74 replies to this topic

[RiffRaff]

Folks ,
DW an I are looking @ hitting the road before we turn 66 1/2? Any thoughts on Health insurance? Currently QUOTED $24000.00 for the 2 of each year. Any Help or thoughts will be appricated.

Edited by RiffRaff, 27 January 2012 - 03:02 PM.

[Sigzy]

Surely you have 1 too many zero's in there.

Edited by Sigzy, 27 January 2012 - 04:40 PM.

[Kirk]

The good news is that so far, you are still eligible for Medicare when you reach age 65.

[Barbaraok]

How many years before you turn 65? You should look to see if you qualify for COBRA. Barb

[David & Lorna Schinske]

eHealthInsurance

[mrschwarz]

I have to exhaust COBRA before I can sign up in the high risk pool. It's only going to cost me $6,000 per year (high deductible). My wife qualifies for standard rates so it's much less for her. I am based in Waco, TX. You may want to consider domicile and coverages with costs like that.

[JM]

[size="3"]The highest deductible you can manage. Many Dr's will give discounts for cash instead insurance.

Check with your tax preparer if you itemize you may be able to deduct your premiums. Those plus your out of pocket expenses could reach the amount allowable IRS Medical & Dental Expenses click here for details That way you can control your tax monies paying for yourself instead of ???

[RiffRaff]

Surely you have 1 too many zero's in there.

$12,000.00 per year per person, High risk insurance. Nope NOT too many '0',s I wish it had too many.

[RiffRaff]

I have to exhaust COBRA before I can sign up in the high risk pool. It's only going to cost me $6,000 per year (high deductible). My wife qualifies for standard rates so it's much less for her. I am based in Waco, TX. You may want to consider domicile and coverages with costs like that.

Dallas is home, Your high risk is $6000.00 State told me $12,000.00 per person per yr.

[Jack Mayer]

I think you need to search some more. With a high deductible policy you should be able to bring those costs down. That assumes, though, that you do not have an active catastrophic disease like cancer. If you do, I'm suprised you can find any insurance at all - other than the pool.

[JM]

Many years ago our insurance broker told us to always have separate policies as the one in better health will get a better rate and not be dinged for the poor health of the other either with higher premiums,cancellations or exclusions etc.

[Sigzy]

Wow, I guess having top notch inexpensive retiree insurance has left me out of touch as to health insurance costs.

[Jack Mayer]

Make no mistake - health insurance costs are totally out of control. Unless you have perfect health - and then they are out of control, but tolerable. Our single biggest expense EVERY month is health insurance. By far. We have separate policies for the reasons stated - and have 10K deductibles. And our costs are STILL very high. Our summer work - for 5 months - basically just pays for health insurance. It is not a joke. There is a reason many people do not have insurance, and why many employers no longer offer it, or no longer subsidize it much. And there is a reason why pension plans are going broke - health insurance for retirees is a primary one. I don't want to make this into a political thread - but there are lots of simple things that could be done to being the costs down. There is simply not the political will to do it. So RVers who want to hit the road prior to Medicare have little option - pay the costs, or go without insurance. Many go without the insurance.

[mrschwarz]

Dallas is home, Your high risk is $6000.00 State told me $12,000.00 per person per yr.

In Flower Mound, where my home currently is, the $7,500 deductible premium is $628. In Waco, the premium for the same coverage is $535. This is an annual saving of $1,116 per year. Since I am going to be a full timer in a couple of weeks, I moved my domicile there. If you are going to be a full timer, you may want to consider that, too.

If you are not a full timer, you may want to look at the other deductibles available in the high risk pool. The rates can be downloaded here: http://www.txhealthpool.org/rates.html

The way I look at it, there is always a risk that I will need more than $7,500 of medical care. If I do, the maximum out of pocket cost will be is $18,950 ($535*12 plus $12,500 max out of pocket). If I don't need any medical care at all (unlikely), it will cost me $6,420. If I sign up for the $1,000 deductible plan from the same domicile, the premium would be $1,243 per month. The least I would spend is $14,916 (1243 * 12). The most I would spend would be $19,916 (to include the max out of pocket). So, even if I max out the out of pocket costs, I still saved almost $1,000 by going with the high deductible plan. These are the rates for Area 1 (Waco). The numbers for Dallas will be higher. You should do the calculations yourself.

Going for the maximum deductible places a risk on the the total cost for health care in a year. Going for the lower deductible guarantees you are going to pay that cost, whether you need it or not. I'm an optimist. I plan to stay healthy and pocket the difference!

Good luck!

[Kirk]

Make no mistake - health insurance costs are totally out of control. Unless you have perfect health - and then they are out of control, but tolerable. Our single biggest expense EVERY month is health insurance. By far. We have separate policies for the reasons stated - and have 10K deductibles. And our costs are STILL very high.

I must disagree with this, somewhat. The thing that is out of control is the cost of health care. Pam had surgery to replace an ankle on Dec. 13. She was in the hospital for two nights and the total cost for the hospital only, was $65,000! Medicare paid all but about $1500 which our Medigap policy covered so we were OK, but that should put things just a little bit in perspective. That did not include the two doctors, or anesthesiologist.

RiffRaff,

Let me suggest that you may want to visit with the below insurance agency as I have found them to be very helpful and good about giving information, even when they are not able to sell a policy.

Friesen-Strain Insurance
Escapees Endorsed Vendor for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas Insurance
Offering Individual Health Insurance Policies for Texas Residents.
Commercial Membership Number: 40

Contact Information
5028 Champions
Lufkin, TX 75901

Contact Name: Theda Moseley (Agent)
Phone: 936-637-3444
Toll Free: 800-829-3948
E-Mail: thedam@friesen-strain.com
Website: www.friesen-strain.com

Edited by Kirk, 28 January 2012 - 12:00 PM.

[harry bellerby]

Kirk,you are right,cost are out of control. part of the problem is that insurance will only pay a contracted price.So the hospital quotes a rate much higher.I ran a hospital in Pa,.BC/BS,paid us 40 percent of our stated rate. So every year we raised our stated rate to compensate for the discount. The folks who pay cash get screwed the most.
c u on the road

[Nolan]

$12,000.00 per year per person, High risk insurance. Nope NOT too many '0',s I wish it had too many.

How does South Dakota Risk Pool compare?

Clicky.

[Jack Mayer]

You are right, Kirk...I should have said health care costs are out of control. Insurance rates reflect that, of course. Although I have to say, insurance rates are going up faster than the nationwide average for health care. Of course, I don't have access to the pool numbers for the insurance company.

You do have to be proactive on your own care. Docs will try to run all kinds of "unnecessary " tests. I quoted it - because that is MY opinion. Often I believe it is to protect themselves from suits. I usually ask what exactly the test will show, and if there is another diagnostic method that is cheaper, or if statistically if the data that we already have points to a diagnosis. AL:WAYS - in every case - the diagnosis was correct without additional tests. That does not work in every circumstance - obviously - but it has for me. SInce I'm self insured to 10K it MATTERS to ME. The people working on you don't care how much it costs, for the the most part.

[Zulu]

Our single biggest expense EVERY month is health insurance.

Amen to that. We're in the process of estimating health insurance costs before we both quit work & start fulltiming.

I'm 62 & DW is 60. We're looking at $1000/mon for both of us with $1-3K deductable until age 65.

I'm thinking about keeping WI as domicile instead of TX because we seem to have more health insurance options.

[JM]

Amen to that. We're in the process of estimating health insurance costs before we both quit work & start fulltiming.

I'm 62 & DW is 60. We're looking at $1000/mon for both of us with $1-3K deductable until age 65.

I'm thinking about keeping WI as domicile instead of TX because we seem to have more health insurance options.

It can be a challenge and will change every year. With the new health care law phasing in a little at a time everyone's polices will be different each year and require continual monitoring. Unfortunately we can't "set it and forget it".