Want to start cutting down on health care costs? You might want to get off the treadmill — healthy retirees spend more on health care over the remainder of their lifetimes than their unhealthy brethren.
Though healthy retirees face lower health care costs for the immediate term, over the course of their remaining years those costs rise and eventually exceed those of unhealthy retirees, according to a study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
For example, a couple that turned 65 last year with at least one spouse suffering form a chronic disease will face $220,000 in lifetime health care costs, including premiums for Medicare, Medigap and health insurance, and expenses for nursing-home care.
For couples that turned 65 last year who were free of chronic diseases, the health care tab can be as high as $260,000. And for 5% of those healthy 65-year-old couples, the lifetime cost of health care can be as high as $570,000, while their unhealthy peers pay $465,000.
The study found that in any one year, healthier households spend less on average health care costs. A couple in which the husband was between ages 65 and 69 — and in good health — would have spent an average of $6,509 on health care last year. If the husband wasn't in good health, the cost would've gone up to $7,989 — exclusive of nursing home care expenses.
But healthier retirees can expect to live significantly longer lives: At age 80, couples in good shape can have a remaining life expectancy that's 29% longer than those who are unhealthy, according to the study.
What's more, those who are free of chronic disease at the moment will likely suffer from such a condition later: The healthy 80-year-olds in the simulation could expect to spend a third of their remaining lives suffering from a chronic condition. Those healthy individuals are also likely to live to extreme old age, when they're more likely to require nursing-home care, according to the study, which was sponsored by Prudential Financial Inc., a seller of long-term-care products.
“People mustn't be lulled into a false sense of security from current good health,” said Anthony Webb, associate director of research at the CRR. “Whether you're in good or poor health, the reality is that you can expect to spend a period of years in poor health toward the end of your life.”
“It brings home the importance of long-term planning,” he added.
