Dear HealthCue:
My father’s company was closing and they offered people early retirement and he took it. He is 62 years old and now has another job but they don’t have insurance and he and my mom are still covered under his insurance plan with his old company. Well now he has gotten a letter from his old company saying that if he wants to keep his insurance through them, he will have to pay all of it—around $900 dollars a month—which he cannot afford. He is having a hard time finding other insurance. Both of them have high blood pressure and they live in South Carolina. He says that anytime he talks to an insurance company and tells them about the high blood pressure, they tell him that they cannot help him. I want to be able to help my parents out. What is the best way to go about finding a good, cheap insurance plan that will accept someone with high blood pressure?
Thanks for your help,
Penny from South Carolina
Dear Penny:
“Good and cheap” retiree health insurance will be difficult, if not impossible, to find, especially if there are pre-existing health conditions. Actually, the $900 monthly premium offered by your father’s company is not out of line with the average and median premium prices for a 62 year old living in South Carolina with a pre-existing condition. One option may be the State of South Carolina Department of Insurance. The section on “Health Insurance Information for South Carolina Consumers” might provide some options; you may also want to look into the South Carolina High Risk Pool, the phone number for which can be found on the same page.
In this column, we take a look at some of the problems retirees face when purchasing personal health insurance, both with and without pre-existing medical conditions. It is important, close to retirement, to estimate your annual medical expenses and determine where you spend the most—for example, physician visits, prescription drugs, diagnostic tests, etc. (In one of our earlier columns, we walk you through how to estimate your annual medical expenses.) Once you know the types of your health expenses, you can actually shop for a benefit and premium package to meet your individual needs.
