Thread regarding Chevron Corp. layoffs

@4frt, "... Didn't I hear during my working years that retirement was suppose to be easier?..." It is. I'm two years retired (EOI Class of 2020). There are many critical decisions to make early on (Medicare, retirement funding, monthly budgets, do I work part time, etc.), which have a myriad of subtle variations to choose from. The key is to have a professional advising you based on your financial position. Willis Towers appears to be reliable (I went with my own financial advisor who I've been working with for years), ViaBenefits is reliable for Medicare options. Once you make these decisions (we had ours done within 3 months of retiring), then it is Easy Street. Just be sure to stay active, both physically and mentally.

@4frt, You should consult a CPA or tax professional before going through with your Roth Conversion strategy. You may be better off not doing a direct transfer of all your IRA money into a Roth, but doing so in managed amounts each year. Like you said, the one-time tax hit at this financial stage of your life will be very high. I think having done the Roth earlier in your working career would have been a better time. Do remember your money needs to be invested in a Roth for 5 years for earnings and subsequent withdrawals to be tax free. If you’re now becoming 65, I think you may be a little too late for it to benefit you. You may profit to consider transferring smaller annual amounts from your IRA into an after-tax brokerage account (like at Merrill Edge, Schwab, or even at Fidelity). The taxable amount you transfer out would be predicated on other taxable income you declare on your Federal 1040. You can take a taxable partial rollover into your after-tax brokerage account amounting up to the 12% marginal tax rate, but not going higher than that. Eventually over the years you will be able to move all your money out of the IRA while paying the lowest federal taxes possible.

Thanks 1xdv, I live in near Houston in Fort Bend county. I am figuring that my healthcare insurance costs will be going up next year because my wife is 4 years younger and I will have both Medicare and Chevron insurance bills to pay for the next 4 years.

I am in the process of converting my IRAs into ROTH IRAs which goes into income on my taxes, so I figure I will be hit with higher Medicare costs from that too. Didn't I hear during my working years that retirement was suppose to be easier? Not really.

Similar experience as others here. As others have said, don't wait until the last minute, signup for Medicare A and B as soon as you can, 3 months before your 65th birthday. ViaBenefits will get you through all the paperwork, they're diligent but will be very neutral on advice. You have to do your own research. I highly recommend medicareschool.com. Very informative on all the options, as well as the mistakes to avoid. About ten hours of videos, very worthwhile. They'd love your business, but understand that you have to go through ViaBenefits for the Chevron subsidy. One sage piece of advice: avoid Medicare Advantage plans. Those $0 premiums sound great, but you have a copay on just about everything, very little control over your doctors, and can't see a specialist without their approval. I have a Medicare Supplemental plan, plus separate vision, dental, and prescription plans. About $150/mo after the Chevron subsidy, and you still have to pay the Medicare Part B premium of $170/mo.

There are some pretty good $0 premium Medicare Advantage plans out there, especially if you live in the metro or suburbs of a major city. If you are a person with health concerns or want to cover yourself just in case, you may be able add a hospital indemnity supplemental policy tailored to your plan for a reasonable premium. Original Medicare with a Part D and supplemental Medigap plan is the maximum way to go, but at the highest monthly costs, although some folks may find this quite doable. You’ll have the freedom to visit about 98% of all Doctors nationwide (practically every physician accepts Medicare). Having a Medigap supplement plan like Plan N and G will cover virtually every cost that Medicare won’t, including any copays, deductibles, extended hospital stay costs, and expensive chemotherapy and radiation dr-gs. Truly the best way to go. But most of us will choose a managed care plan like Medicare Advantage. Just know that there are some pretty good ones to chose from. Make sure your preferred Doctors and Hospitals are in the Providers Network before making your final choice. And don’t worry too much because you can change plans during the annual open enrollment period.

Uh, yea, that michael moore is quite the sicko. I suppose he prefers the type of system where someone else pays, since his healthcare costs are far greater than average, being obese and those are the types who prefer the "everybody let's all pitch in" method. In general you will see a trend where the types who prefer the socialist programs are the ones who will benefit the most from those programs while everyone else foots the lion's share of the bill. I understand some actually need and deserve the support but I wouldn't put sicko michael in that category.

Sounds like you guys need to get with program. The program most first world countries run. A state run health system. Time to watch Sicko by Michael Moore and see what everyone is missing out on.

Be prepared to pay WAY MORE than $170 per month for medicare if you are making any kind of significant taxable income in retirement.

If you are already on Social Security, the SSA will automatically enrolled you in Medicare Part A & B. They’ll do that three months before your birthday month. You’ll get your Medicare Card in the US Mail a few days after you are enrolled. If you are going to turn 65 soon, be prepared to contact Via Benefits after receiving your Medicare card, since they will need your Medicare number. If you prefer to speed things up, visit the Via Benefits website and create an online account for yourself. Do the same thing on the Medicare.gov website. You will require your ID.me credentials to do this. If you don’t have an ID.me account, set one up for yourself first. Back to Via Benefits, they are the Post-65 retiree benefits administrator for Chevron. You will no longer be using the Chevron BenefitConnect for your healthcare benefits, it’s Via Benefits from now on. Feel free to peruse the Via Benefits website for current 2022 Medicare Advantage Plans. You don’t need to login as yourself, just select See Plans and enter your real zip code, but type in a fake birthday that is within 3 months of today’s date. It will display the available plans as it assumes will be turning age 65 very soon. As for me living in Harris County, I found the AARP UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage Plan 1 (HMO-PMO) to be very attractive. It’s a zero premium per month plan, although Social Security will deduct the Part B premium straight from my SS benefit, Chevron will be kicking in $94 each month as the Chevron Medical Contribution I earned and Via Benefits will handle the accounting on that. The Medicare Advantage I just mentioned includes the prescription dr-g plan (Plan D) as well as Dental, Vision and Hearing. These three add-ons to the plan are not full-fledged insurance plans like other stand-alones that have a small premium, but they do cover the basics at no copay or deductible. Furthermore, being part of the UnitedHealthcare insurance giant, many Doctors and Hospitals accept this insurance plan.

I can tell you I just turned 65 last June. As the other comment said Chevron uses VIA Benefits for post 65. As suggested you will be notified thru snail mail from VIA with the Chevron Logo attached to it. One thing to make clear! You get NO Dental and Vision Coverage. You get your eye exam covered. But glasses and all that zilch. I paid 800 bucks out of pocket recently for new glasses. Medical Tax write off old timer. For Dental. We chose Cigna at 42 bucks a pop for wife and husband was the best option out of all the options. All medical deductions if you go long form and add it all up throughout the year. Talk to your tax advisor. Finally like most we signed up with United Health Care for Supplemental. They auto deduct our premiums and as suggested we get two auto deposit returns for 94 bucks and change per person in return. Meaning for two people we pay about 90 bucks a month for our supplemental insurance.
Not bad. Dr-gs! Yes I use a couple prescriptions. They sign you up for WellCare at about 10 bucks a month per person pretty much zero out of pocket. Until you start getting into heavy duty dr-gs for cancer etc there is a lot of out of pocket costs for those types of dr-gs. Finally you have about I think right now 190 per year deductible which you pay for any medical treatment for Medicare per person! Also deductible. I can’t assume that you’ll spend 7% of your income on medical expenses but it adds up and you are making less in retirement. It’s not that hard to do. Just plan on spending up to two hours on the phone with a VIA Benefits rep when you sign up. It su-ks getting old! Good luck.

Your premiums will depend on your income which will be considerably more than the premiums when you were employed usually about 2x. If you work through Willis Towers Watson Exchange selecting plans on your dental, vision, health insurance you each will be reimbursed $94.00 per month.
Very important do not drag your feet signing up for Part A and D of Medicare. It will hit your back pocket significantly. Suggest you sign up as early as possible.
Willis Towers will contact you and hold your hand walking you through a minefield of coverage offered by providers or you can contact them. Advise you to steer clear of Guardian Dental unless you enjoy telephone menu he-l and dealing with a 3rd world claims rep. They challenge you on every claim and try to grind you down.