What the bridge actually costs
The 55–64 band is the most expensive band on every age-banded plan, and that surprises people who last shopped for coverage in their thirties. Here are the published rates for the plans that publish them.
| Plan | Single | Couple | Family |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bright Life Copay PPO, Cigna PPO, $3,500 deductible (eff. 9/1/2026) | $429 | $809 | $1,099 |
| LifeX, PHCS PPO, $1,500/$3,000 deductible (eff. 1/1/2026) | $509 | $839 | $1,129 |
Sources: Bright Life carrier brochures effective 9/1/2026, and the LifeX carrier rate sheet effective 1/1/2026. Bright Life's $3,500 level is the lowest-premium of three. Bright Life is not available in AK, HI, MD, MN, NH, OR, VT, WA or DE; LifeX is not available in AK, HI, MD, MN, NH, OR, VT or WA. Availability varies by state, carrier and plan.
Budget for health insurance before you retire
Health insurance is usually the largest line item early retirees forget to fund, and it is the one most likely to change. Start from a current quote for your state, age and household, and treat that monthly premium as a floor rather than a fixed number.
Premiums are not locked in for the length of your bridge. Rates are filed by carrier and state and can change at renewal, and moving into an older age band raises the premium on its own. Deductibles, coinsurance and out-of-pocket maximums sit on top of the premium.
The practical approach is to price your coverage now, understand that the cost will rise as you age and as rates are refiled, and build room into the plan for that. Do the arithmetic before your last day of work, not after — and revisit it at every renewal.
COBRA versus private coverage
COBRA lets you keep the employer plan you already have, usually for up to 18 months, at the full unsubsidized cost plus an administrative charge. Your employer stops paying its share, which is why the bill often triples.
COBRA is genuinely the right answer in some situations and the wrong one in others. The table below is the comparison worth making in the two weeks after you leave.
- Stay on COBRA if you are mid-treatment, if a condition would be excluded or declined by underwriting, or if you only need a few months before Medicare.
- Look at private if you are healthy, the COBRA quote is high, and you need coverage for years rather than months. Options may include an underwritten plan, depending on the plan, your health and what is available in your state.
- Do not let COBRA lapse before a replacement is approved. Apply first, get the approval, then cancel. An underwriting decline after you have dropped coverage is a bad place to be.
- Check the exchange too. Losing employer coverage is a qualifying life event, and if your household qualifies for a large subsidy the exchange is usually the better deal.
| COBRA | Private underwritten plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Health questions | None — you keep the plan | Yes, and they can rate, exclude or decline |
| Duration | Usually up to 18 months | Ongoing, no built-in end date |
| Cost | Full group premium plus admin fee | Priced on your own age, state and health |
| Network | Whatever the employer plan used | National PPO on many of our plans; size and access vary by plan and area |
| Mid-year start | Continuous from your last day | Can start in any month, subject to underwriting |
Why underwriting gets harder with age
This is the part worth being blunt about. Medically underwritten plans ask health questions, and by your late fifties most people have accumulated something to answer them with: blood pressure medication, a joint replacement, a cardiac workup, a cancer history, a sleep apnea diagnosis, a medication list that has grown by one item a year.
Underwriting can respond with a standard offer, a higher rate, an exclusion rider for a specific condition, or a decline. Nobody can promise you acceptance, and any site that does is not being straight with you. Recent treatment and pending tests matter more than something resolved a decade ago.
If the underwritten plans do not work, one guaranteed-issue option exists — Enrollment First SelectMed Bronze Pro, where nobody is declined, though it is membership-style coverage rather than major medical and is not available in AK, HI, MA or NH — and ACA-compliant exchange coverage cannot decline you at all. Those are real options, and they are more limited in different ways. Our eligibility page explains what underwriting actually asks.
Keeping your doctors through the bridge years
By this stage most people have relationships they do not want to give up: a cardiologist, an orthopedist, a primary care physician who knows the whole history. Network is often a bigger deal than premium for early retirees.
Many of our plans use national PPO networks — PHCS, First Health, Aetna, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield BlueCard among them — which include a wide range of providers, so members can often keep their own doctors. Network size and access depend on the plan and the area, so check your specific physicians and hospital in the plan's directory before you apply, and be careful with EPO designs where out-of-network exposure is much larger. See PPO vs HMO.
The handoff to Medicare at 65
Medicare eligibility generally begins the month you turn 65, and your Initial Enrollment Period runs from three months before your 65th birthday month to three months after. Set a calendar reminder at 64 and a half; the paperwork takes longer than people expect.
Plan the end of your private policy against the start of your Medicare coverage so there is no uncovered gap and no month of paying twice. Tell your agent your birth month when you buy the bridge plan, not when you are three weeks from turning 65.
If your spouse is younger, only one of you moves to Medicare. The household usually drops from a couple tier to a single tier on the private plan, at the younger spouse's own age band — worth pricing in advance.
Know what kind of plan you are buying
"Private health insurance" is an umbrella term covering several different coverage structures, and they are not all ACA-compliant major medical. Early retirees are targeted hard by products that sound comprehensive and are not. Be clear which of these you are looking at before you sign anything.
- Medically underwritten major medical style plans — Bright Life, LifeX, Manhattan Life Affordable Choice, Philadelphia American Optimum Health Saver.
- Fixed indemnity — Medical Mutual Protect pays set amounts for day-to-day care. It is not comprehensive major medical and we pair it with a catastrophic layer for that reason.
- Catastrophic layer — Medical Mutual Protect Catastrophic covers up to $1,000,000 per person per year after a $5,000 deductible.
- Gap coverage — Pre-Med Defender GAP covers sickness as well as accident under a high deductible.
- Short-term medical — we never sell it standalone. It is a stopgap, not a bridge for seven years.
- Guaranteed issue — Enrollment First SelectMed Bronze Pro, membership-style coverage rather than major medical, and the fallback when health rules out the underwritten plans.