"Older" near retiree and HSA contributions

[skp]

I know most of the posters here are a lot younger than I.  I think investment advice is very age specific.  So I am asking this question.  I am a 59 year old nurse close to retirement.  I am thinking of either retiring at 62 or going part time since health insurance costs are horrific ($1500 minimum a month for my husband and I.    I could go part time (3 12 hour shifts biweekly) and still get health insurance for $400 a month or keep full time until medicare age 65 and pay $200.  I like my job and am thinking of the part time option.  Until then I have a  question on how to allocate my retirement savings.  Currrently  I get a match on 6% on a 403 B.  I've been deducting 10%%.  I max contribute to my IRA because we like the funds better.  I have a HD HP at work which my employer contributes $1500/ year to a HSA.  We are healthy and I had been only contributing an extra $20 a pay to cover our dental expenses over insurance.  No other medical issues.  No meds.  I have amassed $7500 in the account.  I haven't invested it so get minimal interest.  There probably is a fee but I don't know what it is, I don't think it's horrific.My deductible is $3000 family and max out of pockets is $5000. 
I have read that after 65 your HSA account is treated like an IRA unless you have qualified medical expenses.  The HSA can only be used tax free for Medicare premiums not supplements   (My research indicates that it's probably not worth it to get a supplement) and out of pocket expences.
How much should I should amass in my HSA. ?  Should I be putting more into it than what my work does? Would I be better off just putting the money in my 403B?
ETA-  I have over $1,200,000 in savings.  Not counting a paid off house.

[BTDretire]

I don't have an answer for you but, I'm 61, wife 57 and we have $47,000 in our HSA.
 So I'm not concerned about having to much in my HSA, in fact I wish I had started contributing years before I did.
 I expect in retirement I'll have enough medical expenses to spend it all.
 

[EnjoyIt]

SKP.
I am younger than you, but if you have more money to save, your HSA is a great place to put it.  Tax free in and tax free out.  I promise you, over the next 41 years you will have a few medical expenses that will use up the account.

[tawyer]

Based on the picture of your finances you have painted, you should probably be maxing it out. If you haven't read this article:
http://www.madfientist.com/ultimate-retirement-account/
read it now.

As you say, at 65 it's just like a traditional IRA.

Also, since you mentioned investment options, Health Savings Administrators have Vanguard Mutual Funds available for your HSA money with modest fees.

[BTDretire]

Based on the picture of your finances you have painted, you should probably be maxing it out. If you haven't read this article:
http://www.madfientist.com/ultimate-retirement-account/
read it now.

As you say, at 65 it's just like a traditional IRA.

Also, since you mentioned investment options, Health Savings Administrators have Vanguard Mutual Funds available for your HSA money with modest fees.

 You pay taxes on a regular IRA, I think it would be better to spend the HSA on medical expenses, that way it is tax free. I'm saving my receipts.

[PhrugalPhan]

Thanks for the reminder about the HSA.  I have one, and starting with this Friday's paycheck I should have enough that they will allow me to start investing in the account.  Happy days.

[SpinGeek]

I'm in my late 40's, and I'm not sure why I resisted maxing out and investing the surplus in my HSA for so long. I had been just putting in enough to maintain about $3000 in cash balance to cover my usual annual expenses plus my $2600 deductible.

An article in our company health newsletter about funding medical costs in retirement finally made me realize that I was missing out on a 7.65% discount (SS and Medicare). So I shifted part of the contributions from my 401k to my HSA two weeks ago so I can max out my contributions by the end of the year, and I invested everything over my deductible in Vanguard Total Stock Market. I'll be paying $3.50/month in fees, but I'm fairly certain I'll be making more than that on the investment by the end of the year.

A nice feature of our plan is that you can have it sweep anything over a certain dollar amount directly into your investments. Then if you use some of the cash portion for expenses, it will keep the paycheck contributions in cash until your balance hits the sweep limit again.

I hope to retire early, since my spouse is 13 years older than me and plans to retire at full SS age. So I'm pretty worried about healthcare for me until I hit Medicare age (if it's still around by then). And if by some miracle I don't need the money for healthcare, I'm not any worse off than if the money was in my 401k (also in Vanguard funds).