Retired couple seen with $200,000 health need

[deadparrot]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An American couple that retires at age 65 will, on average, need $200,000 in retirement to cover out-of-pocket medical costs, Fidelity Investments, the No. 1 mutual fund firm, said on Monday.

That amount, considered the biggest single expense for most people in retirement, increased 5.3 percent from $190,000 last year, said Brad Kimler, a senior vice president of Fidelity Employer Services Co., a company division.

The increase mostly resulted from the rising cost of health care and has gone up an average 5.8 percent a year since Fidelity began releasing the estimate in 2002, the company said.

The number is important as Fidelity has found that most people don't take into account health care when planning for their retirement, and because the number of companies offering health benefits to retirees is declining, Kimler said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/retirement_costs_dc

[SoCalDem]

1. Seems to me, a better plan would be to take a fancy trip or two

enjoy the hell out of yourselves and then just die:(

What a shame to save for old age, only to turn over all your savings so some pill-makerss and scalpel-happy doctors can buy a new Lexus..

[sandnsea]

7. That's my plan

well, except without the fancy trip or two. Luckily I live in a vacation destination, so at least I've got that.

When my mom had a heart transplant, it became abundantly clear that a home and retirement plan is just for the medical industry to suck out the last of the blood from the American turnips. Truly does suck.

[SKKY]

8. Hmmm. Lets see...

Spend maybe a couple of years in some exotic place (Tenerife comes to mind) living the life and then
dying quietly, or spending a few extra years having my children change my diapers 3 times a day, bathing me, and feeding
me food to bland to taste because my aging stomach can't take anything else. Seems like an obvious decision to me.

[NashVegas]

2. Sing With Me - "Catfood Days Are Here Again"

blah blah blah blah / blah blah blah blah


Who wants to make up the rest of the lyrics?

[0007]

20. Alpo every Sunday!

[NVMojo]

3. the Bush administration wants to practice a form of euthanasia on the

American population ...and it's not Solyent Green!!!

[Bozita]

4. Why don't our Canadian neighbors face this burden?

Time for a single-payer system.

[Dem2theMax]

5. I have this all figured out.

When I get sick someday, even if it's tomorrow (and I'm 49) my money isn't going to the insurance company or the pharmaceutical industry. I've decided that when/if I get sick - that's it. I'll want pain management, but that's it. The money I have is going to go for LIVING. Not postponing my death so others can get rich off of my illness.
If I get cancer, it can chase me around the world. Because I'll be traveling, enjoying whatever time I have left.

[Daphne08]

10. I feel the same way, and I've already told my husband so.

Why should I leave him with a mountain of debt?

[Delphinus]

21. Those are real close to my thoughts too.

I'm 48 in a few months and have been without insurance for seven years. And, out of all my family, I'm the healthiest!

But, a long time ago, I made the decision you did. Pain management and, hopefully, a quick death. I've lived a good life - the rest, as they say, is gravy. :)

[Hardrada]

6. Modern Corporate Capitalism (Especially under the GOP)

has two messages to unrich Americans: "Don't get sick! Don't get old!"

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. Some interesting figures - and something to think about

.
.
.

There are an astonishing 44 million Americans without healthcare. Those who do have healthcare have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for it, and even then, they have to worry about co-payments, deductibles, etc. A recent Census Bureau report states: “the ranks of those without health insurance grew from 41.2 million in 2001 to 43.6 million in 2002. The percentage who lack insurance rose from 14.6 percent in 2001 to 15.2 percent in 2002. The percentage of non-elderly adults (those aged 18 to 64) with private health insurance slipped from 70.9 percent in 2001 to 69.6 percent in 2001.”

And yet, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Americans spend considerably more money on health care services than any other industrialized nation - but the increased expenditure does not buy more care. According to the study, U.S. per capita health spending rose to $4,631 in 2000, which was an increase of 6.3 percent over the previous year. The U.S. level was 83 percent higher than Canada and 134 percent higher than the median of $1,983 in the other OECD member nations. They found that in 2000, the United States spent 44 percent more on health care than Switzerland, the nation with the next highest per capita health care costs.

The study also found that the United States spent 13 percent of its gross national product on health care in 2000, which was considerably higher than other nations. In contrast, Switzerland spent 10.7 percent of its GNP on health care, while Canada spent 9.1 percent. The median spending level for the OECD nations was 8 percent. American private spending per capita on health care was $2,580, which was more than five times the OECD median of $451. In addition, the United States financed 56 percent of its health care from private sources, which was the greatest amount of the OECD countries.

According to the study, public financing of health care from sources like Medicare and Medicaid accounted for 5.8 percent of U.S. GDP in 2000, which is similar to the OECD median of 5.9 percent. However, the United States spent $2,051 of public funds per person, which was much more than the OECD median of $1,502. In most of the other OECD countries the public health care expenditures cover everyone, unlike the United States. At the same time, Americans had fewer physician visits, and hospital stays were shorter compared with most other industrialized nations. The study suggests that the difference in spending is caused mostly by higher prices for health care goods and services in the United States. The results are published in the May / June 2003 edition of Health Affairs.

USA: The Health Care Epidemic

Maybe us Canuks could run ur healthcare system for ya - lotsa bucks there for us to make a bit of money too, save y'all a lotta bucks, and give ya decent healthcare to boot! :silly:

Nah - Korprate Murikkka would never allow that.

[Voltaire99]

11. Consider yourselves hired!

You socialist Canuks could certainly do no worse than our parasitic middle managers and insurers.

And thanks for posting the great info. I wonder how many dutiful Kerryists will flee in horror upon discovering they've clicked on Marxist.com? ;-)

[Gin]

12. Got this email yesterday about this issue...heres an idea...

No Nursing Home for Me

About 2 years ago my wife and I were on a cruise through the western Mediterranean aboard a Princess liner. At dinner we noticed an elderly lady sitting alone along the rail of the grand stairway in the main dining room. I also noticed that all the staff, ships officers, waiters, busboys, etc., all seemed very familiar with this lady. I asked our waiter who the lady was, expecting to be told that she owned the line, but he said he only knew that she had been on board for the last four cruises, back-to-back.

As we left the dining room one evening I caught her eye and stopped to say hello. We chatted and I said, "I understand you've been on this ship for the last four cruises." She replied, "Yes, that's true." I stated, "I don't understand" and she replied, without a pause, "It's cheaper than a nursing home."

So, there will be no nursing home in my future. When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess Cruise Ship. The average cost for a nursing home is $200 per day. I have checked on reservations on a Princess and I can get a long term discount and senior discount price of $135 per day. That leaves $65 a day for:

1. Gratuities which will only be $10 per day.

2. I will have as many as 10 meals a day if I can waddle to the restaurant, or I can have room service (which means I can have breakfast-in-bed every day of the week).

3. Princess has as many as three swimming pools, a workout room, free washers and dryers, and shows every night.

4. They have free toothpaste and razors, and free soap and shampoo.

5. They will even treat you like a customer, not a patient. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the entire staff scrambling to help you.

6. I will get to meet new people every 7 or 14 days.

7. T. V. broken? Light bulb need changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No Problem! They will fix everything and apologize for your inconvenience.

8. Clean sheets and towels every day, and you don't even have to ask for them.

9. If you fall in the nursing home and break a hip you are on Medicare; if you fall and break a hip on the Princess ship they will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life.

Now hold on for the best! Do you want to see South America, the Panama Canal, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, or name where you want to go?

Princess will have a ship ready to go. So don't look for me in a nursing home, just call shore to ship.

PS: And don't forget, when you die, they just dump you over the side -- at no charge!

[Vinca]

13. What a great lady! I'm stocking up on dramamine. nt

[Daphne08]

14. This is a great idea! Smart lady.

[AnneD]

15. Silly me

I was thinking about comitting a white collar crime and getting thrown into club fed (3 hots and a cot+healthcare) as my retirement plan. I like her plan more.

[Voltaire99]

17. Better yet...

Don't get caught and you'll be able to travel in first class. ;-)

[mike923]

16. In the past...

you just died when you got old.

[Bridget Burke]

18. In the past---many people did not make it to old age....

First, there were high infant & childhood mortality rates. Then, the large percentage of women who died in childbirth--or of childbed fever. Wounds that got infected & diseases no longer with us also carried many people away before they got old.

Are you nostalgic for the Good Old Days?

[noonwitch]

19. I'm grateful for my UAW membership

They may not have always done well by us state employees, but they did ensure that if we work there until retirement, we have health insurance until we die.

[question everything]

22. Whenever I hear about plans to live longer, my immediate response it

with what? What good is it to live longer, even healthier, if I outlive my savings?