Medicare, back down to about $900 for the year it was just covering my wife. Premiums go up with risks (age) and care cost exposures.
We rebudgeted, putting more money into medical insurance than into food and housing, because we wanted to cover risks for care that might be needed for travel. Basically, most of our budget became travel costs and medical insurance costs, that's what my wife wanted to do with my retirement. Before it was all over, we essentially got those insurance premiums back as medical care, because she cost the insurer more than $800,000 the last three years she was covered.
This is something ACA doesn't really fix, as global medical insurance coverage is a luxury beyond the scope of what is seen as "need" but if your lifestyle makes it a need, I don't know of a way of getting around paying the premium.
That $700 a month at your age will likely double before you reach Medicare age, and then the closest supplemental coverage, usually 'N' if they continue to allow it, will likely bring your Medicare+ premiums to more than the $300 you are now paying to the HMO.
Specific insurers and plans for Virginia? I don't know, I haven't shopped insurance in that state, but I'm sure it is not going to cost you any less in Virginia than it cost me 10 years ago in Oklahoma, and you probably won't like the price, since my experience is that $700 a month looks pretty good for a PPO plan with reasonable deductibles and at least 50/50 out of network coverage. You can expect to almost double that to get out of PPO into "traditional" coverage.
