Overview of Retirement Medical Risks – Center for Retirement Research

reported The main findings are:

• Retirement health care costs without insurance can be high, so senior families need to be fully informed about the potential risks.
• New survey results of households with $100,000 or more in investable assets show that many underestimate their needs and know little about the costs of medical or long-term care services.
• In comparison, financial advisors had a better understanding of needs and costs, but households with advisors did not appear to know any better than households without advisors.
• As a result, many retirees may not be able to protect themselves from health shocks, forcing them to make difficult changes to deal with shocks that do occur.
• Specifically, a majority of respondents said they would reduce Medicaid and preserve home equity. In fact, many families end up tapping into their home equity, and only a few end up receiving Medicaid.