Summary
Robert Powell points out that rising health care costs and the decrease in health benefits for retirees is creating serious problems for people thinking about retiring. Many companies are no longer offering health care benefits for retirees, which means that they need to prepare for their post-retirement health expenses before they actually retire. For most people, this means putting away $175,000 just to cover the health care bills.
Original source:
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BE9B21EF5-F4AB-41FC-BB52-1F596E4CF60C%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
Details
Nowadays, people say that if you have your employer-sponsored retiree health insurance you've got all.
Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Americans will be able to make that statement in the years to come.
For instance, the study says the percentage of private-sector employers offering retiree health benefits to early retirees, those under age 65, has declined from 22 percent in 1997 to just 13 percent in 2002, the latest year for which figures are available.
The upshot is that future retirees, especially baby boomers, will be in for quite a shock come retirement.
"As current trends continue, and workers come to understand the true availability and cost of retiree health benefits, baby boomers may find themselves unpleasantly surprised by what awaits them in retirement," says Paul Fronstin, author of the EBRI report.
Fidelity Investments estimated that a couple retiring in January 2004 without an employer-sponsored health-care plan would have needed to set aside $175,000 to pay future health-care costs.
Allen Steinberg of Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire, Ill., says the answer will depend in part on when you retire: whether you are 65 or older and eligible for Medicare or pre-Medicare-eligible and whether you have access to an employer-provided health-care plan, regardless of who's paying for it.
"Once you get to age 65, it's a much more favorable ballgame," he says, noting the addition of prescription-drug coverage as part of Medicare starting in 2006.
Regardless of when you retire or what coverage you have, experts say future retirees will likely have to pursue several tactics now and in the years to come to make sure they can fund health-care expenses.
For those who have the time, saving more -- assuming they have access to and can afford coverage -- is definitely a must.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he has published numerous courses on preparedness and survival, including financial preparedness, emergency food supplies, urban survival and tactical self-defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening.
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Email this article to a friend
Share
this article on: 
