Retirement Approaches

[posiepurrs]

I plan to retire in October and am wading through all the Medicare and Social Security information. NOT my favorite thing to do. Any tips from those on the other side? I have to get things done so i can give them a firm date at work - and I don't like being in limbo either.

 

[betsygee]

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement! My sister just went through all that. She found an advisor through this website. Good luck!

 

[DreamerRose]

Yes, I have some tips on Medicare. If you've reached 65 or are close to it, you will be inundated with supplementary insurance information. The thing to remember here is that all the plans are mandated by Medicare, and they are all the same except for the cost. There are plans A, B, C, D, E, F, and so on. F is the most common, so choose the cheapest.

That said, the Medicare Advantage plans (C) can be even better. On these, Medicare is administered by one of the insurance companies. You will have to check with your doctor to see which one they accept. Mine accepts Humana, Blue Cross, and one advocated by AARP. The name escapes me at the moment. These plans are like HMOs, but if you go to a large practice, that will be all you need. But the best part is that in many places, there is no premium. This is what I have, no premium, and very small co-pays. There is a maximum out-of-pocket cost that is about $3,400, which if you meet, you do not have to pay anymore. Last year, I had two spinal surgeries and never met the maximum. The most I had to pay for each surgery was about $1,300.

In addition to all that, most of my prescriptions are free as I use their on-line pharmacy. When I didn't have insurance, the cost was about $400 per month.

Good luck. It's all confusing, but you will get through it.

 

[Kieka]

My parents are retired. Their best advice is to find a money manager who specializes in retired persons. They have one who helps with everything from pacing their spending, choosing healthcare, long term care insurance, living trust set up, etc. If he can't do it himself, he knows who can within their budget and sets everything up for them. And it's not that they have a massive amount of money either; it looks like they will have just enough.

 

[Margret]

Re. Medicare Advantage plans, basically with those you give up your Medicare, turn it over entirely to the insurance company. If you need something that your company doesn't happen to cover, forget it. If you want to travel out-of-state you'd better be very sure that there are doctors who accept your insurance wherever it is that you're planning to go. If you need a specialist and the only referral the company will give you is to someone who isn't board certified, well, certainly, you can go out-of-network, but you have to cover 100% of the cost, even if Medicare would cover it, because you no longer "own" your own Medicare account. IMO, it's worth paying for the security of a proper supplemental plan rather than getting an Advantage plan and hoping it works out okay.

What worked best for me was to go through my state's insurance marketplace to get an insurance broker to walk me through it and find the best plan for me. But be very careful not to miss your open enrollment period; things get much harder when you do that. Also, it's worthwhile to get both parts A and B of Medicare, and part D (among the supplemental plans) is prescription coverage (D stands for "drugs," though other things may be covered, like hearing aids or TENS units). If you don't get prescription coverage then for the rest of your life you'll have to pay a penalty for each month you were without it.

Finding a good money manager is a fantastic idea, if you can do it. As for Social Security, you really need to talk to someone who can give you a clear idea of your options; you may be better off waiting before you actually claim it, but not too long.

Margret

 

[posiepurrs]

you may be better off waiting before you actually claim it, but not too long.

I would get full benefits if I waited another year, BUT my doctor has told me that my knees will continue to hurt (unbearably at times) until I am no longer standing 8 hours a day and pulling/lifting heavy product at work. He is trying with cortisone shots to get me through until October when I qualify for medicare. My knees are so bad that on holidays where we are very busy at work, I can barely get out of the car when I get home. When I have a couple of days off together, my knees hardly hurt.