Posted by - According to a survey by HealthView Services, a 65-year-old couple, if they retire in 2019, would need close to $390,000 to cover all medical expenses including parts B and D of the red and blue cards.
- The cost of dental care is the biggest blind spot that is most easily overlooked after retirement, because the basic red and blue card health insurance usually does not cover this cost.
In the American Life Insurance Guide community, we often talk about the American medical system as the biggest "life toll gate" faced by people living in the United States.For healthy families who are ready to retire in 2019, they have to start paying for expensive medical expenses.
According to the data from HealthView Services, a provider of medical cost forecasting,A 65-year-old couple in good health,Would require $387,644 USD,To pay for the medical expenses for the rest of his life.
This fee includes:
- Premiums for Part B (Medical Insurance) of the Government Red and Blue Card
- Premiums for Part D of the Government Red and Blue Card (Prescription Drug Insurance)
- Dental insurance premiums
- Out-of-pocket expenses related to medical examinations, hearing tests, etc.
It’s worth noting that this fee does not includeThe cost of long-term care.
This fee does not include the cost of long-term care.
The healthier you are, the more you spend?
The other findings of this report are:The healthier we are and the longer we live, the more money we will spend.
According to the survey, a 55-year-old woman in good health would spend an average of $65 on medical expenses every year by the time she was 13,165.At the same time, women of the same age but with type II diabetes have an average annual medical cost of $16,635.
In the end, the healthier woman will pay $424,875 in medical and health expenses, while the diabetic with a shorter life expectancy will only pay $266,163.
American Life Insurance GuideBased on this annual expenditure, the editor of ‘s simply calculated that healthy retired women would pay $158,712 more for life than retired women suffering from diabetes.
The report’s spokesperson commented: “According to the annual calculation, healthy people’s annual out-of-pocket amount will be relatively small, but because they live longer, the overall cost will increase.”
Medicare will not pay for everything
A common misunderstanding among people approaching retirement is thatMedicare will pay for all the huge healthcare-related expenses.
Tricia Newman, head of the Caesars Family Foundation, said: "Few people have noticed that medical services that are not covered by insurance will generate unexpectedly huge expenses."
These expenses include assisted living (Assisted Living)cost. According to Genworth Financial data, in 2018, the median annual expenditure of assisted living institutions in the United States reached 4.8 US dollars.1.
The cost of dental care is a blind spot
The cost of dental care is the biggest blind spot that is most easily overlooked after retirement, because the basic red and blue card health insurance does not cover this cost.
According to data from the Caesars Family Foundation, nearly 3700 million people, orTwo-thirds of the beneficiaries of the red and blue card plan do not have dental insurance.People with dental insurance get it through private medical insurance preferential plan (Medicare Advantage Plan), Medicaid plan (MedicAid) or private commercial insurance company.
The survey also found that in 2016, about 20% of red and blue card beneficiaries who received dental services spent more than $1000 a year.
A Caesars spokesperson said: "Some dental services are very cheap, such as dental cleaning and annual check-ups, but some are very expensive, such as crown treatment and dental implants."
Our response
Although medical insurance will not cover all our expenses after retirement, we can take some measures to ease it.
- Under 65 years old and still working? Then accumulate HSA account:HSA deposits are pre-tax or tax-free, cash valueTax exemption for growth,If used for qualified medical expenses, the expenditure will also be tax-free.It is worth noting that once we have joined the red and blue card insurance plan, we cannot continue to deposit money into the HSA account.However, we can withdraw tax-free to pay for medical care.
- Get a comprehensive understanding of our insurance policy:We should fully understand whether our insurance is a Medicare Advantage Plan or other retirement health insurance plans.What is the deductible, what is the Co-Pay deductible, whether it is a co-insurance policy, etc., so that the basic situation is clear.
- Are our doctors in the insurance medical network:Even if there is a medical insurance discount plan and dental insurance, we must pay attention to confirm in advance whether our doctor or dentist is on this insurance medical network.
(>>>Recommended reading:Long Term Care long-term care insurance in the United States introduces the price advantages and disadvantages of the claims must read and purchase age window ）
Red and blue card registration time in 2020
- The public registration time for the 2020 Red and Blue Card Health Insurance Plan is from October 10th to December 15th.During this period, we can switch from the basic red and blue card health insurance plan to the Medicare Advantage Plan (Medicare Advantage Plan), or switch back to the basic red and blue card health insurance plan from the Medicare Advantage Plan.
2. Evaluate annually whether our medical and health insurance plan still meets our current actual needs.
(American Life Insurance Guide Edit report)
appendix
01. "Cost of Care Survey 2018", 2018, Genworth, https://bit.ly/2PaUw4d
