USAToday says that the average 65 year old couple should have $225K on hand to pay for medical bills. [USAToday]
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Something tells me that Wal-Mart greeters aren't exactly making this much...
Soon as I hit 65 I'm going out in a blaze of glory. Preferably with felonies.
Very true. My father in-law has had brain surgery and a quintuple bypass w/in the last 2 years. The bills are ridiculous. What's scary is that this number will probably skyrocket over the next 40 years when it's time for me to worry about it.
Bahahahahahahaha. Why do I need to do that when I can get a reverse-mortgage on my house and credit cards?
@omerhi: Ding Ding Ding! We have a winnah!
I'm going to die by being shot by a jealous lover... when I'm 80.
As John McCain so ineptly put it last night, "We have the best health care system in the world*!!"
*-if you consider the 'world' to consist of the US, Cuba, and parts of Haiti.
Seriosuly, paying medical bills is for suckers. I HATE HATE HATE the folks who are walking away form their mortgages/debt. That's discretionary spending. But Medical expenses are not discretionary and the hospitals and insurance companies have us over a barrel. If you are 65 and you suddenly have a health emergency, what are you supposed to do? It doesn't matter if you have $50,000 or $500,000 socked away, you are going to get treatment. The only difference is that the sucker who had $500,000 socked away for medical bills will have to pay for it.
I'm not saying that's right. It's just reality.
The government should pay for all this!
It would only be
[let's see, $225,000 times 35,000,000 people 65 or older , divided by 2 since we're talking couples)
$3,937,500,000,000
Four quadrillion dollars. Yeah. Looks like we're gonna have to raise taxes a bit.
Goodbye middle class, welcome back to the 1890's, courtesy of your Corporate Overlords.
Hope your 9-year-old grandchildren have a good "work ethic" - soon they may need to leave school and go into recycling computer components and claning superfund sites to keep up with the Asian Tiger and every other "developing" country. Kiss your property and planned family estate pass-along goodbye, grampa's diabetes will eat it all away. Oh, and don't stop the war or tax the rich - Jesus wouldn't like that...
$225k?
Geeze, that's more than I make in a month!
@MINIwanter: Maybe you should consider starting an HMO, I hear there's big bucks to be made in screwing the elderly!!
Maybe people from Florida should start retiring to Canada...
Meg -
How about linking to the real news release here [personal.fidelity.com]
instead of a quick summary at USAToday that does not give any of the details like this one: "Assumes no employer-provided retiree health care coverage and life expectancies of 17 years for a male and 20 years for a female" There's a few more caveats that I did not list.
I miss the good old days - you know, like when my grandfather had a heart attack back in the early 50's and basically was told to go home and wait to die. Medical treatment ain't cheap, folks.
Tom Cruise to the rescue!
oh, good! save for web....and DONE!
thanks, color picture paper!
And after all these news you're still supporting the GOP candidate, people? Self-centric ignorant citizenship. Yep, I'm all for it.....until I get sick.
How much do we need on hand if we actually lead a healthy life? More because we'll live longer?
@Murph1908: I'm glad that the doctors, nurses, pharmaceutists, hospitals and insurance companies will get that 4 billion dollars. No price is too high for America's medical and insurance professionals under the current regime. None.
@strathmeyer: I'm not sure if you are joking or not, but you have hit upon a valid point. This study compared 3 different groups of people: smokers, obese, and healthy. Of the 3 groups, the healthy people cost more in health services then the other two groups.
Over 40 years of work, that means they would have had to save $100 a week. Do you know what $100 was worth 40 years ago? There's NO WAY they would have been able to save that much in 1968. You could buy a house for $27K then! Stop it with the oughts and shoulds. We need serious answers, not lectures.
So we should support the Democratic candidate? As Murph1908 pointed out, where's the money going to come from? the question is, why is the cost so high? Malpractice lawsuits? Ridiculous amounts of insurance paperwork? Yes, we have the best medical system in the world - in terms of the care provided and facilities available. Not necessarily in the cost of it. I wonder at what point medical care became a "right" that the govt (read "American taxpayer") was supposed to provide? 1880s? 1900? 1950s? When?
It is so tiresome to read ANY comment that thinks it's the US Govt's job to do or pay for something - as if the US Govt has a job and it makes it's own money. That "job" is taxing you and me people - get that through your heads. There are MANY more govt programs that can be pointed to as miserable failures and econimically inefficient than there are successes.
That's all? Just $225K. That should be plenty easy for a couple of 65 year olds.
Wait....no it isn't.