No way...my parents are 90 neither spent mor the 25k since retirement...625k really that's almost the cost of Steve Austin...I call BS

 

You’re out of touch your parents are luckier than others. I know some spending over $15k/month out of pocket.

 

Well, a website promoting annuities probably has some incentive to inflate future expenses. The quote below is literally copied and pages from the source that article cited for those costs. While this seems much more reasonable than $625k, I would like to see both the mean and median numbers and how the cost distribution looks. Some percentage of people are going to have really low cost (like your parents) and some on the other end are going to have some really exorbitant expenses. The best any of us can do is make informed planning assumptions based on research, your own health history and risk tolerance.

http://testing.hvsfinancial.com/hvsf...t-Planning.pdf

 

Should be an option to health acct or a check.

 

Or some other tax advantaged option. Options are good, forcing any one choice on everyone will cause an unnecessary split in support.

 

Basically I would agree. However, there is a big "but". None the less, I'm not a fan of what I perceive to be over hyping of the RHA.

In the last 3 decades I have been intimately involved in the final care costs for my grandmother, my mother-in-law, my father, my wife's sister's mother-in-law, and my mother. Two of these people had personal resources in excess of $3mil and the other 3 ended up on Medicaid (state paid nursing home care).

The big bills started when the individual reached a point where they stopped being able to do 3 of the basic 6 activities: feeding, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, and walking. I realize a sample of 5 is small but I think the point is relevant none the less.

Tragically as more and more of us reach extreme old age there are more and more of us who reach a point where these 6 basic tasks become impossible. Now some people are lucky and have family members who are able and willing to assist, but for those individuals without familial helpers the end becomes life in a nursing home, and THAT is outrageously expensive. But here's the thing. It doesn't really matter whether you have $5 mil or $500k in the bank at that time. The difference between most "high end" nursing homes and the "average" nursing home is minimal. If you have the means to pay upwards of $10k a month you your family will pick the nursing home of their choice, but if you have $500k you'll still be able to pick th home, but it will be one on the list that accepts Medicaid because once the $500k is exhausted you'll simply stay where you are on the state's dime. Of course the quality of the institution can vary state to state by a wide margin. In the end though whether your RHA has $200k or $20k won't make a lick of difference because if you hit a point of "high" medical bills it will be REALLY high and not something any RHA will take care of.

Bottom line: "Normal" medical bills are well covered by existing plans. It is the end-of-life bills that skew this number, and an RHA won't take care of those type of bills.

 

Ideally yes, each individual should be able to make their own choice for overages. However I’m not sure the law allows for such an option.

 

Thank you for staying engaged and involved. The company hopes to hire a new generation of “unjaded” pilots who they can mold to be the company “yes men/women” that my generation never was, and for good reason when one understands our history. Reading posts like yours give me hope that our profession will be in good hands.

 

Yes! A contract based on gambling, and carve outs for certain groups. In other words, the antithesis of being in a Union. Glad we finally woke up to see the company scheme for what it is. Divide and conquer, and marginalize ALPA. The rejection of TA 1 is the first step to getting the train back on the tracks. We can’t stop paying attention. The road ahead may get bumpy, so buckle up!

 

Unfortunately unspent money doesn’t get passed on when the employee and eligible spouse die. It goes back to the company.