Retiring Before 65? How to Cover Your Health Insurance Until Medicare

The gap between leaving work and Medicare

For most people, Medicare begins at 65. We do not offer Medicare, so for that part you will want to talk with Medicare directly or with Florida SHINE, a state counseling program. Their numbers are at the bottom of this page. Your first chance to sign up generally runs for seven months: three months before the month you turn 65, the birthday month itself, and three months after.

Count the years between your last day of work and that window. That number tells you how long you need a plan of your own.

Choice one: retiree coverage or COBRA

Some employers offer retiree health coverage. Ask your benefits office whether yours does, and what it would ask of you. If not, COBRA can keep your job plan for a limited time. For many people that is up to eighteen months, so it may end before you reach 65. Do the math on the dates before you rely on it.

You generally pay the full cost under COBRA, plus any administrative charge, and you usually have sixty days to elect it. Smaller employers fall under a Florida state continuation law instead, with its own deadlines, so ask your former employer. Keep it running until any new plan is active. If you drop COBRA by choice or stop paying before it runs out, that generally does not open a Marketplace special enrollment period.

Choice two: your spouse's job plan

If your spouse is still working and has an employer-sponsored plan, your retirement generally lets you join it outside the yearly enrollment period. The window is short, often about thirty days. Ask your spouse to check with HR before you retire.

Choice three: the Marketplace

Leaving job-based coverage generally opens a special enrollment period on HealthCare.gov, which Florida uses. You can usually apply up to sixty days before or after the coverage ends. Help with monthly costs depends on your household income, which may look different in retirement.

We do not sell Marketplace plans, so HealthCare.gov is the place to start if you want to look at one.

Choice four: a private plan

A private plan can be applied for any time of year. The plans we offer are private plans, not ACA Marketplace plans, and they have exclusions and limitations. An advisor explains the details.

A private plan is one option to compare for the time before you turn 65. Our plans are for people under 65, and we do not offer Medicare. Ask your advisor what to expect before you apply.

Do not let Medicare catch you by surprise

Our plans are for people under 65, so plan the handoff. COBRA and retiree coverage generally do not count the same way as health coverage from a job you are still working when it comes to delaying part of Medicare without a late penalty. Ask Medicare before you decide to wait.

Keep your current plan until you confirm that your Medicare coverage is active. Nobody wants a gap in the month they turn 65.