will your company still give you medical coverage after retirement (55, pension)

[captnemo]

will your company still give you medical coverage after retirement or will you have to get medicare and a supplement medical. That is the most important thing upon retirement and unless you are in a union you are screwed.

[Chinolala]

No. My company benefits end upon retirement.

[StealthRabbit]

my company of 32 yrs service allowed for benefits from 55-65, but they were expensive (~ $400 ea/ month) and subject to change. If you ever took a job (even part-time) with benefits or purchased medical elsewhere you no longer qualified to get on the plan. Of course these were significant changes made in the last few years.

so... I am buying catastrophic and praying for no problems. (Unlikely since both sides of parents had significant health issues as early as 45) I do carry LTC

[GLS]

Originally Posted by captnemo

will your company still give you medical coverage after retirement or will you have to get medicare and a supplement medical. That is the most important thing upon retirement and unless you are in a union you are screwed.

My wife works at a hospital, but is not in a union. The way they handle it is that they give each employee $1000 for each year they have worked there. Therefore, when she retires she will get $20k (20 years) to subsidize her premiums for health insurance . It's not great, but it would cover 2 to 3 years of health insurance for us if she retires early.

[cdelena]

No, I was too young to get retirement health from my first career and had too little tenure to get it fom my second. I pay a lot for a high deductable policy now until medicare.

[PNW-type-gal]

As part of the early retirement package, we got a year of extended employee coverage. After that, we're on our own - since he's 54 and I'm 48, we have a long way to Medicare.

We knew health care would be one of our higher expenses and took that into consideration when we accepted the early retirement.

[forest beekeeper]

My last employer does provide coverage for me still.

[Ellwood]

Our company offers medical benefits based on years of service, which would have cost $700 per month for both of us. Thankfully we have TRICARE (military retiree health care).

[twins4lynn]

Yes. I retired at 52 and have employee paid medical benefits. When I’m 65 medicare becomes the primary and my employee medical plan becomes secondary.

[AliceT]

Only for a cost - which often equals your monthly pension amount. The choice is yours - do you want health insurance or a monthly income? You choose. This isn't really as bad as it sounds - if you have another income and all you really need is medical insurance. It's an ideal setup if you want to do something from home or start up your own business.