Patrick

Cam, don't complain about how hard seniors get hit! When I retired a few years ago and had to go independent on my health insurance, it has been a very expensive deal. I am not yet medicare age. Right now, similar to some of those above, the best coverage I have been able to get is a $5000 deductible policy which costs me approximately $400 a month. I will welcome the day when I can get medicare and supplemental together for about half that amount and have a much lower deductible than I have now. I have had my health insurance for five years now and have never received a single penny back as I have never met the deductible in any calender year. One thing I did though was make sure that my policy covers me overseas, so in case of catastrophic accident or illness I am covered equally there.

Christina

I'm a consultant in the health insurance field and you've gotten most of the basic advice, already. Just a few points -- there is a section or tool within www.medicare.gov (the official govt site which I'd recommend, the above URL medicare.com is something else) that gives you the names of insurers who sell supplemental policies in your state. Medicare supplemental policies are regulated in terms of benefits, there are 9 variations (plans A-J), some only cover extra copays or minimal things whereas the more generous include drugs, home health, foreign travel, etc. Luckily, the standardization means plan A is the same in every state. I believe that section describes each plan fairly well (www.medicare.gov/medsup.asp). The Medicare.gov web site has publications you can get and other information (go to the "Medigap" section) on this issue. It will tell you the insurers in your state at www.medicare.gov/MGCompare/MPPFRedirect.asp<BR><BR>You don't have to have a Medicare supplement, although most people do. People who may have a retirement policy through their work, the military, federal govt retirees, etc, usually do not need one. Plans C-J include foreign travel coverage.<BR><BR>That Highway to Health site is something I've seen before, sounds like a good idea and could be cheaper than buying a deluxe supplemental policy only for foreign travel. <BR><BR>Patrick, this is the sorry situation of health insurance in our country as it is simply a business, not a societal benefit, seen as a consumer product for all but the aged and indigent. It is extremely expensive to get on your own. I have advised others and, unless you are very young with almost no adverse medical history of any kind, private policies are astronomically expensive. I advised my sister who was recently widowed and lost her husband's work insurance to also get a policy with a large deductible as that was the only way she could afford insurance (she had no FT employment that gave her insurance), given their family's medical history made her monthly premiums around $600-800, as I recall (just for her and her teenage son), which was the majority of her income. She ended up with a catastrophic ($5K deductible) policy through Mutual of Omaha which is a pretty good company IMO and has reasonable policies and rates.<BR><BR>COBRA is a law, not a particular type of insurance or company. It allows you to buy into your former employer's group insurance plan on your own at the same rate as the company is paying, with a small administrative fee (4 pct or so). Unless state law overrides it, it only covers companies of 20+ employees and does have a time limitation. It should almost always be cheaper than buying insurance on your own because you are getting a group rate (unless you were in a very small company that had high rates due to some employees' bad claims histories). I would be very surprised to find a particular insurer offering someone over age 50 a cheaper policy than they offer a large company, even if you have not had any unusual medical expenses; I've never seen that, but of course, you should compare all choices if you want to do that.<BR><BR>$3600 a year is a very high premium for Medigap insurance. Premiums in my state (MD) varied from about $70/mo to $200 a month for the most deluxe plan as of Fall 2001, for the AARP product. YOu need to shop around, but AARP does give a good Medigap product because they are one of the few insurers who do pricing by community-rating NOT by your personal medical history (ie, not experience-rated). That means everyone in a state has the same premium regardless of your personal health history or genetics or demographics; risks are pooled. Their web site has a good section for comparing plans and premiums at www.aarphealthcare.com/medsup.asp

cd

Thanks for the info Christina and all who replied.