The projected tab for an�average, healthy 65-year-old couple retiring this year, in�lifetime premiums for Medicare Parts B and D�and supplemental insurance,�is�$288,000, according to�the HealthView Services 2016 Retirement Health Care Costs Data Report.�Add in out-of-pocket expenses, including dental, hearing, and vision care, and the bill reaches $377,412.
That's in today's dollars. You want it in tomorrow's? Adjusting for inflation, the report projects the lifetime premium costs at $435,472. Add in deductibles, copayments, hearing, vision, and dental, and it's $567,903.
Millennials and Gen Xers, this means you, too.�If you need more motivation to save for retirement,�flipping�through the 16-page report will do it. You'll find memorable facts like these:�
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• A 65-year-old couple retiring this year would need 57% of their�Social Security payments just to cover their health care�expenses. For a couple 10 years younger, with plans to retire in 2026, that jumps to 88%. For a 45-year-old couple, it's 116%.�Younger people can do the ugly extrapolation from there.
• From 2015 to 2016, retirement health care costs are projected to jump 7.3%, partly because of a 16.1% rise in monthly Medicare Part B premiums (for doctors and preventive services) over that period, from $104.90 last year�to $121.80 this year.
• A 30-year-old woman who retires at 65 will face about $119,000 more in expenses than her male counterpart, the report forecasts. That's based on women living until age 91 and men living until 87. The figures, in today's dollars, are $548,098 for women and $429,466 for men.
• For someone who retires this month, HealthView expects health-care inflation to average just over 5.1% annually for�the next two decades. But "since supplemental insurance premiums are age-based, future retirees could face an additional annual 4.5% increase (or more) for supplemental plan coverage," the report said.�
• The state you live in plays a big part in your Medicare Part D coverage (for prescription drugs) and cost. HealthView took costs based on the latest projections from the most popular supplemental plan, Plan F. It found, for example, a gap of 49% between premiums for the insurance in Hawaii and Massachusetts. The tally in Massachusetts for a 55-year-old retiring at 65 and living to 89 is $116,790. In Hawaii, it's $173,583.�
• With lowered thresholds for Medicare means testing, starting in 2018, wealthier retirees will face increased surcharges on Parts B and D based on their modified adjusted gross income (yes, the acronym is MAGI).�"Since the levels are not currently indexed to inflation," the report says, "as salaries grow over time many middle-class retirees may eventually fall into upper MAGI brackets and face even higher surcharges." � � �
Well, it's upward mobility, anyway.
