Healthcare Before Medicare: Your Options

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN (00:00) This show is dedicated to helping you not just survive retirement, but have the clarity, confidence, and comfort to lean in and rock it. (00:30) Roger introduces week two of the four-part series on health care before Medicare and explains why assumptions about health care costs can shut down curiosity, create false tradeoffs, and delay retirement decisions. PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT (05:05) After last week’s sticker shock, Roger shifts the focus to observing health care options before tackling cost mitigation next week. (05:28) Option — COBRA: how continuation coverage works, who qualifies, how long it lasts, and why it can serve as a temporary bridge despite higher costs. (12:35) Option — Affordable Care Act (ACA): marketplace coverage, guaranteed issue for preexisting conditions, plan tiers, and why the system is complex but flexible. (19:46) Option — Part-time employer coverage: using part-time work to access group insurance, earn income, and maintain purpose and social connection. (25:20) Other alternatives, including private non-marketplace plans and health share plans, and why they require caution. LISTENER QUESTIONS (28:19) Joni asks about creating a trust will instead of a straight will, naming her son as beneficiary, and how traditional and Roth IRAs would be distributed under SECURE Act rules. (34:42) Christine asks whether it’s possible to anticipate capital gains distributions in open-end mutual funds before year-end. (38:45) Andy shares an observation about Monte Carlo simulations. SMART SPRINT (42:20) Roger encourages listeners to identify and challenge their assumptions about health care and retirement timing. REFERENCES Submit a Question for Roger Sign up for The Noodle The Retirement Answer Man Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Healthcare.gov

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Healthcare Before Medicare: Your Options is an episode from Retirement Answer Man by Roger Whitney.

This episode is 44:53 long.

This episode was published on Feb 11, 2026.

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