I live in New York; Will Retiring Early Affect My Health Insurance?

Who wouldn’t want to retire early, while you are still young enough to enjoy an active life?  Let’s assume you decide to retire at the nice young age of 55. When you retired you left the group health insurance you had while you were working. At 55 you are not old enough to receive Medicare, which means that you will have to shop around for a new health insurance plan . Shopping around for coverage isn’t going to be easy when you are 55 years young.

Your First option will be to contact insurance companies direct. There are many factors that will affect the overall premium. Maybe the children are out of the house, but you still need to cover your spouse. If your spouse is still working it would be best to see if your spouse can buy into the company health plan. If that’s an option you would certainly benefit if you can be covered under your spouses plan, saving you a good deal of mean and time. If that is not an option see if your prior company offers any early retiree benefits, similar to cobra options. Many large companies that downsize may provide  an option for you to continue your group coverage

If none of the options mentioned above  are not  available, you can expect to pay well over 400 per month for single coverage in New York,  and if you plan to cover your spouse be prepared to double that cost. Many early retirees, don’t fully retire, instead they take on another profession. Usually in a self employed capacity. If you are self employed, your best option would be to see if there is an association that you could join which provides it members with health insurance benefits at group rates. In New York Rates for association plans tend to start at 300 per month for single coverage

If the options of Cobra coverage or association coverage are not available then you may want to consider looking into a state subsidized program. Contact the New York State insurance Dept or do an on-line search for Health NY. That’s a state subsidized program available to individuals, sole proprietors and small businesses. You do have to meet  certain criteria, however the rates will certainly justify the effort.