Rising Health Care Costs Call For Delayed Retirements

By Author: Narmin Leo
Total Articles: 58
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With health care costs spiraling, baby boomers must take a look at the significance these rising costs will have on their retirement plans. Research conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) provides some grim news for those nearing retirement.

The EBRI reports that men nearing 65 years of age who will soon qualify for Medicare will need $65,000 in savings if they wish to have a 50% chance of being able to pay for their health care costs during retirement. Women of a similar age and similar health care forecast will require $93,000. Both reports are for individuals with median drug expenditures. Men wishing to have a 90% chance of meeting their retirement health care costs will require savings of $124,000, while women will require $28,000 on top of this.

This means that a retired couple with median drug expenses would require $158,000 if they were to have a 50% chance of meeting their drug expenses and $271,000 if they were to have a 90% chance of meeting their drug expenses. At the highest level of drug expenses, a retired man would require $187,000 and a woman $213,000 to have a 90% chance of ...
... possessing adequate finances to cover their post-retirement health care costs. These figures do not include benefits from former employers.

The EBRI’s report was produced based on the principles of the new health care reform bill, which will soon begin to affect new retirees. The alterations to Medicare Part D cost-sharing, being phased in by the year 2020, provides the greatest concern of all.

In the event that the federal health care overhaul was not passed or was not enacted, medical expenses would reach even greater heights. According to the EBRI report, those with high prescription medication costs should expect to pay less in the coming years. Those affected by the changes to Medicare Part D should expect to pay only 25% of the “doughnut hole” when the changes are fully phased in in 2020.

The spiraling cost of health care is expected to force 40% of American employees to delay their retirement simply because they cannot afford to retire. This is backed up by reports that health care costs in America surpassed $2.3 trillion in the year 2008, which proved to be in excess of three times what was spent in the year 1990 and in excess of eight times what was spent in 1980.

In 2008, health care spending in the United States amounted to approximately $7,681 per resident, accounting for 16.2% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. This ranks the United States at the top of all industrialized countries in health care spending. Family premiums for health care coverage sponsored by employers increased by 131% over the last twelve years, placing the burden of health care costs on both employers and employees. Yet with the slow growth of employee’s wages, many face difficulties in meeting the costs of health care spending.

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