COST: Retirees Better Get To Work On That Piggy Bank

Joanne Kenen — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:56:00 -0500

When Boston-based Fidelity Investments began calculating retirees' likely health costs in 2002, the figure was a pretty hefty $160,000 in savings for a couple. Just six years later, the necessary nest egg has swelled to $225,000. And this is for the segment of our population covered by Medicare as well as a new prescription drug benefit enacted after this annual survey began. [slideshow]Many experts believe the out-of-pocket expenses for the elderly will continue rising unless we come up with an effective national strategy of cost containment.

A similar study by the Center For Retirement Research at Boston College put the savings goal for a couple at about $206,000 – and it concluded that six in 10 older workers are "at risk" of being unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement. The findings appeared in the Boston Globe. The rising price tag stems from higher medical bills, more use of health services, the boom of costly new medical technology and higher rates of such chronic conditions as diabetes.