Health Insurance for Seniors Over 65

In the United States (US), Seniors are the older individuals who are from 60 years and above. For seniors from 65 years old and above, there is always a Federal Government assisted program for their health insurance. This means that seniors from the age of 65 and above, the Government provides a program that offers health insurance for them free, for the qualified individuals.

This does not mean that they can’t go for Private Health insurance; No, it’s all about choice. They can decide not to use the federal Government assisted program and use only the private Health Insurance or even use both. So, in this article, we shall be talking about health insurance for seniors over 65 years old; we shall be looking at the kinds of health insurance cover that is best for them, the cost and others.

Is the Cost of Insurance for Seniors over 65 Cheaper?

Yes, very well. The cost of health insurance is much higher for seniors than for younger people. There are some factors that affect the cost of health insurance of which one of them is age. The older the age, the higher the cost of health insurance. The reason for this is because insurance companies see higher risks to insure older age than younger people; higher risks in the sense that older aged people are more likely to fall sick than younger people.

According to Investopedia, Insurance Premiums are cheapest for young people within the age bracket of 20 and below; most expensive for those 64 and older. They buttressed that  by age 46, insurance premiums will be roughly 1.5 times what they were at age 21. And will typically double by age 53 and triple by age 64 and older.

Can Seniors over 65 Get Free Insurance?

Insurance for seniors over 65 might not be totally free; however, it can be highly subsidized through some Federal Government Programs. These programs help to pay off a part of the total cost of insurance for qualified seniors. Example of such a Federal Government assisted Program is medicare.

Government Assisted Programs for Insurance for Seniors

Since seniors are of higher health concern, the federal Government has some programs which help to make the insurance cost of seniors easier for them to carry. These programs help to subsidize or pay part of the total insurance cost of any qualified and benefiting senior. Some of the programs are:

1. Medicare

 Medicare is a federal health insurance program in the United States for people aged 65 or older and younger people with disabilities, including those with end stage renal disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease). Medicare is not totally free, it still requires that the beneficiary pay little part of the insurance cost. However, Medicare is going to take care of almost all the cost, paying about 80% of the total insurance cost of the beneficiary.

Who Qualifies for Medicare?

Does it mean every senior over 65 is eligible to enjoy the medicare program? NO! Not everybody or every senior is qualified for the medicare program. For a senior to qualify for the medicare program, they must have paid Medicare taxes on their earnings while they were working. This means that if you paid your taxes very well while you were still actively working, you automatically qualify to enjoy the medicare program. However, foreigners and expats cannot access Medicare benefits unless they have worked in the US for at least around 10 years.

Parts of medicare, cost and what they cover

As said, medicare is not totally free; it takes care of just about 80% of the total health insurance cost. Normally, the average cost of medicare is from about $174 monthly and above, depending on the Part you are going for.  Medicare is of about 4 parts: 

• Part A: covers hospital insurance, and may be totally free, that’s $0 
• Part B: covers medical insurance and may cost $174.70 monthly.
• Part C: covers Medicare Advantage and may cost about $18.23 monthly.
• Part D: covers prescription drugs and may cost $53.95 monthly.

How to Apply for Medicare

According to Medicare, some people get Medicare Part A and Part B automatically, and some have to sign up for it. If you don’t have this automatically, you can simply sign up and get enrolled. 

The easiest way to sign up for medicare is through social security.  You will create your secure my Social Security account to sign up for Medicare or apply for Social Security benefits online.

2. Medicaid 

Medicaid is another insurance support program from the Government. It is a joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for Adults with a low income, children, people who are pregnant, seniors aged 65 and above, and people with disabilities.

How to apply for Medicaid

To apply for medicaid, you must be a resident of the state where you are applying for benefits. To get started, you need to create an account with the  Health Insurance Marketplace. Once you get to the account creation page, fill out the registration form and click on create account.

Here are a few documents and information that may be required of you during the medicaid application: your name, date of birth, your Social Security number, your monthly payment amounts for rent, mortgage, or utilities Proof of citizenship or immigration status Proof of income, like paystubs or W-2s A verification of what other government benefits you receive, Information about an insurance plan your employer has offered you or an insurance plan you currently have.

Health insurance for seniors without Medicare

In the section above, we have been talking about free to subsidized Government insurance programs for seniors – like the medicare, medicaid, and so on. Almost all these programs need certain requirements to enjoy. That means a senior must qualify for any, for them to enjoy them.

Now what of a situation where a senior doesn’t qualify for any of the assisted programs, what option should they go?

For seniors that don’t qualify for any of the sinrance assisted programs, they can decide to go for private insurance. There are several insurance companies that offer health insurance insurance policies that suit seniors of that age. Some of them are Pacific Life, All State, Guardian Life, HDFCERGO, etc.

Best health insurance for seniors over 65 us

Health concerns are known to increase as one ages. In this, seniors mostly need more health attention than younger people. This means that seniors spend more on health than the younger ones.

According to rbc wealth management, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that at age 65, the annual spend on health care is close to $6,500 per person ($13,000 for a married couple).

This is to show that health is a serious concern for seniors; and because of this, they need to carefully go for the best insurance that suits them most to help reduce the whole loads of health insurance costs on them.

After a careful check, here are the best health insurance for seniors over 65: 

• Optima Secure: this is a health insurance plan that provides health cover for medical expenses.
• Optima Restore: this insurance plan covers both your life and medical expenses.
• Medisure Super Top Up: this plan offers comprehensive health care coverage to policyholders ranging from regular medical checkups to hospitalization care.

Conclusion

A senior that doesn’t qualify for the Government assisted insurance Programs like the Medicare, medicaid, etc, can go for private health insurance. And some of the best insurance plans they can go for are: Optima Secure, Optima Restore, Medisure Super Top Up, etc. Since health insurance costs can get very high as you age, you can get government subsidies, called premium tax credits, if you have a low or moderate income and you buy your plan through the health insurance marketplace.