Riding the Health Insurance Merry-Go-Round

It’s not an understatement that many people my age work primarily for the health insurance.  If one goes on HealthCare.gov (one of the new benefits thanks to ObamaCare), you can select from a variety of health insurance plans once you no longer have an employer providing you with coverage.  Unfortunately, many of the options available for people my age can cost in excess of $12,000-$14,000/year (not including the deductibles).  Quite a hefty sum if one is seeking any kind of retirement (or even part-time work with no benefits).  Of course, this presumes that a retiree has not yet reached the ripe old age of 65, which is currently required for Medicare eligibility.

I am not yet Medicare-eligible.  My journey into retirement led me to explore what health insurance option(s) my own employer was willing to provide.  Thanks to little known language in my union employment contract, I have the option…at least for the moment…to purchase—at full cost—100% of my own coverage until I am Medicare-eligible.  This will save me ~$9,000/year over the cost of buying single coverage on the “open” market!  Not a bad deal by anyone’s calculations.  With the health insurance factor taken care of, I can pursue almost any creative work arrangement—with or without benefits—wherever my retirement path leads me.

My heart goes out to those who are not able to retire because of this major roadblock preventing them from achieving the next phase of their lives.  I am deeply concerned that current discussions in Congress regarding the viability of Medicare will be resolved on the backs of those of us who have paid in all of our lives so that we could enjoy our senior years without the threat of bankruptcy due to high medical costs.  Medicare is often termed an “entitlement” program, implying that recipients are getting something they haven’t earned.  Believe me, after paying into the system for 45 years, we’ve EARNED it!

Once health insurance issues are resolved, opportunities for part-time employed or volunteer retirees are wide open!