We’ve written a lot about retirement planning and the choices you’ll have to make as you figure out your budget, but we haven’t focused as much on your benefits. Obviously, you are going to need to make pretty massive changes to your lifestyle and because of that, you want to plan ahead and go into retirement with certain benefits in mind.
Location, Location, Location
If you plan on moving once you retire, then you’ll definitely need to think about what plans you’re taking with you. For example, if you have a Sharp plan, will there be doctors for you? Sharp’s service area is San Diego County and Southern Riverside. Sharp does feature out-of-area-care, but it's meant to be used when travelling and only provides you with emergency services. If you want an in-network primary care physician, you’ll need to double check to see if your provider operates wherever you plan to end up.
Most providers only serve certain locations or states (for example Kaiser is only in 8 states, Cigna is in 10). We recommend you check with your plan online to see what coverage your insurance provides!
If you plan to travel, that’s another thing to consider. Some health care plans are strict about out-of-network care, while others will still cover you for emergencies. There are even some plans that work around travelling and are great for finding coverage just about anywhere.
These restrictions might apply to your other plans as well. Most of SDPEBA’s plans offer nationwide coverage, except Sharp and MetLife Dental’s HMO plan. But you’ll be able to utilize all of SDPEBA’s other plans without a problem.
Plan Eligibility
Besides Aflac, City retirees are able to enroll in any of SDPEBA’s plans after retiring. But did you know you can carry your Aflac plan into retirement? So long as you sign up prior to retiring, your Aflac plan can follow you into retirement.
This isn’t true for every plan, and some pricing might change once you do retire, but this is an important aspect to consider, especially if you’re planning to retire within a year. Plans to look out for are portable City plans that you enroll in through SAP, Aflac with us, and Long-Term Care insurance.
Your Spouse’s Plans
If your spouse isn’t retiring just yet, you might want to just enroll in their plans, but before doing that remember not to drop any portable plans that you’re trying to keep. You should really consider the benefits and costs before transferring your plans over. It might be cheaper now, but will it be cheaper in the long run once both of you retire?
If you’re retiring soon... Consider these Plans!
First of all, congratulations! If you want to avoid any headaches related to retirement and your benefits, be sure to give SDPEBA a call 60 days prior to your official retirement date. We’ll be able to help you with the items listed above too. We wanted to also just take a moment to shout out the plans that do great for retirees. These plans are:
-VSP
-Aflac Critical Illness
-Aflac Hospital Indemnity
-Unum LTC
-Sharp Medicare
If you are retiring soon, you should look into these plans! Especially Aflac, since you cannot apply after you retire. If you have any questions please call us at 888-315-8027 or email us at [email protected].