I am retired and will have COBRA til I'm 59 and am planning to buy coverage at 60 til Medicare eligible.?

Question

The coverage will be with a high deductible of $10,000. My wife has had by pass surgery. Any ideas on what the monthly premuims will be? The insurance companies won't quote unless you take a physical. What happens if after you are covered, you make a claim. Will the insurance compnay renew your policy? If not, and you own real estate and have savings, will the state of Texas underwrite coverage if you can prove you couldn't get coverage anywhere else? Or do I need to divorce my husband, put everything in his name so I can get Medicaid? Please someone help with answers to these questions or point me in the direction I can get answers. All comments are welcome and appreciated. Bless you all.

Answer 1

I'm confused by your statement. First you said your wife had surgery, then you ask about divorcing your husband.

The premium will be based on gender and health condition. A visit to a local agent that works with all companies will get you a premium quote without a physical. The actual premium won't be known until you go through the underwriting process and the companies won't do underwriting until you apply. However, the agent can contact the underwriters before you apply, which will give you a better idea of the final premium.

Health insurance cannot be cancelled and the premium cannot be increased because you make a claim. However, some cheap policies will have a annual maximum. If you hit that maximum you'll lose coverage for that year. Almost all policies have a lifetime maximum. If you ever hit that maximum the company will not cover you anymore. The lifetime maximum runs, depending on the policy, $1M to $8M.

If you try to shelter assets by putting them in another persons' name Medicaid will make you wait 60 months before you qualify for benefits.

Texas does have a high risk pool if you cannot get an individual policy but there is a 12 month wait. Here is their website: http://www.txhealthpool.org