I'm almost 62 and after my wife retires I will need to buy insurance. What are you guys using?
Thanks
Jim

I’m past that, on Medicare now, with a supplement. When I was in your situation, I went to an independent insurance agency that represented several insurance companies. They researched and showed me some options.
Good luck,it’s expensive.

Caveat, I did not look for insurance until Medicare was in effect for both of us.

United Health Care is owned by the most liberal AARP.

That said, United Health Care provides full coverage insurance with minimal deductibles and includes $80/quarter of coverage for OTC meds. It matches my (extremely good) company provided coverage of the last forty years.

This coverage is at no cost to me or my wife, except that cost billed to Social Security to pay for Medicare part B. The United coverage also includes great prescription coverage wityhout paying for Medicare part D.

You will need an alternative for the the three intervening years. Let your conscience be your guide for doing business with United after age 65.

Tri-care!

Blue Cross supplement on Medicare.

Don't go cheap.................

90% of your lifetime medical expenses are paid in the last 10% of your life....

Before I turned 65 & Medicare took over

Insurance was included with my retirement for wife & I

Now I'm paying $190 off the top of of my SS benefit just for me

Wife still under the UPS/Teamsters

Bass turds

We (the wife and me) are on Medicare.
We tried several different policies. Cost prohibitive.
So we tried a "Health Share" program.
Worked great! Got the two of us in for $249/mo.
Medicare pays there part and the health share picked up the rest.
Then the health share premium went up when the ACA started. (Thought that was supposed to make premiums go DOWN?)
We continued down that road until we got notification that our "share" was going up to$849/mo! 🤯
We dropped the healthshare and began placing $400/mo cash in the gun safe.
Mind boggling what happens when you inform the billing department that you pay cash! 😉

My PCP suggested I have a test. The clinic priced the test at $5,000! 🤯
Told the lady, "We pay cash."
"Okay," she said and tickled her computer keyboard.
"That will be $1500."
For drugs, we buy through "Blink Health" online. It isn't a cure-all, but it saves us a ton of money!

A guy at work semi retired and makes just enough to stay under the threshold. He says Obamacare is cheap if you don't show much income.

At 64 you can apply for Medicare until then all depends in what state you are and who is selling in you state.

I have A,B, D,and G. Costs 300.00 a month. I had an operation in January that costs 100,000. My out of pocket was 150.00 for the year. I do have to pay a Medicare penalty because Wifey and I make too much, but I suppose that’s a good problem to have.

It seems like whatever test was done would have been covered by Medicare. Your deductible should have been $226 and then your copay 20% of the balance. Somewhere around $1200 total.

For the OP, wife and I are not yet Medicare eligible. We have a Health Savings Account combined with a high deductible policy. The policy costs us around $1000 per month and our deductible is $8000 per person per year. We are in good health and rarely meet the deductible. The HSA component allows us to pay medical expenses with tax free dollars, so we do save some that way. Medical insurance is just darn expensive.

My has insurance from her employer so when she retired it changed from blue cross to transamerica.

It has been ok but it does things differently that blue does.

Funny thing they are both owned by blue cross.

Medicare is primary now and they come second,before it was the opposite.

Same. I pay I think $155 for part B. My Medicare is from my wife. I was hired too young and never got the full quarters to qualify. My union insurance was carried from when I retired until 65. They are now the supplemental and I have zero co-pays. It's pretty sweet.

I'm 57 and have a United Health care family plan (family of 4). It costs me $1650/month with a high deductible.

I retired at 56 from a seasonal job I took later in life just for the sake of insurance benefits.
I maxed out my Health Care Savings every year and accumulated a fair sum of funds. I believe the max was $2k or $2500.00 a year.

When I retired I was able to maintain my insurance policy through the Cobra Plan for 18 months. This meant I only paid what the group policy my company had me covered with cost which was $550.00 a month as a single individual.

I was able to receive some extended unemployment when I first left my job, if I recall it was 8 months.

It's very limiting as to how your Health Care Savings funds can be spent due to being tax free. There is a provision that allows you to pay your health insurance premiums with Health Care Savings funds IF you are collecting unemployment AND on a Cobra Insurance plan.

So I was able to pay my first 8 months of premiums with my Health Care Savings funds which saved my roughly 27% being it was tax free.

After that I paid the full monthly premiums which started at $550.00 a month and slowly escalated to around $625.00 per month after a couple of years.

I knew a lot of folks that paid a lot less that were on Obama Care.
I went online and attempted to find what Obama Care would cost me and found for a similar policy that I always had without catastrophic co-pays would run about $750.00 a month.

I asked around with some of the folks I knew that were using Obama Care how they had gotten such affordable policies.

They had all used an agent that knew the ins and outs of Obama Care.

So, I gave and went to a insurance agent for some assistance.
I ended up with the best policy offered through Obama Care, which was very similar to what I'd always had for $350.00 a month.

That remained the same until I reached 65 years of age and I went onto Medicare which costs a little under $200.00 a month.

My brother chose a different route.

He wasn't going to use Obama Care and was too much of a tight ass to pay exspensive monthly insurance premiums so he proclaimed he'd just pay his own medical expenses.

Then he busted his head open in a accident and spent 6 months in the hospital with a catastrophic brain injury.

He racked up close to $800,000.00 in medical bills which of course became the tax payers problem, he was unable to work and never paid a dime of his health care expenses.

He's since lost everything he had and drained my mother of over $100,000.00 with miscellaneous medical and other life expenses being he's unable to work and living off some cheap assed monthly government check.

So, suck it up and pay the premiums or skate through life knowing if anything actually happens to you that cost real money you can just become burden for your loved ones and the tax payers.

Tell me more about this Medicare at 64 please.
Thanks,
Rick

You can apply for Part A and Part B of Medicare starting 3 months before you turn 65.

I knew that. And I think coverage begins the first day of your birth month. I read that to mean you could have coverage at 64.
I am 64 and paying a lot for little coverage. My wife is older and already on Medicare.
Thanks,
Rick

Medicare and Tricare. 😁

Reading through this thread, I realize how fortunate I was to retire at 57. At the time I retired, one of my retirement benefits was lifetime, no cost to me, health insurance. When I hit Medicare age, my employer-based health insurance became secondary, picking up almost everything after Medicare. Including prescription copays, I am not usually out of pocket more than $200 - $300 per year. Additionally, every year in July, I get a check from my former employer that reimburses me for the Medicare premiums deducted from my social security over the preceding year.

Be prepared for sticker shock.

Thanks for the ideas guys!

Hey question.
Well actually questions and scenarios...
In 22 months when I turn 62.
I wanna collect the SS pocket money.
I don't have to have that Medicare cost taken out until 65 correct?
Does the tricare payment go down in conjunction per the Medicare payment at 65.
Does the Tricare subsistute for all the part plans everyone talks about per Medicare to pick up additional cost.

How does tier 1 VA coverage jive into all of this also?
Never paid a penny at VA for anything from glasses, hearing aids, knee, hernia surgeries, or meds.
Ect ect ect...


Have any of you retired mil guys gone this route or a combo of the routes.
Cost effectiveness, best coverage route.
Per mil retirees.

Sitting under a big umbrella of coverages like many of you.
At a low cost already.

I barely use the schit to begin with.
Wife on the other hand.
2 major surgeries spring 2022.
Didn't cost a penny.

Me..

I like to get my things done at Nashvegas VA per the rotating Vandy docs.

Ain't even been to tricare PCM in 3 yrs.
Just do the renew plan is good to go each year thing like we all do.

Go to the dentist 4 times yearly for cleaning.
Have like a 23 buck copay every other appt for that.




I need to get myself smart on this schit.
Got a pretty good feeling going up to retirement services on FTCKY versus the momo,s here at the SS office will give me better info.


Gotta be some of you mil retirees that started collecting SS at 62 that can give me some feedbavk

I went with straight Medicare. No supplement. I have weathered hip replacement, heart attack, hernia operation, pace maker ( and a new replacement one) with no issues. Supplement policy would cost me $350 to $400 a month. Most I have ever paid out in co pay in a given year was under $2000. I have no health issues other than just getting older, and a bad heart. No Diabetes, cancer or other stuff. Cheaper to just pay the co pay out of pocket. I usually get a discount for that anyway.
With regards to meds, I never meet deductible for Part D. I have a Part D plan through Humana. I pay about $20 a month for all my meds, including the OTC stuff.

Exactly what I did, got everything in place 3 months ahead of time.


Interesting note on when when your Medicare 'might begin'.

It can start one month early, mine did and it was like a train wreck.

IF your birth date falls on the first day on your birth month, your Medicare starts when you are 64 and 11 months of age.

Seems trivial huh?

Huge problem occurred for me as a result.

For my first month on Medicare I was also covered by my Obama Care policy.

I didn't know my Medicare had started a month early, like who would?

It's a crime to have additional insurance coverage while on Medicare if it's not reported.

No double cover or double collecting benefits allowed.

I was back to my insurance agent for a couple hours filling out forms and answering endless questions to find redemption for my sins.

In the end I was penalized for the first 10 days of my overlapping Obabam Care premium for my crime, the balance was refunded.

Nuttin like dealing with the gubberment in two different departments at the same time.

The simplest error becomes a capital crime and nightmare.

Find a good agent you feel you can trust to deal with this schit for you, it's a must have.

You sign up for Medicare A & B at 65 and you are no longer Tricare Prime/select, but on Tricare for Life, TFL. There are no fees for TFL, but you'll be paying Medicare fees. Medicare is your primary insurance TFL is seconday. Prescriptions still stay with Tricare, so you don't need Medicare Part D.