← Honed Money

Medicare & retiree health cost estimator

See how today’s health spending could grow by retirement, then estimate the total cost across your retirement years and a monthly savings target. This is a planning estimate—not a premium quote.

Scope: Premiums and out-of-pocket health costs only. It does not include long-term care. Use the long-term care cost calculator for that.

Build your estimate

Enter your planning assumptions. Every field is required.

Health costs have historically risen about 5–6% per year.

Your estimate

Projected retirement health costs

First-year health cost

—

Total lifetime health cost
—
Monthly savings needed starting now
—

Method

Your current annual health cost is compounded forward to retirement using the health-care inflation rate you enter. We then add a rough annual premium allowance: $2,400 for Original Medicare + Medigap, $600 for Medicare Advantage, or $1,200 for employer retiree coverage. These are national planning assumptions, not quotes.

The lifetime estimate adds each retirement year as a growing annuity, so later years rise with health-care inflation. The monthly savings figure assumes contributions grow at a 5% annual nominal return until retirement. Investment returns are not guaranteed.

What is excluded

  • Long-term care and nursing home costs—estimate those separately with the long-term care calculator.
  • Specific dental, vision, and hearing costs.
  • Regional changes in Medigap or Medicare Advantage premiums.
  • Prescription drug tiers and formulary differences.
  • The two-year Medicare IRMAA income lookback.
  • Unexpected health shocks and changes in coverage or law.

What's next?