Unless the rules change for Medicare, if you retire at 65, it’s probably not a huge help for you, as Medicare kicks in at 65. If your wife is younger than you, it would help defray expenses in retirement for her health insurance. What about health insurance for your child? Under current rules, they can stay on your policy until they turn 26, which is after your projected retirement.
Well, a $5k/month pension is actually pretty substantial. You need to figure out how much your pension, annuity and SS will provide you each year upon retirement. You can subtract that amount from what your expected annual expenses* will be in retirement. Then multiply the remaining amount by 25, and that’s the minimum you should have in your investment accounts to retire.
*If you have no idea what your expected annual expenses in retirement will be, you can start by estimating what your income will be when you turn 65 (adjust for inflation, etc.) and assume that you will need at least 80% of that amount in retirement. You can adjust up if you’ll be spending more on things like travel, healthcare, entertainment, college, etc. and adjust down for work and commuting expenses you’ll no longer have.
To get a better estimate of what your retirement expenses will be, you can start tracking and categorizing all of your expenses to determine how much you currently are spending, and then figure if you will be spending the same, more or less in retirement. Do this for a few years, and it should give you a good idea of what your retirement expenses will be.
Yes, health insurance (including Medicare, employer provided and private/ACA) works that way. You (and your employer for employer-provided) pay premiums, although some employers self-insure. I will say - Medicare premiums are generally way lower than private/ACA premiums. Depending on your employer, Medicare premiums can be significantly more or significantly less than premiums for employer provided insurance. Then, if Medicare/your insurance covers the cost of the medical expense, they pay what they allow. You may have to pay co-pays, a deductible or co-insurance, depending on your plan rules. If Medicare/your insurance doesn’t cover the medical expense, you may have to pay the whole thing, unless you negotiate with the provider.
The thing is - health insurance, including Medicare, generally doesn’t provide for long-term care, with the exception of a short (30 days or less) stay in a rehab center after hospitalization. You need to purchase separate long-term care insurance if you want to have long-term care covered. Many people don’t understand that, and complain about Medicare when they have to pay for long-term care.
I thought I was pretty typical in that I pay for Medicare (deducted from my SS payments) as well as paying for retirement medical insurance thanks to the company I retired from. Together they keep my medical bills manageable. For example, $55.37 for a $2,306.46 CTA scan, and $1,108.81 for an $18,476.93 outpatient surgery. Or 580.95 instead of $26,548.40 when I had to be admitted. Unfortunately I have no way to tell how much was Medicare, how much the other, but I’m happy to pay for both when I look at those numbers.
Employer coverage post-retirement far from universal. Many (maybe even most) employers don’t offer it. Because of this, most of the seniors I know only have the Medicare Parts A & B (Part B premiums generally paid from SS checks, part A generally free) and additional coverage (Part C, F, G, etc.) that they have to purchase from an insurance company on their own.
It can be. Without the specifics of the plan there is no way to be sure. I happen to have retired from a very large (DOW 30), very paternal company, and their plan is good.
If it’s still there in 16 years and remains for your lifetime, it will be. The Supreme Court has ruled that union retiree health benefits are not vested for life, but only for the length of the collective bargaining agreement. 17-515 CNH Industrial N. V. v. Reese (02/20/2018) (supremecourt.gov)