I plan on retiring this summer at 63. Because of this, I will not be able to collect Medicare. My wife does not work but is 66 so she can collect Medicare. If you have to purchase your own health insurance what do you do for coverage? Who do you use? I did a bit of checking and health insurance costs are through the roof. $1,500 a month or more.

Andrew that seems incredibly high. You can go to the obama exchange and find a wide range of policies. Usually, the higher the deductible the lower premiums will be. Keep in mind deductibles go towards the yearly out of pocket maximum. Also, depending on your income when you retire you might be able to get Medicaid. Your best bet would be to talk with a health insurance agent in your area who can compare plans for you. Most health insurance companies have agents that will assist you but will give you only their plans info. Find an agent who isn't employed by a health insurance company.

Thanks Adam for the great info.

Wife has to carry self pay health insurance till July.$350 month $10000.00 deductible. Good luck. When you hit Medicare it will be about that with a secondary insurance, but the deductible comes way down.

You're welcome Andrew

Insurance on the Obamacare exchange is VERY expensive and still has high deductibles. If you don't maintain "qualifying insurance" it will increase your Medicare cost when you do go on Medicare. In your situation I would plan to work until 65, assuming you have medical insurance through your current employer, or find part time employment where you can buy into an employers plan and just work enough hours to cover that cost.

I went to my states website and found a list of brokers in my area. Picked one and called him. He went over a couple plans and I figured out which one was best for my family. It goes off of how much money you make but might be different because of joe? But yours seems high. mine is half that for a family of 3.

I use Liberty health share, about $6000/yr or $500/month for I and the wife. I'm 63 and she is 62.
Been with Liberty since obama made insurance unaffordable.

By the way when we stopped paying for our own heath ins due to obama our premiums were approx $1500/month too, again for wife and I then in mid '50's.

$18,000/yr for heath ins. is getting to the point that I don't think its worth having Ins.
Toss $18,000 in the bank every year and odds are you can pay cash for all your own health care.
If in the worse case you have an incident which costs hundreds of thousands or even millions you'll still get treated. They don't don't deny you care if you don't have ins. If you don't have ins the cost of service at my provider is reduced 45% right off the bat.

Find someone that specializes in it in your area. I recently for the first time in 12 years had to find my own. The premiums were nearly $1400 but I had someone take my income and there are tax credits. Overall, for amazing coverage we have two small children so I couldn't go with the high deductibles I'm looking at $600 a month for family. It would be much cheaper for a single person. We've got $50 copays and no deductible with $1000 ER visits and $1000 hospital stays. You'd likely be up to that walking through the door this day and age.

I question why anyone has to "purchase" health insurance. There are millions out there getting free health care including non-citizens, unemployed people, and those that cannot or will not work. A big amount of paid health care premiums go towards covering the cost of others.

^^^^This^^^^
Retired at 63 last year.
For this year, my agent got me Obama care with credits based on ss income for ~110/month. $5000 max deductable, $7 doctor/$25 lab/$25 urgent/$75 emergency copays. No prescription plan, but GoodRx is cheaper than my previous employer's prescription plan. Latest rescue package reduces premium to ~$30/month retro active to the first of the year. Not that it does much good as I have to take medicare/medicare advantage in June at 65. About the same plans but $148.50/month.

OBAMA CARE !!! low premiums and high deductibles. BUT it's only if you use it. Can you keep yours now. Trump laws lowered cobra plans so look into what you have now.