Insurance

[shawano]

Will be going fulltime next year and wondering what people have for health insurance. Currently we are residents of Wisconsin, looking to change possibly to South Dakota in the future, so would like advice on both states. He will be 60 and I will be 58 when this happens, so we will need insurance for a few years before medicare would happen. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

[lbrjet]

MTPockets1 wrote:

lbrjet wrote:
Cobra only lasts for 18 months.

That depends on your insurance company and company you retire from..... I continued on company policy group rates starting under Cobra, for five years... Best to check with your employer & insurer

Your company allowed you to stay on their group plan at your cost. COBRA mandated your employer to do it for 18 months. After that COBRA was not involved. This was strictly at your company's discretion.

[MTPockets1]

lbrjet wrote:
Cobra only lasts for 18 months.

That depends on your insurance company and company you retire from..... I continued on company policy group rates starting under Cobra, for five years... Best to check with your employer & insurer

[TechWriter]

Terra-Sea wrote:
I'm a health insurance broker and your experience with Cobra vs. ACA is very unusual. Usually, COBRA is horrifically expensive.

Well, for arrays and myself COBRA was actually cheaper.

For OP, I'm 64 & my wife is 63 and like you we're from WI too. (Although we became Arizona residents this year.) My COBRA runs out in December so I'll need about 2 months of coverage before I get Medicare and my wife will need at least another year of individual coverage.

When I compared rates using www.ehealthinsurance.com and www.healthcare.gov, I decided to stick with COBRA as long as I could because my COBRA plan ("Bronze" rating) was about the same price as similar plans.

Traditionally, full timers preferred South Dakota, Texas, or Florida as domiciles because none of these states have income tax. However, the new health care law (ACA) changes things, especially if you are not eligible for Medicare and have to purchase individual health insurance.

If you consider this, then South Dakota doesn't look so good because the state has very few health care providers compared to Texas and Florida. (And you may want to cross Texas off your list until -- or if -- the state vehicle registration process changes.)

Finally, if you have not yet priced individual health insurance, you may be in for sticker shock. Use www.healthsherpa.com to "window shop" for health insurance by state and ZIP code.

[AdvSeekers]

We've been using Wellmark BCBS PPO thru SD ever since hitting the road mid-January. We became SD residents only two months prior to the 2014 policy start date. Our claims have been paid, no problem (so far). We've been to docs in TX, KS, and Arkansas. We do have a physical address (cheap rental apartment) and a PMB in SD, so perhaps that is why we were approved? I agree that the premiums are costly.

[Nolan]

Clicky.

[Terra-Sea]

arhayes wrote:
We'll start full timing this July and for us Cobra is cheaper ( plus the same coverage as at work) than the ACA. Unfortunately, unless you're destitute, everything but more catastrophic plans is more expensive from ACA marketplaces. We'll look again in Ict during annual enrollment, but looks like the next 19 months still cost me 60% more than when I was working. Not at all " affordable".

Alan

I'm a health insurance broker and your experience with Cobra vs. ACA is very unusual. Usually, COBRA is horrifically expensive. Did you check with insurance companies outside the Tx. Exchange? I would consult with a human insurance broker there, who should know the market inside and out. Even better, the expertise is free.

[lbrjet]

Cobra only lasts for 18 months.

[arhayes]

We'll start full timing this July and for us Cobra is cheaper ( plus the same coverage as at work) than the ACA. Unfortunately, unless you're destitute, everything but more catastrophic plans is more expensive from ACA marketplaces. We'll look again in Ict during annual enrollment, but looks like the next 19 months still cost me 60% more than when I was working. Not at all " affordable".

Alan

[Clay_L]

Blue Cross Blue Shield will not insure full timers in SD,NH,and many other (all?) states. The only exception is if you have an existing group policy provided by a employer or governmental (state/federal) entity as a pension benefit.
BCBS requires proof of an actual address (a mail forwarding service street address will not work) and physical presence in the state for six months or more each year.

Before we reached Medicare age we used a policy from Assurant Health now owned by Time Life. We had no claims so don't know how good they are in that respect. The cost was high - about $1800 per month for the two of us.

We used an insurance broker next door to our mail forwarding service(Alternative Resources ) to get quotes from several companies.
Dougherty & Associates. 3704 S Westport Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57106. (605) 361-6318.

[dahkota]

What you do depends a lot on how healthy you are. The best place to start is looking at the PPO plans that have a national network - Blue Cross is one of the few. We are healthy, only visiting the Dr. twice per year, so we went with a high deductible but lower total out of pocket costs. If you must visit the Dr. a lot, a lower deductible plan with low co-pays might be best for you. I found that South Dakota and Nevada were both very high cost states - the premiums were almost double what I am paying out of Maryland (which washed out the saving from 'moving' to a no income tax state). Tennessee was one of the lowest. The rates quoted will vary by county within each state. 10 miles down from my 'home address' the exact plan I have is $20 more per month, per person. We purchased on the open market (an identical plan) because we knew we would not qualify for subsidies this year. I used ehealthinsurance.com to price plans throughout the country as we contemplated changing our residency.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

make sure your plan is not an HMO. Make sure it's a national company like Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, United Healthcare. I would start with www.healthcare.gov in your home state. If and when you move it is a qualifying life event and you can change plans. If there are no companies listed on healthcare.gov that will cover you when you travel outside the network you may have to purchase insurance on the open market.