Retirement health and medical costs | Strategic Financial Planning

Retirement health costs stabilize – for now

Perhaps one of the most difficult financial situations to plan for is medical expenses in retirement. It’s an expense we can’t predict, because we don’t know what health conditions we will have in retirement. But for those trying to plan, there is good news.

The latest estimate for the cost of health care in retirement is less than it was a year ago. According to Fidelity Investments, a 65-year-old couple retiring this year will need $230,000 to pay for medical expenses throughout retirement, not including nursing home care. That’s an 8 percent decline from last year’s $250,000 estimate.

The decline is attributed to Medicare changes under recent health care reform. The change reduced expenses for prescription drugs.

via Retirement health and medical costs | Strategic Financial Planning.