$280,000 for a retired couple?

[Farm_or]

According to CNBC, that is what a couple age 65 with medicare will need for out of pocket health expenses. I don't know how that can work out when the reported 65 year old IRA is only $60k?

For me, it's another reminder to make personal health number one priority. Eat right, exercise correctly, and get adequate sleep. And continuously improve all of those aspects.

I've made a bit of a plateau conquer this year for nutrition. It started as a simple new year's resolution that I was failing. I simply wanted to consume an apple a day. It was more difficult to achieve than I thought. Then I discovered some smoothie recipes.

Replacing a meal a day with a smoothie has been a big improvement. I have gotten that apple a day for starters. It's also become a way to consume a whole myriad of vitamins and minerals.

The more you learn about nutrition, the more daunting it seems to get all the substance you need. I used to think there was no way. I'd weigh 400# eating the variety needed. With a smoothie, you just add bits of this and that and blend it in.

My weight dropped from my winter high 190 back to my normal 180. My abs of my twenties are back and my blood pressure dropped from 120/80 to 100/60.

[jennypenny]

That sounds like the $250K number 'they' say is what it costs to raise a child in the US.

Other than staying as healthy as possible, it's probably worth it to be proactive with orthopedic issues and take care of them earlier (and while presumably on better health care). I've seen several people wait until they could barely walk to get hip/knee work and replacements, but by then they were so old and out of shape from being immobile that they struggled with the rehab.

Orthopedics, dental work, and maybe simple cardiac stuff like valve fixes are probably best done early as a preventative measure.

[jacob]

According to CNBC, that is what a couple age 65 with medicare will need for out of pocket health expenses. I don't know how that can work out when the reported 65 year old IRA is only $60k?

Life expectancy varies significantly with economic wealth and of course how it's spent.
In the US, the richest 1% live on average 15 years longer than the poorest 1%.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U ... expectancy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U ... expectancy

For comparison, the average life expectancy in Bangladesh is 70.75 years. CNBC might be calculating the cost if money was no objective, i.e. the cost via either individual savings or universal taxes if the US was spending more like Western Europe.

[7Wannabe5]

@jacob:

The life expectancies were reported from birth. Higher birth rates coupled with higher infant mortality rates could account for a good deal of the difference. Also, much higher level of early accidental death in rural areas where machinery is more frequently operated by large portion of population and early death due to crime in any poor community.

In terms of the overall U.S. population, if all 3 of the largest killers were absolutely eradicated, life expectancy would only increase by 8 or 9 years, so survival after age of 40 attained would likely vary somewhat significantly.

IOW, even with the very best luck and medical care and adherence to preventative practices, all you are going to buy your self for that $280,000 is 8 or 9 years max. If you net $20/hour at the margin, it would take you 14,000 hours of work to earn this longevity

[IlliniDave]

I'm basically looking at my SS benefit as heathcare reimbursement.

[jacob]

It's an ironically regressive tax when it comes down to it.

[jacob]

IOW, even with the very best luck and medical care and adherence to preventative practices, all you are going to buy your self for that $280,000 is 8 or 9 years max. If you net $20/hour at the margin, it would take you 14,000 hours of work to earn this longevity

That's 7 years of full time work for 15 years of extra life. By the numbers, half would take take it.

That sounds about right.

[EdithKeeler]

According to CNBC, that is what a couple age 65 with medicare will need for out of pocket health expenses. I don't know how that can work out when the reported 65 year old IRA is only $60k?

I always object to that scare tactic number. 280k.... for two people... assuming a 20 year retirement period... is $7000 a year. A much less scary number—though of course if you don’t have it, just as scary, I guess. The vast majority of costs occur at the very end of life, often in desperate measures to lengthen life.

There is a drug—Keytruda—that is regularly advertised on tv for “non-small cell” lung cancer. If you look at the stats (which they go over very quickly, of course, it lengthens life by a few months in a handful of people, with this very specific disease. If you go to the website, it shows 50% of patients treated with Keytruda were still alive at some point, versus 44% treated with standard treatment (this is on their website: https://www.keytruda.com/non-small-cell ... y-treated/).

Great if you’re one of the handful of people helped.... but my whole point is that the costs of this very, very expensive drug (and many others like it) are driving up the costs in those healthcare numbers published... and they aren’t doing THAT much good.

A discussion about how their dosage instructions add to the bottom line of the company: https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/key ... xperts-say

My dbf’s Mother is 92 and just had surgery for skin cancer. She’s 92, in terrible health—skin cancer ain’t what’s gonna kill her.

Sorry—I’m just really really cynical about a lot of those “health care costs in retirement” numbers.

Yes, it’s important to stay healthy, but you can’t eat and exercise your way to perfect health, either.

I’m hopeful that I have a good long healthy life but when the end is upon me, I go out without a lot of drugs and treatment that likely won’t help much anyway.

[classical_Liberal]

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[jacob]

http://earlyretirementextreme.com/my-hd ... -care.html

This is an ancient post, but the NNT and NNH seems relevant.

Also check out http://www.thennt.com
Use the search bar, e.g. http://www.thennt.com/nnt/statins-perso ... r-disease/

[Farm_or]

It seems to me that there is a lot of error made in all of those advertised estimates. It takes $280k to retire in health expenses, it takes $? million to retire early, it takes $500k to raise a kid.

It often makes me wonder what is the driving force behind those outlandish estimates? Someone somewhere must be benefitting? And it is a consistent message through the media.

I think it is obvious who benefits from high healthcare cost expectations. Big pharma and tort attorneys. Probably other potent associations and lobbies influencing our "free" press too?

[RealPerson]

Those things like $500k to raise a kid, $2M to retire, $300k for medical expenses are all just click bait. The media has long ago stopped reporting real news. So it is all about getting people to read the "articles" without having to spend money on serious journalism. What better way than to scare you in the title?

[JBmoney]

I can't imagine that a blanket statement like that is valid. Everyone's situation and needs are different.

But, to me, $140,000 per person for medical expenses throughout retirement sounds low. Remember...we're all living a whoooole lot longer than we used to live. You should expect a 20-30 year retirement. And, along with that longer timeline comes more medical expenses.

Staying healthy is a good way to hedge against those costs... but at somepoint age will simply take over. No amount of healthy living will save you from what's awaiting with old age.

Have you looked into long term care insurance at all? It's not right for everyone... but could be a saving grace if it fits with your particular situation.

[classical_Liberal]

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[classical_Liberal]

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[Jason]

It often makes me wonder what is the driving force behind those outlandish estimates? Someone somewhere must be benefitting? And it is a consistent message through the media.

It's the major retail investing institutions. Sponsored financial "articles" are spread so indiscriminately through media platforms that you are often not reading "news" emanating from media companies, but in-house studies conducted by said retail investing institutions providing content for financial sites.

It's advertising for personal savings. And we all know about advertising.

[CECTPA]

I'm a nurse and I work and LTC. Before that I used to work in Emerg a little bit. I've seen how LTC patients are created. Sometimes we don't have advanced directives about critical conditions because people don't bother about living will and DNR until it's too late. And we make sure the patient survives doing all these crazy interventions in ICU. Third degree heart block? Massive MI? Maybe it's time for you to kick the bucket, but our job is to save your life, we don't really have to think about your quality of life after you're saved. After a massive MI you're probably going to end up with severe CHF, on 25 different pills for that, and in long term care, because the plaque that made sure your heart arteries are blocked is also in your brain, so you will slowly get dementia and incontinence, because there is not much blood supply to those areas in your brain. The pills we are giving you will make sure you will need more pills for side effects of initial ones.
So, food for thought. Take care of your end of life orders paperwork.

[Clarice]

I've read an article ( can not find it now) that sliced and diced people into groups with regard to the amount of medical services they used at the end of life. The group that used the least amount of services were medical doctors. The group that used the most were Chinese-Americans. I remember this article because it is consistent with my observations at work. I am thinking of getting a tattoo on my chest that says, "No tube feeding".

[Peanut]

Interesting but what about Chinese-American doctors? There are a significant number of these.

[IlliniDave]

https://www.fidelity.com/insights/retir ... vings?ah=1