Aging Boomers May Not Be As Costly As Feared

It's been feared that as the large boomer population reaches its 80s and 90s, health care costs will skyrocket. But research in this month's edition of The Journal of Gerontology says the situation may not be all that dire.

The researchers found that medical costs for seniors who died relatively young were considerably higher near the end than the costs for people who died at age 85 and older.

The average monthly health-care expenditure per person in the group was $720 in 1998 dollars, of which Medicare paid $429. Among those who died, the cost was about $3,170 monthly, while those who survived incurred about $590 a month in health expenses. In the month before death, the cost for people ages 65 to 74 averaged about $7,580, while the cost for those 85 and older was $5,254.

The research, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, came from a detailed analysis of 25,954 elderly people enrolled in Medicare between 1982 and 1998.

To view the report, go to http://psychsoc.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/58/1/S2.