Do you mean supplimental coverage after Medicare or the entire package if you are too young for Medicare?

For the two of us, full coverage including prescription card (low co-pays) and dental, $184.00/mo. We always expect an increase of about $10-15 a year.

You mentioned in an earlier post that you might want to work part-time once you've retired. Most companies will offer heath insurance coverage but to qualify you would have to be classified as full-time. 30 hrs. a week constitutes full time. Suppose you have maintained your health insurance from your present employer under Cobra...then you can switch once employed and all conditions will be covered including pre-existing.

Thanks, that's what I needed to know.

LKGrace,

I pay more than that just to insure my husband on my group policy at work. My company pays for my coverage. What am I missing?

Pauline, I'm not sure if group insurance premiums will differ from state-to-state (that's something to consider). When I was single (and that was 4 years ago, age 50) my company paid my premium at $126.00/mo. Full family coverage was $365/mo. DH retired 3 years ago from a large (probably the largest company in the southeast) and he thinks our premium is high since he never had to pay for it until retirement. I say NOT. It's great coverage too and even includes transplants (such as bone marrow, heart, etc.) A lot of group policies will not include that.

I noticed you're from Texas and what I know about insurance there is little. I do know when my late husband was ill with a rare disease that we lived there while he was in some experimental drug test trials and I had to fight with our carrier over medical items in Texas that I would not have had to fight over in our home state. We ended up in Texas because of there is a high incidence of neuro-muscular diseases and there were studies being conducted that were not available in our area.

I should mention that sometimes companies/management gets very secure or kind of "ho-hum" about the rising cost of insurance premiums particularly when the employee is shouldering the majority of the burden. I always found it beneficial to our employees to start shopping and accepting bids about 3 months before annual renewal. Normally you can get at least a year guaranteed premium and to many employees/families that makes a difference between macaroni and meat for dinner during the week.

Ginger

If you are looking for a Medigap policy to pay the balance after Medicare, you can tailor the coverage somewhat. AARP has good coverage. So does a lot of other companies. We have the basic coverage from Blue Cross. It has gone up as we age,

Medigap policies pay the balance after Medicare pays the approved amount. We chose not to pay for things that we probally would never use such as organ transplant. Nor did we opt for paying for ambulance transportation. These things raise the premium. We were paying fifty dollars a month when we first retired. Now it is at 100. I am sure that if this the kind of coverage you are looking for, you could get it cheaper, or more expensive if you also wanted coverage for medications, dental, etc.

If you are not old enough for Medicare, expect to pay a bundle.