I have a medicare supplement plan from employer’s retirement package, BS/BC, I believe PPO. Does that mean I am locked in with part D? I don’t know what future holds. So far, I have rarely needed prescription drugs.
sry, I am not that knowledgeable about employer supplement plans. (A good friend has one, which also covers Rx in lieu of Part D, but exactly how it works I’m unsure.)
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My mother has BCBS supplement from my father’s federal employer. It pays for everything that Medicare doesn’t pay. She doesn’t need any other supplements. She has no out of pocket payments, other than minimal copays for drugs. That being said, BCBS insurance is not free. I think it’s 300-500 a month (I don’t remember).
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As others have said, you will need to check with your employers HR department to learn the terms of the retirement coverage. My parent’s retiree medical did not require them to purchase part D, but instead covered all drugs at 80% up to a $500 out-of-pocket. That plan was unique to my father’s employer.
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True. I need to talk to HR. The thing is this health insurance business is way too complicated for me. I go blank. Did someone ask how stupid people figure it out? I know HR explained it all very nicely when I was signing up. I just sign up whatever they suggest thinking I am already saving enough money by not needing it. Now they are adding expensive drugs and part D is going up. I should rethink my approach.
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I have medicare part A and B. I also have as a retiree from the fed govt a FEP BC/BS PPO secondary which covers medication with a small copayment. I pay around $700 with a plus one- monthly. I pay part B based on income. Last year BC/BS by letter gave 2 weeks to OPT OUT of part D which in the smallest print said there may be a cost due to income for part D. I opted out- you had to do it by phone! I have no idea if they are going to do that again this year- I asked them last year and they did not know. I do pay a small copay for meds but I have no idea what the limit is.
Isn’t $350 per person more than the cost of a part G plan? Perhaps the Blue Cross Blue Shield supplemental plan offers better benefits?
I am years away from Medicare, so I know very little about it.
Yeah, that’s about the cost of our Part B, supplement G, and Part D all together.
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For reference, at 65, my monthly Part B/G/D premiums will total $320. I currently pay $325/month for the high deductible retiree plan associated with H’s former (large) employer, which ends the month I turn 65. I have to pay 100% of the first $3,500 & then 20% of the amount up to the max out of pocket ($5,300) - this is a single person plan, since H is already 65 (it was $450 for both of us the last year he was on it).
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That $325 plan is a good deal (though once upon a time I would have thought it was high). My high deductible plan via subsidized post-retirement Cobra was about $450/month. After 18 months, I switched to paying “self” is about $800. (I am fortunate to have an account to pay it, established mid-career when retirement medical benefits went away - it will last a few years).
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On including adult children in your financial discussions re estate planning, I think it’s important to realize that a lot of what you will leave is really dependent on how expensive your healthcare and longterm care will be, and none of us can really know that. My financially successful father in the late 1990s used to quasi-brag about how much he’d leave his kids , but the market has gone up and down, and his health has deteriorated to the point where he is burning through his assets at a pretty good clip. If he lives to 100 (which he may well do), there really won’t be much left in his estate; certainly not a life-changing amount of money.
I don’t want my daughter to rely on an inheritance from us as the foundation of her own security, and we’ve told her so. I’d love to leave her money, but you just never know. I think it’s more important to plan not to be a burden on adult children than it is to leave them money.
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NJSue - that’s my goal too- not to be a burden on my kids. If I could leave them a home of some sort that would be great also. Just don’t want them to feel guilty/stressed over my care at end of life…
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What amount do you think is enough to cover high health care costs plus round the clock care assuming there’s no LTC insurance? Let’s say we need this for 15 years.
I am very grateful that my father has assets to pay for his care. I am grateful to him for being provident and I am grateful to fortune that he had something to work with. My husband’s parents were improvident and required help from their children as a result. Fortunately they had 4 children to help out, but I’ve only got 1 and being a burden on her is actually my greatest fear.
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Based on what my father’s expenses are right now, for 15 years, 2.7 million dollars, not accounting for inflation. This is assisted living/nursing/round-the clock. Some of this is tax deductible.
His basic expenses now are 15k a month. They outstrip his pension and SS by about 50K a year. Costs just keep going up and I foresee this difference increasing.
Even if he lives to 100 he will leave a couple of hundred thousand probably. Split between heirs, it will be nice but not life-changing. What scares me is that I don’t think I will be able to do the same for my posterity.
Another factor is that this 15K figure is for a single person, not a couple. My mother died in 2006, but if both of them needed what my dad does now, there would be no “family discount.”
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Thanks for putting up a number for us to gauge how much we will need to set aside for future health care costs. We can gift and help our children but also be cognizant we need to set aside a large amount to take care of ourselves too.
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I’m no expert. We don’t think about this stuff until we watch our parents go through it. I also think that healthcare may look very different in 35 years (at which point I’ll be as old as my father is now). I think we will go to a single payer system. We have to. Our healthcare economics are simply not sustainable and the insurance industry is a “vampire squid” on the system. But when that happens and whether it will happen in time for us, who knows.
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My in laws called my husband yesterday.
My fil turns 89 tomorrow. His financial advisor “suggested” that my husband be brought in for a talk about their finances. The FA also wants my husband to fill out some paperwork.
Who knows, they’ve been secretive before this. But they want us to know that they have a lot to leave my husband. 
89!
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I think so, it certainly is at my age when I took it out at 66, the age I am now, 68 and where I live in Atlanta - the company you select plus your age and your city determine your cost. Part G pretty much covers everything except the Part B annual deductible which currently is $240 for health and you need a separate Medigap plan for Part D (prescriptions) and dental and vision. I am able to get Dental and Vision from my previous work (not uncommon since it is so inexpensive for them to offer continuance if you retire from there). Those that don’t get that offer, manage your teeth and vision - I’m not sure it is actually worth it to buy the added insurance.
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My friends think that I am nuts to have started looking at CCRCs when I was 60. Friday, we made our third visit to a preferred one here, but we’ve also visited a place in ds1’s city. (I’m the kind of person who likes to do a lot of early recon so when it comes decision time I’m not scrambling for info; basically, a decision already has been made).
Anyway, I advise everyone who is thinking something like this is in your future to start early. Each visit I’ve learned something useful. For instance, in this place, the monthly charge is per unit, and if there is a second person the upcharge is pretty minimal . And if one of us had to make use of AL/memory care/skilled nursing units, there would only be a $450/month upcharge for that person, and the second person gets to stay in the original unit. Personally, I think that’s a bargain when considering long-term care costs – one person living in a nice independent living unit and another in memory care for just $450/month more than what we would be paying for both of us in the original apartment.
I give that example so people understand that a couple doesn’t mean double the cost in some instances. The place that we are looking at is a nonprofit. We want to check out a for-profit place to see whether we find major differences.
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