While health care costs are inevitably going to rise in the future, a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2011 will likely spend $230,000 on health care throughout their retirement, Fidelity estimates. This is an 8% decline from the $250,000 retiring couples in 2010 will need, due to recent changes in Medicare, Fidelity said.
This is the first decrease in the estimated costs since the initial calculation of $160,000 in 2002. In the intervening years, health care costs have consistently risen 6% a year.
