Health Care
Perhaps the biggest wild card is health care. Clients can look to their parents and analyze their genes to get an indication of problems they may face.
On this front, there is actually a lot of positive news. Breakthroughs in biotechnology and immunotherapy are slowly turning some fatal diseases into chronic conditions that can be managed.
But the costs of new treatments are going right through the roof at the same time as Medicare is likely to cover less than it once did. This year, Medicare Part B premiums are expected to rise 30% for beneficiaries earning more than $133,000. Going forward, less affluent folks over 65 years of age may find themselves forced to share the burden.
Of equal importance is not just a client’s longevity but her quality of life as well. Here again, it’s a bit of a crapshoot. Pond, who numbers many physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston among his clients, finds that clients who become ill in their 70s and 80s often have more strength and fight in their system. In contrast, those in their 90s are more likely to succumb fairly quickly—and less expensively.