How are you handling health care coverage in your encore career or encore transition?

Securing adequate health coverage is perhaps the biggest challenge for people considering or embarking on their encore careers. Fear of losing coverage keeps many people from leaving their current jobs, while the inability to find or afford coverage can limit encore career options. Retiree health benefits are becoming ever more rare. Some employers (Home Depot, Starbucks) offer health coverage for part-time work, but few nonprofits and social sector employers have followed suit. High costs and exclusions for “preexisting conditions” often rule out individual coverage.

Encore.org is interested in how people are managing this challenge. Are you:

• Getting employer-sponsored health benefits in your encore job?
• Staying in your current job to keep health coverage?
• Covered under a retiree health program, your spouse’s or partner’s plan, or Medicare?
• Taking advantage of COBRA benefits?
• Working at a part-time job in retail or elsewhere, primarily for the health coverage?
• Paying for individual coverage, perhaps a high-deductible (“catastrophic”) plan?
• Going without?