Health Squeeze

Health Squeeze™ – What’s a boomer to do?

 

Seventy-eight million baby boomers are expected to live longer than any generation this country has ever seen. Every day 8,000 turn 60 years old.

Boomers are educated, tech savvy and convenience driven. They control more than $8.5 trillion in investable assets. And as consumers, they’re smart cynics. Health is their most important asset, with financial security a close second. Boomers retiring at 65 need enough money and protection to support themselves for 20-25 years (upwards of $2 million).

Today, boomers are facing tough health care decisions. And, it’s going to get a lot more complex…quickly.

Health insurance benefits are changing as well as the “where, when and how” medical care is delivered. A quick scan of personal health care and financial choices boomers are facing is leaving a big unanswered question – what do I do?

It’s a health squeeze.

Consider the array of decisions boomers are facing:

Concierge Medicine – Your primary care physician sent you a letter asking for a $2000 per patient annual practice “membership fee” and, it will be your responsibility to deal with your insurance company going forward. Otherwise you’ll have to find a new doctor.

Medical Tourism – You need a hip replacement but between gaps in coverage, high deductibles and coinsurance you can’t afford it in the U.S. An overseas provider has been suggested…in India (it’s one quarter the cost).

Health Insurance –

•  You’ve taken early retirement. COBRA is expensive and only lasts 18-months; it will be six years before you’re eligible for Medicare.
• Your recent college graduate no longer is eligible under your group health policy. Between job searches and waiting periods she’s not likely to have employer coverage for 3 to 6 months.
• Your divorce is final next month and your spouse gets custody of the family health insurance.
• Your employer has announced a new set of health plans for the next open enrollment. Instead of a $500 deductible you’re moving to a Consumer Directed Health Plan with a $3500 deductible with an account-based arrangement, an HSA or HRA (you already have an IRA and FSA). And, you have Web-based tools to evaluate doctor and hospital prices and quality of services before receiving care.
• Your sixty-fifth birthday is a few months away and you’ve already received more than 25 solicitations for Medicare plans you’ve never heard of – MA, MA-PD, PFFS, Medigap, PDP – some even say they are “zero premium.”

Lifestyle & Wellness – You’re a little overweight, sneak a few cigarettes, don’t have a regular exercise regime and you keep telling yourself that last cholesterol test was borderline. Now, your employer is requiring all employees to take a Health Risk Assessment as part of a new healthy rewards program that provides incentives for good health habits and, penalties if your next assessment isn’t improved.

Hospice Care – A close relative has a terminal diagnosis. It’s agreed that final months at home, surrounded by family is the preferred “end-of-life” course of action. The choices – budgetary, logistical, and quality of care – are mind-boggling.

Home Health – Your dad has early onset Alzheimer’s and is juggling 12 prescriptions. He needs a 24-hour caregiver and you live across the country. Friends and family are sharing horror stories of incompetence and unreliability, even petty theft. Now you must select the “right” caregiver and, figure out how to mange long distance.

Retail Clinics – Your teenager needs a sports physical; you just turned 55 and haven’t had a bone density test, and; your mother-in-law needs your help checking her diabetes. It’s a month to get an appointment at your doctor’s office and the $130 office visit charge comes out of your pocket. A new clinic recently opened-up inside your local pharmacy where all visits are $49.

Long Term Care – Everyone around you is talking about retirement planning. Long term care insurance comes-up in every conversation. But, there are as many questions as answers – in twenty-five years when you may need LTC will the company still be around? Will benefits keep-up with rising costs? Are you better off setting-up your own savings plan?

Pharmaceuticals – You have a couple of prescriptions today to deal with restless leg syndrome, trouble falling asleep, moodiness, cholesterol, or maybe you’ve succumbed to all those email solicitations and are giving an ED “lifestyle enhancer” a shot (even if the risk is an erection lasting over four hours). But what about tomorrow. There are over 240 new drugs being studied for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes and depression. There are another 450 in R&D for cancer, heart disease and stroke. Cosmecueticals and nutraceuticals are becoming popular. A lot of choices lie ahead.

The complexity is endless, and answers won’t come easy. Clearly, the Web is positioned as an important source of answers – 160 million Americans use the Web for medical information. Some people are already being labeled Cyberchondriacs. New websites are popping-up every day claiming to be “THE” resource you need. Some are populated with well-sourced, expert clinical content. Others are vehicles promoting a particular a product or service (e.g., drug, insurance, medical device), relying on Web advertising or membership fees for revenue. And, many others are rooted in a particular clinical specialty or positioned as tools to navigate the health care system.

Another rapidly emerging Web-based resource are health care social networks—online communities of people who share interests in a specific health condition or concern such as disease treatment options, rating physicians and insurers, alternative therapies or quality outcomes measures.

Is the Web the only answer? Independent consumer information gathering is important, as are support tools that help answer important medical, financial and social questions. But given the life-changing weight of many of the decisions that lie ahead, people will need real-time help from real people with real knowledge.

A health squeeze is upon us and it promises to get tighter and tighter.

© 2008 Lindsay Resnick