Discussion Question

Health Insurance.html

Health Insurance

One of the challenges facing older Americans is access to health insurance. There are several issues facing anyone contemplating early retirement—retiring before reaching the age to receive Social Security benefits or Medicare. As people get older, they tend to use more healthcare services. This includes medical appointments, prescription drugs, and a wide variety of medical tests. For that reason, insurance premiums are higher for older adults.

Employee health insurance is not a given, even though employers are still the primary source of healthcare insurance in the United States. The days of defined-benefit pensions and first-dollar medical coverage are quickly becoming a thing of the past. More and more employees are required to pay higher portions of their health care. As the cost of health care continues to rise more employers are considering dropping defined contribution health care coverage for more inexpensive alternatives such as café plans or health savings accounts.

Since the late 1990s, Medicare has moved toward a managed-care model, like most private health insurance. In 2003, Medicare expanded prescription drug coverage. Yet even with the expansion of drug coverage, many people look at the co-pays and deductibles that are part of the managed-care model, and weigh the costs of health insurance against the benefits of retirement. The rising health care costs, the decline of employer-sponsored benefits, and the increased risk of health conditions leaves the aging worker with some hard choices. For many, that choice may be to stay at a job for as long as possible. For some, it may even mean never retiring. Others may consider changing careers to supplement the retirement benefits of their former career. Changing or staying in a career is not just a financial decision; many other psychosocial factors can have a major impact on retirement decisions.