New Tool Offers Personalized Projection of Expected Health Costs in Retirement

HSA Bank, a division of Webster Bank, N.A., announced that it has launched a new tool, the Retirement Healthcare Cost Calculator, to help employees plan for health care costs in retirement.

The calculator, hosted by HealthView Services Inc., was designed to help employees understand how health savings accounts (HSAs) can aid in preparing them for meeting medical costs in retirement.

The 2021 HSA Bank Health & Wealth Index found that 93% of consumers over age 55 worry about current or future medical bills, and, of those consumers, more than one-third reported that they rarely save money for future health care expenses. HealthView Services, in a recent study, estimates that a healthy, average 65-year-old couple, retiring this year, will go on to spend $662,156 on health care.

HSA Bank describes the calculator as a simple, user-friendly retirement planning tool that offers employees a personalized recommendation for how to maximize their HSA savings, with health care spending in retirement in mind. The tool uses 530 million data points taken directly from medical claims, along with the individual employee’s input, to provide an estimated health care cost projection for retirement. This will demonstrate the long-term benefits of using an HSA as a retirement savings vehicle rather than just a spending account, the bank says.

“Retirement health care costs are substantial, but HSAs are an excellent tool to help Americans prepare for future expenses while taking advantage of tax benefits,” says Ron Mastrogiovanni, president and CEO of HealthView Services. “Recent studies have shown that over 90% of account owners don’t invest their assets, but HSA Bank’s newest approach will educate and motivate participants to offset current and future health care costs through HSA investing.”

“There continues to be a gap in education about HSAs, especially about how employers can help their employees save for health care costs in retirement,” says Jason Kessler, senior vice president, director of product management at HSA Bank. “It’s critically important that more Americans understand what they can expect to face in terms of health care costs not covered by Medicare. We believe that this new calculator will help provide peace of mind and financial security for consumers up to and into retirement.”