Back in December 2009 I got laid off from my job after 15 years. I'm 61 years old, so you can imagine that my job prospects were pretty bleak. But, since we had a little money in the bank and were able to sell our house quickly and not lose any money, we figured that with the help of Unemployment Insurance we could last until I turn 62 and can take early retirement via Social Security. It wasn't quite the retirement we had been looking forward to, but we could make it. My wife will turn 65 in Aug of 2011, about 6 weeks after my COBRA runs out, but I'll only be 63 then so health insurance will be an issue for me. Imagine my interest when I got a packet from my ex-company about a 'Non-Medicare Health Care Plan' for folks like me who took early retirement (voluntary or otherwise) and need health care. This looks like the pool plan mandated by Obama's 'Healthcare Reform'.
It came with a nice booklet from Aetna and a description of the plan, the deductibles, the out-of-pocket expenses, what the plan paid for and what it didn't, and so on. From the booklet: "Working together [my ex company] and Aetna share a common goal -- to make high quality health care available and affordable for all retirees" (emphasis mine). Basically, the plan is an 80%-20% plan, that is, it will pay 80% of any covered expenses and you pay 20%. There is a family deductible of $2500 per year, and a maximum family out-of-pocket of $7,200 per year.
And the cost of this little plan? Only $2,500/mo!! Now, if you do that math, that's $30,000 a year for the insurance, plus up to another $7,200 before you are done paying for medical expenses per year! Now, how many retirees do you know who can afford almost $40,000/yr for health insurance? And this is supposed to be 'reasonable priced'?
Don't get sick, and if you do, die quickly.