Regardless of age and health issues she is paying entirely too much. Go to an insurance agent that sells Medicare Supplements and Medicare Part D (prescription drugs). The Insurance company cannot refuse to enroll her the first time for any reason. Also, check with an agent for dental coverage. I am 69 and pay about $30 per month with Aetna for dental and $120 (Plan G) for the Medicare Supplement that pays the balance after Conventional Medicare Part A and B (80%). Depending on age the Medicare Supplement, Plan F that pays all claim amounts (if Medicare pays for the procedure) with no copay or deductible should cost about $100 per month. Likely, you will find that aetna currently has the lowest price. Regardless of the company, all providers in her state must offer identical coverage with the premium being the only variable. Plan G will even be a lower price than Plan F with the only difference being she will pay an annual Medicare deductible for 2013 of $147. Medicare part D pricing will vary but Medicare has an excellent website where you can enter the drugs taken and you will find the out of pocket pricing. I now pay about $30 per month with First Health and pay nothing for Tier 1 generic drugs. I have changed providers now 3 times due to lower prices offered by another provider. I shop every year! The Part D prescription various amounts depending on the provider and plan chosen. In general, it covers about 40% of drug costs unless it is a tier 1 generic drug. Be careful that you do the research because one can be screwed. So, with the Medicare Supplement, Medicare Part D and dental insurance, the monthly cost should be about $160. Keep in mind that she can pay much more if she falls in love with an insurance company as she already has. She is likely paying a 3% administrative fee to her past employer for Cobra. Cobra should only be a temporary alternative until one is 65 and qualifies for Medicare.

As roarah says, all states are not equal. I live in a state whose gov. has done everything he could to stymie the ACA & refused to expand Medicaid - leaving many of our citizens w/o access to coverage. Also, our insurance commissioner is reportedly prohibited from regulating the insurance 'providers' - essentially allowing them to gouge consumers. If it were not for the ACA, I would not have insurance (had none for over 30 years before now) & I've already made good use of it. My individual plan is costing approx. $4400/yr, but I'm paying only about $800 of that w/ the subsidy. Not to let anybody off the hook, but I think the biggest culprit is medical costs - which continue to balloon out of control, it seems. Insurance providers, & ultimately we, are definitely paying through the nose for services & prescriptions. I was recently in a hospital room for about 6 hours - not even an overnight stay & no meals & the charge for that my ins. co. paid was $23,000! Has anyone else heard about the new push to require providers to disclose prices? The prediction is that this may result in lower costs - eventually. Right now, the $$ charged for a procedure can vary as much as 70% or more... http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/02/12/276001379/elusive-goal-a-transparent-price-list-for-health-care Oh & love him or hate him, I recently heard a good 1 from Ralph Nader: isn't it ironic to be calling the folks who gouge everyone on medical costs 'providers'?

It is good that you are starting to look now. There are several types of continuing care communities but I will only give you the basics. Some charge a residence fee and then a monthly maintenance. Both fees are called many things so the terminology may not be the same. The residence fee is basically purchase of a space on which you pay rent, maintenance, This fee can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. There may or may not be a separate fee for dining. Some insists that for the first month or so that you must dine in the dining area. Others you may be charged for a set number of meals and you pay extra over that. Part of the selling spiel is that if you do not like the place you can recover part of your money. The clause in many is that the recovery is only after there is a new tenant. Any updates for the new tenant is taken from your fee. One place in Minneapolis I looked at they were refurbishing it for a new person and it had been vacant for two years. If the market is good the time should be much less than that. If the place becomes less desirable it could be longer. Some there is no fee to move in and there is a monthly fee with various add-ons such as dining, use of gym and swimming pool, certain activities, etc. The best ones, may not be more expensive, include every thing in one fee. Both types normally have both independent and assisted living facilities but normally they will be separated so look at both. Assisted Living: There is generally a base fee then you are charged additional for each level of care. You have to check your contract to see what is covered in a continuing care facility. In this state if you require two or more people to assist you must use a skilled nursing home facility. Most use a Hoyer lift but if you are heavy or unable to bend body parts and a one person operates the lift and the other places your body this is considered as needing skilled care. The final chapter: Nursing Home for if you really get sick. Some will allow you to remain in your living quarters or will move you to another area/building. However many do not have a skilled facility only assisted and independent. You would want to live in a community that has activities that allow you to go places rather than in house only activities like bingo, cards, etc. I did not like the continuing care facilities where you have a large upfront cost because I would worry too much about changes in management or bankruptcy of the facility. Both types of continuing care places will have annual increases in charges so what may be affordable now will be less so in 20 years from now. I do suggest that you start looking now so you see what is available and help decide what type of lifestyle you think you will like after retirement. You may even find one and move in before retirement.

I've been paying roughly $1000-$1200/month for myself since my husband's retirement over ten years ago. That does not include kids. We covered them on student health plans, which turned out to be cheaper in sum. I can give you a couple of tips: Don't bother with the Federal Health Exchange site unless you will qualify for a supplement of some kind. It's not a terrible site, but you'll have to do everything yourself. You are better off contacting a local insurance broker (I found mine on NextDoor). It may end being a very simple decision because in many markets there is only one company that sells to non-group members. So I can buy a gold, silver or bronze plan, but only from Community Health Choice (Houston suburb). My plan offers a 10% discount for completing an annual survey. I'd had the same plan the year before but never knew about that discount until the agent told me -so ask about that. Try not to panic when you read the crazy deductibles. I think mine is $5000 (whereas ten years ago, it was probably $500), but so much preventative care is now covered pre-deductible, thanks to Obama care, that I think I'm spending less out-of-pocket than I did before. But I'm a pretty healthy person who doesn't use a lot of medical services except preventative, so your mileage may vary... When I first began to buy my own insurance plans (after DH's retirement), I made the mistake of picking the plan first, rather than the doctor. The last few years (when I had a choice of at least 2 companies to choose from), I compiled a list of at least a dozen primary physicians I could abide, and then called their offices to see if they were accepting new patients, when I would be able to get an appointment, and whether they had any plans to cancel coverage with insurance company X the next year, etc. I had learned the hard way (in January), that I may have had a great plan, but I couldn't find a dr. on that plan who would see me as a new patient before August. I kid you not.....So that year, I was paying $1200/month and actually didn't have a dr. I could see until August.....