Why provide you with all these scary numbers? In order to make sure you understand that although Medicare helps, it will not entirely solve the problem of high health-care costs. You must plan for it yourself. Take a good look at how much you’ll need for health-care costs. If you have not retired yet, consider postponing retirement a bit if you can’t find ways to cover the costs. If you have already retired, consider taking a part-time or temporary job or reducing your monthto-month expenses accordingly. This advice is particularly important for seniors hoping to retire before Medicare coverage takes place.

Employers are finding that paying health benefits to their retirees is becoming so expensive that they are looking for ways to cut these expenses. Seventy-nine percent of employers in 2009 raised the portion of the premium they expect retirees to pay according to surveys.

According to a Kaiser/Hewitt 2009 survey of companies with one thousand or more employees:          85 percent will very likely or likely increase retiree contribution to premiums for health benefits 51 percent will very likely or likely increase retiree coinsurance or co-pay 49 percent will very likely or likely increase retiree drug co-insurance or co-pay

With this information in mind, seniors should be planning to pay for a larger portion of their health insurance in the coming years. The costs for health insurance prior to reaching the age of 65 when Medicare becomes available are substantial. Depending on the policy it can be thousands of dollars a year.

Medical expenses result in nearly two thirds of personal bankruptcies in the U.S.

Retirees and seniors thinking about retiring must plan for health-care costs, or they will likely find themselves facing financial problems. As one gets older health care becomes more expensive. A study by the Institute for the Future found that seven in ten Medicare beneficiaries have two or more chronic ailments and that roughly half of Americans now turning 65 will at some point spend time in a nursing home, with one in ten staying three years or longer.