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We are a couple who retired early (early 60s) and like many are facing a big jump in our Healthcare costs (California residents). Has anyone here looked at alternatives to the marketplace, such as insurance brokers, for Healthcare? Any recommendation or insight would be welcome. Also, I searched the articles and couldn’t find anything about this. Thank you.
I would be very careful about choosing a health plan that is not on the ACA marketplace. You could be charged with a huge bill because they don’t follow the rules of the ACA. Here is an article I wrote. https://www.financialfreedomforwomen.org/healthcare/retiring-before-65-how-to-avoid-health-insurance-nightmares
Thank you for the article. It was really about Non-ACA insurers I was wondering about and your article confirms the risks that I was concerned about.
If you retired early and have a significant balance in your brokerage account, own your home outright, and are frugal you may be able to minimize your income and receive a significant subsidy if the proposed cuts in the enhanced subsidies are rescinded.
We never paid more than $35/month for a bronze, high deductible plan. In the five years before we turned 65 we only had one significant expense which was a 5K ER visit which was cover with our HSA.
Thanks for your reply. Our Silver Plan is fairly reasonable (not $35), but if the subsidies are not put back in place we will be facing a huge increase.
Bradley, I have read that some areas of the country have an HMO called Kaiser that has been highly regarded. I was wondering if that might be something to research? I don’t really know where they are or maybe if some of the other HD folks might know about them and could chime in. I know an HMO might not be ideal, but for a couple of years it might be ok before you go on Medicare? We retired later so I went on Medicare and my spouse did Cobra for 6 mos when they retired. Chris.
Thanks. I will check them out.
Kaiser is based in California and has a very robust network of MDs and hospitals in their network. My daughter has utilized them in the past but is young and has minimal medical issues.
Just be aware that Kaiser’s “very robust” network is a closed one — Kaiser doctors and Kaiser hospitals only — with out-of-network coverage and access to outside specialists extremely limited. The Kaiser patients I know here on the West Coast (3 of 8 states where they operate) rave about the quality of care and preventive medicine. But had I been a Kaiser member when I got sick ten years ago, I would not have had access in time to the specialized oncology and breakthrough treatment that saved my life. Things may have changed since then.
good to know. I will do some deeper research into them.
I can’t answer for sure, but I doubt you will find much difference. Of course, if you receive any ACA subsidy you don’t want to lose that. The marketplace insurers are virtually the same as outside the marketplaces and subject to the same ACA mandates such as essential health benefits. However, they can also apply underwriting standards and can reject a person for coverage or charge a higher premium.
Be careful. There is no real way to avoid ever increasing premiums. And, be sure to compare premiums with potential out of pocket costs such as a high deductible or co-pay. Depending on your needs a bargain premium may not be a real bargain.
Thank you for your reply.