We have all heard by now that the baby boomers are retiring at a steady pace. It is amazing how this post war baby boom has affected a large portion of our history. The neat thing about the people that are retiring today is that with the advancements in health care they are more active and adventurous. I still believe in the thought that if you do not do some things like travel or garden or some other hobbies before you retire you most likely are not going to start at retirement age, but it seems like most people that plan to retire early have thought of how they are going to fill their time.

Many more people would retire earlier if they could afford to. They are predicting that we need a great deal of money in savings and investments in order to maintain the life we are presently living. For many people the major expense that they need to consider is major medical insurance. With the rising cost of health care you cannot afford to be without it but having to buy major medical insurance and pay for it out of pocket is an expense that most people cannot afford.

The result is that people are working longer than they want to just to make certain they have medical coverage. This needs to be addressed as a nation sooner rather than later.

The CEO’s of major medical insurance companies are raking in millions of dollars in their bonus checks each year while others go broke and bankrupt from not having enough medical coverage. A recent study showed that one of the leading reasons for families filing bankruptcy is due to a medical catastrophe. This makes no sense to me. We live in a country with the best health care in the world. Many foreign diplomats and others with money come here to receive medical treatment, yet many of our children are only seen in emergency rooms at county hospitals because there they cannot be refused service for not having the means to pay.

Many elderly need to choose between eating a good diet or purchasing their medications. We have managed to make the Medicare system so confusing that many seniors refuse to even apply because the process is so intimidating and long. We need to reform the major medical insurance polices so that everyone has the right to adequate medical care. Being able to take advantage of the medical advancements that have been made should not rely on the amount of money that you have. Insurance companies need to pay better for procedures and cover the cost of treatments that are being recommended without making a person see two or three doctors.

The last time at the office that they had an enrollment period on for benefits, you might have heard lots of bandying about of the phrase, consumer-directed health plan. Did you ever wonder just what that meant? It isn’t really that they’re directing a lot of fantastic health at you, the customer. It’s that you the customer, are being tapped to let the company off the hook as far as possible, by accepting an incentive for it, and deciding on a different consumer directed plan. It is not always that they provide you with a clear choice. They simply tell you you’ve got no other choice – like General Electric did. Another name for this type of plan, is a high-deductible medical insurance plan. Exactly what that means is, that there is a large deductible one per year, something like a few thousand dollars for the family; however the trade is that your per month premium is reasonably affordable. And there’s a tax advantage you can claim, come tax time. Is this truly an affordable health plan?

Here is how it works. In case we happen to be getting our healthcare on our own dime, we usually are not going to be allowing every useless test they think of at the hospital. You’ll ask lots of questions, to attempt to be as cost effective and efficient as you possibly can with the tests and procedures – until you run through the high yearly deductible, that will be your hard earned money. A plan such as this will save your employer 20%, and so, they are enthusiastic about it. And you will also make use of a health savings account, that can help you set aside tax-free health contingency funds, up to about $6000 per family. And the tax break can be very significant as well. Any health savings you don’t use in one year, can rollover to the next, and also to another company when you change employment. But this is not the only affordable health plan which companies on a limited budget offer you.

There’s a Health Reimbursement Arrangement as well. And this is something that you usually get with small companies. Your company sets aside a certain budget for every employee, and it is their call, if they will give you any interest on the money put aside for your needs, and they will let the money roll over year on year. So which is best, or rather, which is better? If you’re young and healthy, with no diabetes or anything, the higher deductible plan can make a lot of sense. And if you have something like it, then either plan might make sense, depending on the specifics.

You will simply need to consider a few tough questions. Which plan, provides you with access to the hospitals and doctors you’ll need? You are going to also want to decide how much you can afford to contribute. If you feel cash-strapped, the high deductible plan saves you sufficient money on the monthly premiums to really make a difference. But none of those options makes sense at all if you don’t have a lot of money to spend on your health. You could quickly find yourself owing big money should something happen and you do not have enough for your high deductibles. But that just happens to be a reality of today’s health scene.