Health Insurance

[RobWNY]

For those of you that are full-time or most-of-the-time but not yet old enough for Medicare, how do you handle your health insurance needs. My wife and I were fortunate enough to be able to stay on our former employers Health Insurance group plan as if we were still employees by selling back sick time we accrued over the years. We were able to purchase enough to remain covered until we reach the current Medicare eligibility age of 65. It's great insurance if we are home and everything is in network but what we found when we need care while traveling, most everything is out of network and we end up paying out of pocket. We have been tossing around the idea of becoming semi-full-time, meaning away from home for 9-10 months of the year. Obviously we would need to either keep the policy we have and put about 20K aside in case we need it or find another type of insurance to supplement what we already have. So what have you all found to be the best options when traveling? Thanks in advance for your replies.

[valhalla360]

Setting aside the politics of if it will remain or is it right...

How much will you be earning going forward? Obamacare is heavily subsidizes low earners. If you are cutting back to part time, there's a good chance, you can get a heavily subsidized plan. Of course, low earners is up to around $65k (so not particularly low).

This won't solve out of state issues but would certainly help out with plan costs.

[TechWriter]

RobWNY wrote:
For those of you that are full-time or most-of-the-time but not yet old enough for Medicare, how do you handle your health insurance needs.

You domicile in s state that has "portable" health plans. That is, plans with nationwide networks so you can get in-network health care in any state.

Most health plans let you get out-of-network care, but you typically pay dearly.

In most cases, BlueCross offers those portable plans. And these are typically PPO health plans, but not always. For example, in FL, BlueCross offers EPO plans with nationwide coverage.

If you full-time, the most popular states to domicile are TX, SD, and FL because there are no state taxes in any of these states. However, if you're under 65 only FL offers portable health plans, SD and TX do not.

The other states that I'm aware of that offer nationwide health plans are:
- Alaska
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- North Dakota
- Wyoming

BTW, I'm talking about ACA ("Obamacare") health plans offered on state exchanges.

[Lwiddis]

Gee, flyer, I was almost 19...an old guy.

Happy Veterans’ Day to us!

[ferndaleflyer]

Good ol VA! Has thanked me for my service many times. Free. Got access when I joined up at 17. Smartest thing I ever did

[Bill_Satellite]

$20,000? About 8 years ago my wife broke her foot (badly). The bill was $40,000. Luckily, we paid the deductible and nothing else. I can't imagine what it would cost us today.

[lbrjet]

You are in an HMO. See if you can switch to a PPO through your employer. Depending on the state you live you may be able to get PPO plan though the ACA. 20K won't cover much since you would be paying full price at a hospital, rather than the much reduced rates insurance companies pay.

[RobWNY]

Lwiddis wrote:
Have you consulted an independent insurance agent?

Not yet. I was hoping to get others thoughts here before I did that. The more thoughts and opinions I have, the better decision I can make. I'd hate to go see an Insurance agent and just take his/her word for it. Their main goal is to sell me a policy. The goal of people here is to share their experience with others so they can make a well informed decision.

[Lwiddis]

Have you consulted an independent insurance agent?