Healthcare costs drive retirees back to work

A new survey finds that health care costs are driving retirees with Medicare back to work. Yes, Medicare may offer some of the best health care coverage in the US, but it still leaves enrollees with high out-of-pocket costs.

One in seven older adults have gone back to work in order to pay their health care bills. Medical costs can be substantial, even with Medicare. Medicare typically only covers about half of a person’s health care costs. It has deductibles, coinsurance and does not cover dental, vision, hearing or long-term care services.

Many older adults rely on Social Security as their sole or principal source of income. They can no longer depend on defined benefit plans are pensions. Consequently, some older adults have taken part-time jobs and others full-time jobs.

Motley Fool advises that, to protect yourself, you should set aside funds to cover your healthcare costs in retirement before you retire. Understandably, given the high cost of living and typically low salaries, it is hard to make ends meet as a working person, let alone save. But, if you can put some money aside for retirement, you should consider an IRA or 401(k) plan.

Money you put into an IRA or 401(k) plan is tax-free at the time you save it, as is money you put in a health savings account. And, if you’re lucky, the money will grow tax-free. You could easily need it in retirement.The latest Fidelity projection is that a 65-year old newly retired couple will need $300,000 to cover their health care costs this year. One way to maximize your savings is to delay taking Social Security benefits. You receive larger Social Security benefits if you do not enroll in Social Security until after your full retirement age.  Click here for more information.

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One response to “Healthcare costs drive retirees back to work”

  1. BC Shelby Avatar

    …when you’ve worked in a low paying occupation where it was difficult to near to impossible to put aside anything for retirement SS is the only income one has to look forward to. At best I could maintain at best maybe a half month’s pay for “emergencies” stashed away (which was used up during recession 8 years ago). One of the issues with saving today is the interest rates offered by banks is a joke as it doesn’t even keep pace with inflation.

    Back in the days of the S&Ls when i was still a kid doing neighbourhood jobs and had a paper route, I was getting upwards of 5% or more on a simple passbook account. Long term retirement accounts even offered better rates however that ended three and a half decades ago when the S&Ls were tanked by unscrupulous investors.

    So like many, all I have is Social Security for an income. I originally was on SSDI until I reached the age a couple years ago where it transitioned to Retirement. As I am receiving barely above 1,000$ a month I qualified for our state’s Medicare Savings extension which acts as a Medigap plan The caveat to that is coverage is capped by an income threshold, that is a little higher than the national one, but I will surpass after next year given the SS Living Cost Adjustment for 2022 (puts me at about 3$ under the cap). Once that happens I loe all additional coverage and will be liable for the monthly premium (which for next year is 170$ and who knows what it will be in 2023). Once I have to pay that, I will be set back about 110$ – 120$ a month (depending on whether there is another increase in the premium) while other costs continue to increase.

    Going back to work is not an option due to my physical condition and the background I have which is primarily in physically labour based positions I no longer can perform particularly as my physical situation has deteriorated even further since I first started collecting SSDI. I cannot afford to go back to school, not even community college to get training to transition for a less physically oriented occupation.

    Even with the current worker “shortages” there is no way I can drive a truck or transit bus (haven’t riven for decades), I am unable to stand on my feet for more than 20 min at a time while lifting, bending, and climbing (even stairs) has become extremely difficult. Even my keyboarding speed is now down to well below the basic requirement for most office jobs due to worsening arthritis.

    So for some like myself, even a part time job is pretty much out of the question.

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