Healthcare Before Medicare: Your Options

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN

• (00:00) This show is dedicated to helping you not just survive retirement, but have the clarity, confidence, and comfort to lean in and rock it.
• (00:30) Roger introduces week two of the four-part series on health care before Medicare and explains why assumptions about health care costs can shut down curiosity, create false tradeoffs, and delay retirement decisions.

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

• (05:05) After last week’s sticker shock, Roger shifts the focus to observing health care options before tackling cost mitigation next week.
• (05:28) Option #1 — COBRA: how continuation coverage works, who qualifies, how long it lasts, and why it can serve as a temporary bridge despite higher costs.
• (12:35) Option #2 — Affordable Care Act (ACA): marketplace coverage, guaranteed issue for preexisting conditions, plan tiers, and why the system is complex but flexible.
• (19:46) Option #3 — Part-time employer coverage: using part-time work to access group insurance, earn income, and maintain purpose and social connection.
• (25:20) Other alternatives, including private non-marketplace plans and health share plans, and why they require caution.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

• (28:19) Joni asks about creating a trust will instead of a straight will, naming her son as beneficiary, and how traditional and Roth IRAs would be distributed under SECURE Act rules.
• (34:42) Christine asks whether it’s possible to anticipate capital gains distributions in open-end mutual funds before year-end.
• (38:45) Andy shares an observation about Monte Carlo simulations.

SMART SPRINT

• (42:20) Roger encourages listeners to identify and challenge their assumptions about health care and retirement timing.

REFERENCES

• Submit a Question for Roger
• Sign up for The Noodle
• The Retirement Answer Man
• Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
• Healthcare.gov