Health Insurance for Baby Boomers
November 5, 2007
It is not secret that as baby boomers age they need better health insurance. This fact has not escaped the attention of the major health insurance carriers. With an estimated seven million individual polices to be written it makes good business sense to go after these aging boomers.
The age range that is of interest in this new found market is 50 to 64 years. There is a reason for these numbers. These individuals are normally financially secure and looking straight at retirement, which often means that they will lose their health insurance, or at least a good chunk of it, soon. Health insurance companies are also hoping to establish relationships with those who are approaching the age Medicare kicks in, 65, before they reach that age.
In an attempt to get into this booming market, Aetna recently signed an agreement with AARP to sell its insurance products to members who fall into the 50-64 age range.
But this coverage push draws skepticism from consumer watchdogs who say insurers have a history of avoiding this age range and the expensive claims for illnesses that often hit that group.
The Federally-based Medicare system coverage starts at age 65 and many carriers find the age group just approaching that cutoff age lucrative for many reasons. Volume is probably number one. Figures from the Census Bureau estimate the population of those between the ages of 43 and 61 to be at 78 million people. That is approximately twenty percent of the U.S. population