Early Retirement

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Metal Tiers

There are 4 categories of health insurance plans: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. These categories show how you and your plan share costs. Plan categories have nothing to do with quality of care.

Lowest monthly premium. Highest costs when you need care. Bronze plan deductibles — the amount of medical costs you pay yourself before your insurance plan starts to pay — can be thousands of dollars a year. Good choice if: You want a low-cost way to protect yourself from worst-case medical scenarios, like serious sickness or injury. Your monthly premium will be low, but you’ll have to pay for most routine care yourself.

Bronze
Plans

60% covered by insurance.

Moderate monthly premium. Moderate costs when you need care. Silver deductibles — the costs you pay yourself before your plan pays anything — are usually lower than those of Bronze plans. IMPORTANT:If you qualify for cost-sharing reductions you must pick a Silver plan to get the extra savings. You can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year if you use a lot of care. Good choice if:You qualify for “extra savings” — or, if not, if you’re willing to pay a slightly higher monthly premium than Bronze to have more of your routine care covered.

Silver
Plans

70% covered by insurance.

High monthly premium. Low costs when you need care. Deductibles — the amount of medical costs you pay yourself before your plan pays — are usually low. Good choice if: You’re willing to pay more each month to have more costs covered when you get medical treatment. If you use a lot of care, a Gold plan could be a good value.

Gold
Plans

80% covered by insurance.

Highest monthly premium. Lowest costs when you get care. Deductibles are very low, meaning your plan starts paying its share earlier than for other categories of plans. Good choice if: You usually use a lot of care and are willing to pay a high monthly premium, knowing nearly all other costs will be covered.

Platinum
Plans

90% covered by insurance.

Your premium can be lower, based on your income.

Retirement is like a puzzle. Do you have all of the pieces? Let’s work together to find the plan that works for you.

Medicare only pays about 80% of your medical and health care costs. The remaining 20% is up to you. Adding a Medicare Supplement plan or electing for a Medicare Advantage plan, a stand-alone Part D, or combined Medicare Advantage Part D (MAPD) are all opportunities to cover your remaining costs, providing for complete coverage.

Early retirees have five options for health insurance before Medicare

COBRA Coverage

When you lose employer group insurance, you may be offered COBRA continuation coverage by your former employer. It can last for 18 to 36 months.

Public Exchanges

This is better known as the Affordable Care Act, or Bidencare. This may be your best option. Check out our quoting tool to learn more.

A spouse's plan

If married or in a qualifying domestic partnership and one of you are still working, you will probably be able to remain on the working employees plan.

Private insurance exchanges

A private exchange is simply an online resource set up by brokers or insurance carriers, where individuals can shop for health insurance, enroll in a plan, and receive customer support as needed. We also offer these plans. Please check our quoting tool to see what works best for you.

Retirement health insurance continuation from your employer

Some employers will allow you to retain the plan that you have been accessing during your career. This option is often available for federal government employees.
Category Paid by Health Plan Paid by Individual
Platinum
90%
10%
Gold
80%
20%
Silver
70%
30%
Bronze
60%
40%

What are the top 5 challenges to retiring early?

Includes all the coverage of Original Medicare, with extra benefits as well, such as dental coverage, vision coverage, and often coverage for a gym membership.

Social Security eligibility doesn't start until 62.

Generating income before you can take money from your IRAs.

Strict rules about 401(k) and IRA withdrawals at age 55.

Paying for health insurance before Medicare eligibility begins at 65.

Tapping your savings earlier, while shortening your saving years, and extending how long the money needs to last is a challenge.

Not old enough for social security or Medicare, but you’re ready to retire ...

Trying to make sense of Medicare? Let us help, we’re not your typical agents.
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