U.S. retirees need hundreds of thousands to pay for medical expenses, report finds

Reuters: "Some medical costs have fallen this year thanks to new health care reform laws, but U.S. retirees will still need hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to cover their lifetime medical expenses. According to a report released on Tuesday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a 65-year-old woman retiring this year will need to have between $143,000 and $242,000 to cover [her] health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in retirement. Due to a shorter life expectancy, a 65-year-old man retiring this year would need between $124,000 and $211,000. By saving these amounts, retirees would have a 90 percent chance of being to cover their health expenses, said EBRI, a Washington DC-based nonprofit research institute" (Kearney, 11/30).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.