For 36 years Doris taught 7th through 12th grade English and after saving carefully, paying off her mortgage and considering her options, she decided it was time to retire. Still a few years away from qualifying for Medicare, she must rely on the retiree health insurance that she earned as a teacher, but this hard won benefit has turned out to be a far cry from what she expected.

After three months of traveling cross country covering the health care woes of Americans, we could almost predict the next thing Doris would tell us. Within the first month of retirement, her insurance premiums increased a stunning 70 percent. When budgeting for retirement she told us that she “even planned an extra 10 percent for increases in health insurance costs.” Her prudent plan was destroyed by the first and increase and she’s been told more premium hikes are almost a certainty.

Doris says her state has been forced to raise premiums because of poor fiscal management, or what she wryly refers to as “the politics of bad behavior.” Rising health care premiums are particularly difficult to absorb for retirees who live on a fixed income. As monthly contributions rise pension checks remain the same, forcing retirees and others to make budgets cuts or go back to work.

For Doris the best option was to go back to school, this time as a tutor. Now she works a few days a week to make extra money, in part to help pay for her increased monthly health insurance premium.

But she hasn’t remained silent about this issue. “I’ve been fighting with Retiree Health Care, since I’ve been retired,” she told us. Doris has written and made phone calls to her representatives, encouraging them to revisit this issue and find a way to provide her and others the benefits they were promised at an affordable price.

For now, Doris continues to work to keep up with her retiree insurance premiums and the out-of-pocket costs associated with visiting her doctor, who is considered out of network. Doris finds that part particularly frustrating. She has to work during retirement to afford insurance premiums, but can’t use that insurance to visit the doctor she’s built a relationship with for almost a decade.

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