With financial concerns consuming people’s minds day in and day out, it sometimes causes them to miss (or consider skipping) doctor’s appointments, even when they needed some sort of care. According to a survey from Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, people age 65 and older ranked “health” as their greatest worry. As the cost of healthcare continues to increase, it makes it extremely important for you to account for healthcare when planning for retirement. Healthcare is not only taking up more of retirees’ budgets, but also their anxieties. Some analysts are expecting the cost of healthcare to rise at 5.5% annually, which is three times the rate of inflation from 2012 to 2016. If your health slides, it can cost you financially, but the degree of its severity can drastically differ based on your thoughtful advanced planning and strategies. So, here are 3 tools for you to consider so that you don’t forget about healthcare when planning for retirement.
Tool #1 – Health Savings Account (HSA)
You can think of an HSA as a 401(k) that’s specifically for your healthcare needs. It’s a special savings account that lets you invest and earn money on a pre-tax basis. You can only open one if you have a high-deductible health plan, since the idea is that you use your HSA to offset the out-of-pocket premium costs. Still, any earnings you accrue on your HSA contributions are tax-free. And, you can roll them over from year to year, letting your healthcare budget grow steadily.
Tool #2 – Medicare
Medicare doesn’t cover any dental, vision, or hearing conditions, and it provides no long-term care assistance. The services that it does cover, it usually doesn’t cover entirely. You may still have to pay deductibles, make co-payments, and more. All of this means that going on Medicare is just the first step to a sound healthcare plan.
Tool #3 – Long-Term-Care Insurance
There could be a possibility that you may end up needing a live-in nurse or move into a nursing home before the end of your retirement. Medicare doesn’t cover the costs for any of these kinds of expenses, but long-term care insurance does. You can be denied long-term care insurance if your health is already poor or you’re already using a daily care service, which means that this should be high on your list of pre-retirement priorities if you think you’ll end up needing it.
Ultimately, it’s crucial for you to plan for what can go wrong, before being able to afford the luxury of what can go right. Your savings could be drained in an instant without having a solid plan in place that addresses some of the potential healthcare risks you might face in the future. Our goal is to help you be the best prepared you can be for any outcome, and it all starts with a fully personalized and comprehensive plan. Get started today by scheduling your complimentary, no obligation financial review! We’ll learn your life goals and combine them with your financial situation to help create a customized retirement plan that aims to carry you to and through a successful life in retirement.
