Does Staying Healthy Reduce Your Lifetime Health Care Costs?

The brief’s key findings are:

• Retirees in good health face higher lifetime health care costs than those in poor health.
• A typical healthy couple at age 65 can expect to spend $260,000 with a 5-percent risk of exceeding $570,000.
• A typical unhealthy couple can expect to spend $220,000 with a 5-percent risk of exceeding $465,000.

• Those in good health live longer, eventually become less healthy, and often need nursing home care.

• So the healthy who delay buying Medigap or long-term care insurance could face much higher premiums later.