Healthcare for Retirees: It's Not a Pretty Picture

Healthcare for Retirees: It's Not a Pretty Picture
This story is not meant to scare you, though some of what
you will learn may do that. It is intended to give you a
clear picture of the state of U.S. pensions, social
security, health insurance and Medicare, and what that
means to your health and wellbeing in your retirement
years. So if you are intending to retire in the next 20
years, pay attention. And if you're not intending to, pay
attention anyway. The impact of the current retirement and
healthcare systems will reach far beyond the Baby Boomer
generation.

To set the scene, let's recount a portion of a story told
by Jim Jubak (financial guru) about his father.

The voice on the other end of the phone was angry. There's
something wrong with my retirement check, the man said. His
monthly pension check, which had netted him $350 a month
for years, was suddenly just $180 -- a drop of nearly 50%.
Coping with the incredible shrinking retirement; Jubak's
Journal, March 26, 2004

That excerpt was from a phone call between Jubak his father
a few years ago. It seems the company his father had worked
for for many years, and from which he had retired, had
increased the amount Jim's father had to pay for health
insurance by $170 a month - WITH NO NOTICE! That increase
cut his monthly pension nearly in half! AND there was no
promise from his former employer that that would be the
last increase in payout he would see!

It's a despicable way to treat anyone. But it serves as a
perfect example of what IS happening to many retirees
today, and what promises to happen even more (given the
state of healthcare in the U.S.).

But that is not all. Healthcare for retirees is getting hit
from all possible angles. While employers are targeting
pensions and health insurance payouts for BIG cost cutting
measures, the federal government is lowering Medicare funds
and shrinking social security checks (meaning social
security payments are not staying in step with inflation).
And to top it all off, healthcare costs are on the rise
again. Consumer group Families USA estimates that the
prices of drugs used most by the elderly have climbed
nearly 3.5X faster than inflation between January 2002 and
January 2003.*

Pfizer's (PFE, news, msgs) Celebrex pain killer is up 23%
while their cholesterol drug, Lipitor, is up 19%.**

Any way you look at it, you are and will-continue-to pay
more for healthcare, and get far less back far into your
retirement years.

Jubak's advice to retirees, his father included (I assume)
was to fortify your investment portfolio to hedge against
the downturn in pension and social payments (payments that
will be outpaced by inflation) and the upturn in YOUR
CONTRIBUTION to medical care.

If you want further investment advice, click over to
Jubak's column. But if you want to find out what you can do
immediately to supplement missing health services or to get
a lower rate on individual services, keep reading.

There are options besides Medicare and private health
insurance. They are called Consumer Driven Health programs.
And what it amounts to is free trade in healthcare.

Consumer Driven Health works like this. For a small monthly
fee, far less than insurance company rates (monthly fee run
as low as $19.95 per month and may cover your entire
household), you receive discounted rates on the very health
services insurance companies are cutting. And the discounts
are sizable. One company reports up to 80% savings to its
members for dental care alone. What's more, anyone can
join. No one is turned down for any reason, including
preexisting health or dental conditions.

So if your health and wellbeing are important to you, look
into CDH to find out what you can do to take care of your
health long into retirement, regardless of the changes that
occur with government programs and your employer retirement
benefits and pension funds.

*Coping with the incredible shrinking retirement; Jubak's
Journal, Jim Jubak, March 26, 2004. **Coping with the
incredible shrinking retirement; Jubak's Journal, Jim
Jubak, March 26, 2004.

----------------------------------------------------
Jim Martinez is a National Sales Director for Ameriplan
USA, offering discount dental, prescription, health, vision
and chiropractic programs for retirees and families. For
information on Ameriplan discount programs for retirees and
more health related articles, visit
http://www.familydentalhealthplans.com/ameriplan-for-retiree
s.html