I retired at age 55 thinking my 20 year pension would be enough to cover my pre-Medicare healthcare premiums and other expenses until I reached age 65. I was wrong.
abc12.com (click image for link to article)
Retiring early has been great, but the expenses due to inflation have increased dramatically. So, thinking about retiring early? Think again.
Like every fall during open enrollment, I recently analyzed my healthcare plan and was shocked to learn my monthly premium was going up again. Inflation is really taking a bite out of my pension, but there is a silver lining.
The following chart shows the erosion that pre-Medicare healthcare premiums have had on my pension over the years.
I just received my new statement of earnings, taxes, and deductions for 2020. While I have received zero increases in my educator’s pension since I retired in 2015, my pre-medicare insurance premium keeps going up. From 6% of my pension in 2015 to over 18% in 2020. Happy new year!
In the May 2019 Fidelity Viewpoint we read, “According to Fidelity’s Decision to Retire research, conducted with the Stanford Center on Longevity,1 people retire an average of 4 years sooner than they had planned. For many who do have gap years between when they actually retired and when they had planned to retire, it can be a mad scramble to find affordable, quality health care coverage until they are eligible for Medicare at age 65.” I hadn’t planned to retire at age 55, but circumstances made it difficult for me to continue being a full time educator. I also felt I could scrape by working part time given my income and expenses at the time.
I receive $2,055.87 a month from the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association and I receive a health care subsidy as part of my retirement benefits. Since retiring, these are my out-of-pocket monthly premiums for identical coverage for one person with a $6,000 deductible:
$131.00 beginning August, 2015
$131.00 in 2016
$170.00 in 2017
$210.00 in 2018
$334.00 in 2019
$384.00 in 2020 ($4,608/year)
Since I am only 60, I have five more years before I can receive Medicare. I already work part time as a substitute teacher but I may have to get another job to keep up with the increase in health care. For instance a recent visit to the dermatologist for minor skin cancer treatment cost me over $800 and they want me to come back in January. I have already decided to cancel this appointment.
What options do we have if we aren’t 65? We could save our premiums and put them in a self-pay fund or maybe look into Medi-Share or Liberty Healthshare. “Medi-Share is a healthcare sharing ministry where members share each other’s medical bills and pray for each other’s medical challenges.” Liberty is similar. The Fidelity Viewpoint article cited above offers other possibilities.
The silver lining is my pension is eligible for a 1.25% cost of living increase in July. Let me see, that comes to an increase of $25.70/month. Wow! I guess it’s better than nothing.
What is your health care situation like? I would love to hear from you about what you are doing to offset this cost. Please leave me a comment and do have a Happy New Year!
