8 Facts to Know About Retiree Health Care Costs — Before Retirement

There’s good reason why so many people report in survey after survey that they fear the cost of health care more than just about anything else when it comes to successfully navigating retirement.

That’s because health care is already expensive, and it represents one of the fastest-inflating costs facing U.S. consumers. Fidelity Investments, for example, estimated earlier this year that a single 65-year-old retiring in 2024 will spend an average of about $165,000 on health care and medical expenses throughout retirement.

The firm's 2024 Retiree Health Care Cost estimate was 4.8% higher than the estimate it released in 2023, and it's up from an average of $150,000 for women and $135,000 for men that it posted in 2019. And those figures don’t even include the potential for extended long-term care that can bankrupt even wealthy families who lack adequate insurance protection.  

The good news, as explored in a recent webcast hosted by two planning experts at Bryn Mawr Trust, is that Americans preparing for retirement have a lot of levers they can pull to put themselves in a better position. By combining smart decisions about insurance, investing, liquid savings, Medicare claiming and more, late-career workers can put themselves on a more solid footing with respect to runaway health care costs.

Achieving positive outcomes, according to Bryn Mawr Trust planning experts Brian Taylor and Maria Quinn, starts with a good understanding of the facts before reaching retirement. By informing themselves about what costs they may face and what solutions can be brought to bear, pre-retirees can help to ensure they avoid the worst-case scenarios that result in late-in-life bankruptcy.

See the slideshow for a summary of the key insights shared during the webcast.