# Retiring early and Insurance



## wind power (Sep 29, 2010)

Hi Folks,
I have been reading though some of the forums about afforable health insurance, and it appears to be a crap shoot on finding affordable health insurance.....
Here's my situation: I want to retire early somewhere between 60-62 years of age and have about 10 more years to go....
Everything I have is paid for ( home, cars)and I plan no major debt or purchases so essentially I save money and just pay out for everyday living expenses.
The wife and I are very lucky and have no preexisting illnesses
Does anybody out there have some real numbers on what health insurance would cost on a monthly basis for our scenario?
Thanks!


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Go to Health Insurance - Find Affordable Health Insurance Plans and Buy Medical Coverage Online That is very nice site and most likely you will find all your options for local individual insurance. No obligations, no hard sell. At least its a good site to compare what is available in way of individual policies. Be aware you most likely will have to take at least a mini-physical with blood drawn that they do zillion tests on before you get offer of actual coverage by an insurance company. Dont lie about anything, it can come back to haunt you down the road. Anything they dont like and you most likely get offered coverage with big surcharge or with restrictions for period of time. And this stuff takes time no matter what they say. You arent getting new coverage in a week. Figure on it taking you couple months before anything happens. Hurry up and wait.

Of course the bigger the deductible and the higher the copayments and the cheaper coverage is.


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## Jokarva (Jan 17, 2010)

Do you have insurance through an employer now? You might ask what benefit you would be entitled to as a retiree, DH and I were both entitled to health coverage when we retired, we took his since it was better insurance. Pricey though, about $800 per month for the two of us. But doable with no other debts.


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## wind power (Sep 29, 2010)

Hi Hermit, thanks for the site and the great advice I will dig deeper into it throughout the week!
Jokarva,
That's a great idea, but I have an employer who doesnt even offer a 401k...they simply dont give a crap about hourly employees....however they often come to tap my mind instead of the mechanical engineers....lol I have more education and experience than most of them...lol since they dont want to offer much but want A LOT in return...I'm quickly dumbing down to ensure it is a recriprocal agreement until something better pops up.... until then they can tap into those salary minds which parrot the party line but offer little else in return.
Maybe the next employer will offer an opportunity like you described.


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

I just got a new family medical/dental plan through the site Hermit John suggested. It took about 2 weeks from submitting the application until approved. Then another 2 weeks for paperwork to be processed. 

Caution, you have to give your phone number and you're going to get a couple of dozen calls from different agents. It really got annoying.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

You asked this question at the perfect time. Start now! Plan for good health!

Take care of yourself, eat right and consult a Naturopathic doctor(a naturopath addresses the cause of a problem whereas an MD treats symptoms). There is no reason to have failing health. Of course this means that you will likely have to make changes to your diet and lifestyle. Just think of all the money you will save.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

CesumPec said:


> I just got a new family medical/dental plan through the site Hermit John suggested. It took about 2 weeks from submitting the application until approved. Then another 2 weeks for paperwork to be processed.
> 
> Caution, you have to give your phone number and you're going to get a couple of dozen calls from different agents. It really got annoying.


You have the option of having them contact you via email. However their idea of email isnt YOUR EMAIL, you have to log into your ehealthinsurance.com account and look for email messages from them there. I guess they worry about security of sending to a retail email account???

Whats annoying is setting up the para-physical or whatever and actually having the person show up. Subcontractor of a subcontractor.....


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

TxMex said:


> Start now! Plan for good health!


The best laid plans of mice and men....


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

How great to have belonged to a good union because of retireing early I'm paying 30 dollars a month dental medical and eyes .not that I'm bragging but think about that when voteing .all these right to work states have the worst retiremet plans . And benifits


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

arnie said:


> How great to have belonged to a good union because of retireing early I'm paying 30 dollars a month dental medical and eyes .not that I'm bragging but think about that when voteing .all these right to work states have the worst retiremet plans . And benifits


and who is paying for those cushy benefits?

You might also note that those awful right to work states, in general, have higher rates of employment. You can go to western europe and get great benefits...that is if you can ever get a job. We cry about 8% unemployment and they suffer with 8% being a hopeful goal.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

I wouldn't bother to do any planning until after Jan, 2014 when Obamacare kicks in.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Yuppers -I'm with Moon River on this one. It'll be a whole new ballgame. Latest I've heard is that it'll cost about $5000.00 in fines per year for you and your employer (combined) if you decide not to carry insurance. 

But, then, as we're seeing with anything that has to do with accounting figures coming from the government - they keep on changing - monthly, weekly, daily.


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

arnie said:


> How great to have belonged to a good union because of retireing early I'm paying 30 dollars a month dental medical and eyes .not that I'm bragging but think about that when voteing .all these right to work states have the worst retiremet plans . And benifits



You're welcome!


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