Not only are boomers retiring in ever-growing numbers, a report from CNBC says that the tide of 10,000 boomers retiring each day will more than double Medicare and Medicaid costs by 2020.

And then there’s the question of whether the health care industry will be able to keep up with such a flood of retirees—numbers courtesy of Pew Research and the Social Security Administration—or whether those retirees will be able to keep up with the cost of their healthcare, Medicare and Medicaid notwithstanding.

Retired 65-year-old couples, the report says, can expect to pay $275,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for health care, excluding long-term nursing care and rehabilitation. However, they have just a 50 percent chance of covering these costs.

So not only is there an issue with how financially well prepared Americans are for retirement, but so whether the health care industry can handle the load.

Health care costs are, after all, rising faster than the economy is growing, which means that Medicare taxes and the Trust Fund will cover less and less as time passes. The report cites pundits predicting that by 2033 the Trust Fund will be bankrupt, and taxes will pay only for 48 percent of the costs.

With a Fidelity prediction that retired couples can expect to spend $275,000 during retirement on out-of-pocket health care expenses alone, that paints a gloomy picture indeed for emerging retirees who, the report says, “will both live longer and experience higher rates of hypertension, higher cholesterol, obesity and diabetes,” thus putting a strain on both their health and finances for a prolonged period of time.

Boomers are already spending an “exhorbitant” amount on health care, which the report says is the bright spot in the picture—since all that spending has been driving innovation in care.

But to little result, since the U.S. still spends the most for the least return, according to an AARP report, cited in the report saying, “the U.S. stands out for the high cost of health care and its failure to generate better health outcomes.”

In addition, all that spending can lead to demand for new treatments and medications that can boost spending by “orders of magnitude.”

There’s also the issue of all the gaps in the workplace left by those retiring boomers—and the question of whether there will be enough health care personnel among GenXers and millennials to care for all the boomers who will need help.

Currently, the answer to the latter question is no, with the report citing The New York Times saying, “we already lack sufficient numbers of geriatricians and other professionals—nurses, social workers, pharmacists, aides—trained to care for the elderly, and the shortage is projected to increase.”

Instant Insights /

Boomer retirement wave washing over health care providers

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