Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Costs Likely to Take Half of Social Security Income by 2030, Analysis Shows

A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation calculated out-of-pocket healthcare costs for Medicare beneficiaries will likely consume half their average Social Security income by 2030, reports the Washington Post . More than half of beneficiaries in traditional Medicare older than 85 or with incomes of less than $20,000 spent at least 20 percent of their total income on healthcare costs in 2013. Furthermore, among all beneficiaries, average out-of-pocket health-related costs depleted 41 percent of their average Social Security income in the same year. "This is substantially higher than the share reported by the Medicare actuaries for the same year (23 percent) because it takes into account the full array of out-of-pocket health expenses that people on Medicare face," the report noted. The median out-of-pocket healthcare spending burden for beneficiaries in traditional Medicare is anticipated to climb from 14 percent to 17 percent of their total income between 2013 and 2030. "Even if there is a segment of the Medicare population that is healthy and a segment that is wealthy, there are many people who are struggling to make ends meet and paying a chunk of their limited income on health expenses," says the Kaiser Family Foundation's Tricia Neuman. She also notes beneficiaries' burden would worsen if policymakers try to cut federal spending by shifting more costs onto them. "This report shows just what the burden already is today in the absence of any program cuts," Neuman says.