Climbing Costs: Fidelity Investments’ annual forecast for how much it will
cost a 65-year-old couple retiring this year to pay for health care is even
gloomier than it was last year. The Boston-based mutual fund company estimates
that a 65 year-old couple retiring in 2008 will need approximately $225,000 to
cover medical expenses alone. That’s a 4.7 percent increase over last year’s
estimate of $215,000.
Since 2002, the first time Fidelity published this estimate, the cost has
increased 41 percent, with an average annual increase of almost 6 percent.
Fidelity’s estimate assumes that the couple does not have employer-sponsored
retiree health care coverage and includes expenses associated with Medicare and
out-of-pocket prescription drug costs. It doesn’t include costs of
over-the-counter medicine, most dental services and long-term care.
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