# What are the biggest out-of-pocket medical costs for elderly Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2025, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489 "2025-08-26T12:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489/21 "2025-09-03T17:14:12Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Which is why one ought to plan for that eventuality and enlist the assistance of love ones. What kind of assistance would you wish them to render? > [@Dinsdale](#): > > I’m not sure why you would suspect that we haven’t discussed this. I don’t ‘suspect’ anything - but you haven’t mentioned what she thinks at all. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489/22 "2025-09-03T18:36:59Z")
For us, it’s medication. Around $1500/year for two of us. (We also have a very good Medicare Advantage plan). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489/23 "2025-09-03T19:19:06Z")
I’m probably younger than the OP so I don’t have any thoughts from the older side of the equation. Two things that I’d caution, though: 1. You can always give money away. Getting it back is much harder. As such, you might want to target the ability to handle the worst cases rather than the average cases for people in your bracket. You might search the news, since that’s where you’re liable to find the most extreme eventualities. And, I’d note that even if all goes well for you and your wife, if you have children, grandchildren, dear friends, etc. the chance that some extreme event could happen to someone in your bailiwick does go up. 2. You could be less than 50% of the way through your life, especially as we continue to learn more about life and health extension. If you’re liable to still be here in 20 years then the odds may be good that you’re still going to be around in 60 years. Plugging “dead at 85” into your equation might not be a reasonable assumption. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489/24 "2025-09-03T19:46:07Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If you’re liable to still be here in 20 years then the odds may be good that you’re still going to be around in 60 years. Yeah, no. I don’t think the OP told us how old he is, but he and his wife were discussing retirement finances and RMDs, so he’s certainly old enough to be thinking about these things. Let’s assume he’s 55, so he could easily live to be 75. But 115? Doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489/25 "2025-09-03T20:05:15Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > 115? Doubtful. > **[Twelve Longevity Enhancement Methods Demonstrated in Mice](https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2009/08/a-list-of-interesting-longevity-enhancement-methods-in-mice/)** > > Researchers have discovered a large - and continually growing - number of ways to significantly extend healthy and maximum life span in mice. Here I'll list a selection of twelve of the most interesting methods I've seen in past years. Note that I'm... It seems likely that life extension is harder for larger animals so we might not expect to achieve 30% gains through single methods but, if we have a half dozen each that can get a 30% gain for a mouse, it seems plausible that stringing them all together for humans might start to get into that range. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489/26 "2025-09-03T20:17:22Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > What kind of assistance would you wish them to render? Pretty sure the boards do not wish detailed discussions of suicide/murder, so I’ll let that hang. Suffice it to say at least 3 folk I’ve asked will afford me the kindness, love, and respect folk allow their pets when they need to be put down. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489/27 "2025-09-03T20:35:41Z")
Well, then maybe set aside some of your $ for legal fees, just in case. And of course no guarantee that they would find themselves able to actually go through with such, so some type of home health or other nursing care could still be on the table. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489/28 "2025-09-03T20:42:07Z")
Jo, the grandmother of my friend Bea, asked Bea to help her kill herself. Bea declined, pointing out that doing so would be murder, and Bea loved Jo dearly, and wanted to help, but wasn’t willing to risk going to prison. (Story is real. Names are made up, because without names i got lost in the pronouns. Jo eventually managed to kill herself without help.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-biggest-out-of-pocket-medical-costs-for-elderly-americans/1022489.md?page=1)