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Hubby is turning 66 in few weeks. He really wants to retire and work on contract for his company, and we will live on his SS and our investments. He'll get Medicare, but evidently, I am not eligible until I am 65, which is 3-1/2 years away. Do I have to wait until 65 to get Medicare? I've looked at the unbelievable cost of a couple of private policies that would basically cover only catastrophic incidents.


I'm pretty healthy, but on 3 meds for cholesterol, that w/o insurance, will cost me well over $500 a month. Yowza! I do want hubby to have the option to retire, he's a liver transplant recipient and will likely not have a very long life--not into his 80's, for sure. (Already 12 years into this new liver).


Financially, we'll be OK. But the thought of dropping $1200 a month for zero coverage--it's awful. I offered to go back to work FT just for the insurance, but hubby would have to run the house and he vehemently declined....(He sees how hard I work and wants nothing to do with it!)


Anybody? He's suddenly wishing he hadn't married a "baby" :)

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I buy mine on the Exchange, but it's expensive and has a super high deductible. I'm fortunate to have pretty good over-all health, but I'm a few years yet from Medicare.
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Welcome to my life on Obamacare. I have paid $12-17,000 per year for medical insurance for just myself for the past 5 years. Last year, it was only $13,000, but I had a $6,000 deductible. Since I have a medical problem that requires 4 treatments per year, each of which cost $1,800, I end up paying the entire deductible. I am REALLY looking forward to turning age 65 in 14 months!!
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I was in a similar situation. My husband is six years older and is on Medicare and I am full time caregiver for my dad so unable to work. Obama Care was going to cost me $1000 a month with a $10,000 deductible and a 10% co pay on any hospital stays. Can you imagine my bill after a week in hospital? I did a lot of research and ended up with a Health Sharing Plan. You can Google this and find several companies. I pay $199 month with a $500 deductible and so far everything has been good.
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Thanks so much!!

I am really doing this "pre planning" for retirement on my own. I think hubby thinks he can just call in "retired" and quit working. I know that isn't how it works. He already missed last years enrollment--just through sheer obliviousness to life. (Also he has severe hearing loss and he simply does not hear things).

I did call about one plan, it was incredibly expensive, but would cover me pretty well--and realistically, hubs will probably work for a couple more years. He has no hobbies or desires other than sleeping, so he has to get in better shape and find things to do--I'm NOT retiring with a man who sleeps 3-4 days in a row.

We are fortunate that we planned well and will have a very comfortable retirement--but it irks me to pay $1200 a month for the privilege of catastrophic care. Plus hubs rider policy for Medicare.

I don't expect we'll ever qualify for Medicaid, we will have too much money (don't get me wrong, we're not rich, we're just not going to need to live with any of our kids!!)
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Mid, Medicare doesn't enter the picture until you are 65 unless you are disabled or have end stage kidney disease or some other specific conditions. If you lose access to company coverage from hubs job for health insurance, you will have to go on the exchange or see if you qualify for COBRA after he retires (human resource department should be able to tell you). This is part of reason that my hubs didn't open his own business with cancer survivor wife me. Some professional organizations offer health plans, again high cost with pre-existing like need for cholesterol. I'll send you the website of prescription coupon plan that we use. It's saved us hundreds OVER the cost that insurance would have covered. If you've got investments etc. you won't qualify for Medicaid...
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