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  • Should retirees over 65 to stay with employer healthcare plan? Is M

    From Retired@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Dec 31 12:07:44 2015
    On 12/31/15 10:51 AM, [email protected] wrote:
    My employer offers the coordinated retiree plan (Blue Cross,
    Health Partner, and Preferred One) for $270/month but requires
    Medicare Part A, B and D. If you are in Medicare part A, B, and D
    you can buy Medicare Supplement Insurance to cover the 20%
    deductible for the cost as low as $250/month. So why would retirees
    hang on to employer coordinated plan if it is cheaper to stay
    completely with Medicare?


    Just saw your post on the poor, beleaguered, soc. retirement NG. You
    might want to wander over to the Forum at http://www.city-data.com/forum/health-insurance/
    where this and other insurance issues are discussed in a moderated format.

    First try a search for posts related to your question, then post a query
    with as much detail as you care to. There are several very
    knowledgeable posters who hang out in this Forum who will respond.

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  • From Retired@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Dec 31 11:54:26 2015
    On 12/31/15 10:51 AM, [email protected] wrote:
    My employer offers the coordinated retiree plan (Blue Cross,
    Health Partner, and Preferred One) for $270/month but requires
    Medicare Part A, B and D. If you are in Medicare part A, B, and D
    you can buy Medicare Supplement Insurance to cover the 20%
    deductible for the cost as low as $250/month. So why would retirees
    hang on to employer coordinated plan if it is cheaper to stay
    completely with Medicare?


    In general, you would stay with the employer plan if it has better
    coverage, and they are not going to drop it in the next 20 years or so.

    What "letter" plan (A-N) is the Medigap for $250 a month ?

    Does the employer supplement have the same coverages as the Medigap ?
    Equal covered procedures, co-pays, deductibles, etc IOW, are they
    "apples to apples" in coverage ?

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  • From [email protected]@21:1/5 to Retired on Thu Dec 31 11:06:13 2015
    On Thursday, December 31, 2015 at 10:54:27 AM UTC-6, Retired wrote:
    On 12/31/15 10:51 AM, [email protected] wrote:
    My employer offers the coordinated retiree plan (Blue Cross,
    Health Partner, and Preferred One) for $270/month but requires
    Medicare Part A, B and D. If you are in Medicare part A, B, and D
    you can buy Medicare Supplement Insurance to cover the 20%
    deductible for the cost as low as $250/month. So why would retirees
    hang on to employer coordinated plan if it is cheaper to stay
    completely with Medicare?


    In general, you would stay with the employer plan if it has better
    coverage, and they are not going to drop it in the next 20 years or so.

    What "letter" plan (A-N) is the Medigap for $250 a month ?

    Does the employer supplement have the same coverages as the Medigap ?
    Equal covered procedures, co-pays, deductibles, etc IOW, are they
    "apples to apples" in coverage ?

    According to article below (2013), medicare supplement premium is about $200, by now it would be about $250. The author also mentioned that most healthy seniors would not need supplemental insurance.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-belk/medicare-supplemental-policies_b_3901861.html
    For medigap, the premium can be as low as $300 to high as $6,000 a month depending on plan (A to N) age and gender. It looks like my employer plan is better.
    http://www.weissratings.com/medigap/compare-plans/compare-prices-age-gender-zip.aspx
    Med

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  • From Retired@21:1/5 to All on Thu Dec 31 14:35:48 2015

    According to article below (2013), medicare supplement premium is
    about $200, by now it would be about $250. The author also
    mentioned that most healthy seniors would not need supplemental
    insurance. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-belk/medicare-supplemental-policies_b_3901861.html

    While the article may be correct re averages, ISTM insurance is meant
    to help with the "what-if", worst case situations. What if a heart
    attack ran up a $250,000 bill ?

    (BTW, ISTM this author had some kind of axe to grind ;-)


    For medigap, the premium can be as low as $300 to high as $6,000 a
    month depending on plan (A to N) age and gender. It looks like my
    employer plan is better. http://www.weissratings.com/medigap/compare-plans/compare-prices-age-gender-zip.aspx




    Wow, I'd like to know where they got those numbers. They look like
    ANNUAL costs, not monthly. As you may know, Medigap rates vary by, and
    are controlled by, each State. What are the rates in your State ? Here
    is a link to the current rates in CT. http://www.ct.gov/cid/lib/cid/Medicare_Supplement_Insurance_Rates.pdf

    Granted some rates could be hard on a person's budget, which I think
    is why more people opt for the HiDed-Plan F if they are reasonably
    healthy.

    Personally, at age 65 I was talked into a Part C MA-PD plan. It has
    been OK so far. Premium started out at $0/month (zero). at age 71 now
    it is up to $95/month. I am considering switching to a Medigap
    HiDed-Plan F, as I could handle the $2180 deductible if necessary.

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