Any thoughtful comments?
15 replies (most recent on top)
If Intel really cared about official Intel Retirees... they would let retirees buy into the regular employee health plans at COBRA (unsubsidized) rates. However, I'm sure some bean counter came up with if there's a big pool of older workers, then health insurance premiums for regular employees be more expensive. Heck, they even ki-led SERMA, which was basically setting aside a $125 a month, and that's only if you actually made it to retirement, if you didn't, it just went back to the company.
The sad reality is that very very few worker bee level people in the US make it to Intel Retirement (Rule of 55) outside of TMG. The vast amount of people leave for better jobs, get impacted by layoffs over the years, get spun/sold off, or get a target on their back.
It's embarrassingly pathetic how Intel retiree healthcare insurance is handled.
Intel retiree health plan was always a plan of last resort. It was established prior the ACA banning using pre-existing conditions in determining premiums. Prior to this, if one needed healthcare and had a severe pre-existing condition, insurance was unaffordable (I mean really unaffordable). With the advent of ACA, and insurers couldn't dichromate against those with pre-existing conditions, the Intel retiree insurance was basically moot (since it was pooling of the highest risk patients, and thus very expensive).
With ACA, there were tons of subsides which the government paid for, which made for artificially low premiums. However, it still covered a broad spectrum of patients (including younger, and healthier payees), and thus, cheaper than Intel retiree health plan.
Having the Intel retiree health plan option is valuable since it guarantees some availability of health coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, given that ACA might scale back further with coverage, pre-existing conditions, and other things. However, it is NOT a cheap solution, since only the old and sick are mostly in the pool. The good thing is that if you are a retiree, hopefully you are closer to Medicare (otherwise, you need to find another job with healthcare or pay out of pocket for healthcare).
I did Cobra for 18 months, then ACA (no real income by then) and now on Medicare. Avoided IRMP like the plaque. Way overpriced. Intel should have some better IRMP options but of course they won't.
IRMP is a scam. Never subscribe to it. Your only bet is ACA.
as @b0 points out, the game is going to change here real soon. How it affects TAM and ASP is anyone's guess.
@c0 these guys run the connected care in AZ
https://azcarenetwork.org/insurance-plans/individual-group-plans/
I'd start by going down the list of "payers" they have here.
Cigna might be a winner.
btw, similar situation here.. my COBRA (18 month ) would expire on Jan 31, 2026.
so am contemplating on just ending COBRA on 12/31/2025.
so am currently on Anthem HDHP (Intel Plan), and IRMP is way too high.
Anthem HDHP is not available in Arizona because Anthem is a California plan evidently.
Does anyone know a similar private plan to Anthem HDHP in Arizona?
Thanks!
@bn that's just membership in a clinic. Fine if all you care about is getting a boil on your butt lanced or something like that. It is not major medical insurance. That means if you get in a car wreck, or have a heart attack, or wake up with colon cancer, you could be looking at a 900k hospital bill in healthcare industry funny money. "out of pocket maximum" are the words you need to see.
has anyone looked into some of the alternative type coverages like https://euphorahealth.com/. My coverage runs out next May and I will be 62 and need to find coverage until 65 without breaking the bank.
I'd say hose bee lion but the hose ain't bee lion.
ACA subsidies expire on 12/31/25 @ 11:59:59 pm and there is currently no ongoing effort to extend them. This means that ACA polices will see a significant premium increase starting 1/1/26. As previously stated in this post IRMP is expensive.
I am an independent so here is my view of the political antics in play: The Republicans have to do absolutely nothing in order to get what they want. The subsidies will just expire on their own. The Democrats have yet to do anything about this and there isn't much they can do. For some unknown reason the Liberal media hasn't picked up on this happening.
@ax much cheaper than IRMP and you can pay it out of SERMA. I did this after CORBA ran out and I didn't qualify for ACA subsidy. The private plan from my existing provider was cheaper than the ACA plan without the subsidy from their competitors.
@aw the last time I did this I found pretty much the same coverage from the same provider as a private non-ACA plan, HDHP
@am I am wondering if you get close to the same coverage wrt what you get when you are still working.
IRMP is way over priced. If you don't qualify for ACA subsidy then check non ACA plans from private insurance.