One data point for 65+ medical insurance cost. H is 66. Monthly costs, Medicare part b $132, Medigap G plan $147, part D $30 .the part b deductible is $167 , then all pd. His scripts( generic) are very low cost or free with this plan.
YMMV.
Thatās a lot less than I had feared. With all the scary news, I thought it ran to $1M.
It could run to $1 million if you need assisted living or nursing care.
My dad, who is 89 now, never signed up for Medicare part D, as he was extremely healthy and never thought heād have to take medications. 
Now he has to take several, and pays out of pocket. He takes warfarin because itās cheap, though he might have been better off taking Xarelto (far more expensive). They could have done the late enrollment penalty many years ago when he started taking medications, but never did because it was too expensive. I just looked up the cost, and it really isnāt that much, however at this point, making 24 years of back payments would be costly.
No matter how healthy I am, I am signing up for part D, it is pretty cheap for what you get! And I donāt want to have to make medication choices based upon cost and not what is best for me.
@doschicos Of course, the worst case scenario could cost a lot more. For planning, I would assume an average scenario but allow 10-20% on top. About LTC, on average, the study has shown it lasts about 2 months. I would add 2+months of LTC to my budget.
I think the average length of hospice care is 2 months or so. For long term care like assisted living/retirement homes/nursing homes, it is much longer.
I helped someone start a couple of hedge funds so I know something about the industry. I would not recommend investing in hedge funds with small amounts except in special circumstances. When I last looked, there was strong evidence that there was persistence in performance: Top decile performers were much more likely to remain top decile performers, at least in certain strategies. That is, talent likely mattered. It would normally be very hard to get in to those funds without $10 MM or a lot more. It would be very hard to get into Renaissance Technologies (I think they have given most of their loyal investors their money back in funds like Medallion that had many years of 30% returns).
It also turns out that hedge funds tend to do best in their early years when they have a new idea and smaller asset levels. But, then you are taking a risk that the new fund is going to perform well.
There are some mutual funds that have HF strategies. I think I was in some of them for a while and may still be. Good because they are relatively non-correlated with the market.
We are accredited investors. Our son will begin working for a hedge fund in September (after graduating and traveling). He will be an accredited investor in 2 years. His company is very successful, but most of his colleagues put half into the fund, and half at Vanguard.
Hedge funds have the carried interest loophole that converts what is really ordinary income into cap gains if they they agree to defer their income for X years. Not clear that this is good public policy, but was very good when I had ownership interests in the hedge funds. Provides a particularly good incentive for employees to keep $$ in the HF.
Yes. Thatās the famous loophole that was āpromisedā to be closed. I think itās a scam, obviously, but I canāt begrudge my neighbors who take advantage of it, nor my son who might benefit (it it lasts long enough).
Total scam. Neither side ever wants to close it, they just pretend they do.
When out with friends about our age, many retirement dreaming conversations often find their way to topics related to healthcare. Some of them still have the old fashioned defined-benefit pension, but none will have retirement healthcare plans.
Some govt employeesācounty, state and fed, as well as some health insurance employees have medical benefits as retirees. It is very valuable peace of mind.
My folks have state medical benefits for the decades dad worked for the state. It pays all insurance and Medicare A&B premiums for both of them for life, vision and dental included as well as subsidy for hearing aids! Dad also gets a defined benefit pension.
They have moved into a place that has all levels of care from independent to 24/7 nursing home to memory care.
@busdriver11 Medicare didnāt cover outpatient medications until 2006-ish. Maybe your dad would only need to pay back 11 years instead of 24.
We expect to pay between $24,000 and $28,000 (maybe more!) per year for health insurance once our COBRA expires. Unless there are some big changes over the next 19 mos. We are doing a major downsize and moving to Florida (no state income tax). Itās like weāll have healthcare instead of a mortgage. Except, we havenāt had a mortgage in forever. Iād rather spend my money in other ways, but what can one do?? Thankful we can afford it, but it is my least favorite line item in the budget. Dh may work part time in order to earn enough $ to cover the health insurance. By that I mean, to cover the cost of our health insurance - not get it as a benefit.
@BearHouse, thank you so much for pointing that out. I will ask my mother if she knows that.
@busdriver11, quite a few folks I know but their medications from AllDayChemist.com in India for their very reasonable prices and good service. They have a pretty good inventory.
I am self employed. Been paying about $24k for medical/dental for several years and have another 15+ years to go. And that assumes we donāt use it as its a high deductible plan. Another $3k each ($6k family max) if we use it. Thankfully (knock on wood), we typically donāt.
Thank you @HImom, Iāll pass that on also. She is already checking into the cost of part D now. I think they heard it was really expensive to make it up, and then just gave up.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
@CT1417, Iāve given up on the idea of LTC. I donāt think Iāll ever have enough saved to afford it. Iām assuming I WILL be a burden on my children.
@colorado_mom, 5K per person sounds consistent with what other people have said to start off with, but I guess it will go up from there.
@doschicos, thanks for the details. I canāt believe that doesnāt include dental. Dental can get expensive.
@HImom, thanks for the info about Medigap and for the CNN article. I didnāt realize HSA contributions arenāt taxed on either end. Thatās pretty amazing. Somehow, I never picked that up when Iāve read about HSAās.
@mabel, thanks for the numbers. Thatās bad, but not as bad as I thought it would be.
@Hoggirl, yikes, 24 - 28K? Thatās a lot of money. Is that for 2 people or a whole family?
@saillakeerie, whoa, 24K when you donāt use it. Thatās crazy.