10/7/2015 – Health Care in Retirement Will Cost How Much? (Plan Adviser)

For many, generating $250,000 in savings seems like quite a far off dream, but Fidelity’s Retirement Health Care Cost Estimate study now projects Americans will need just about that much to pay for health care in retirement.

According to Fidelity, a healthy couple retiring this year at age 65 should expect to spend $245,000 on health care throughout retirement, up from $220,000 last year. The figure has increased 29% since 2005, Fidelity says, when the projection was a cool $190,000.

As in earlier years, Fidelity finds factors boosting this year’s estimate include longer life expectancies and anticipated annual increases for medical and prescription expenses. In reality the picture is probably even tougher for retirement savers, as the estimates assume enrollment in Medicare health coverage but do not include the likely expenses for nursing home or other forms of long-term care.

Read the full article in Plan Adviser.