Health Costs In Retirement: Worse Than You Thought

Author(s)
Published on
December 1, 2010

Here's what we're checking out today:

More Health Costs: Cancel that holiday trip to Hawaii - you should be saving that money for your health care costs in retirement. A new report estimates a man retiring at 65 today will need between $65,000 to $109,000 just for premiums and out of pocket expenses, reports Walter Hamilton for the Los Angeles Times. And that's assuming Medicare will still be around.

Health Reform Myths: California Healthline's Dan Diamond offers a useful review of the ways employers and health insurers are scapegoating health reform for actions they would have taken anyway.

Medicare: Why is Medicare paying $800 to rent a wheelchair you could buy for $350? Sally Kestin investigates for the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

Patient Safety: Patient safety guru Bob Wachter asks if patient safety has improved in recent years and finds that the answer can change dramatically, depending on what data you look at.

Anti-Vaccine Ads: At Forbes.com, blogger Steven Salzberg examines the attempt by anti-vaccine groups to run ads warning against flu shots in AMC movie theaters, and how it was thwarted by several science bloggers. (Don't forget to check out Amy Wallace's excellent essay on covering vaccines.)