health care costs

Couples retiring this year can expect their medical bills throughout retirement to cost 4 percent more than those who retired a year ago, according to an annual projection released Wednesday by Fidelity Investments.

Millions of baby boomers have watched long-term care expenses decimate their parents' finances, and realized they needed better plans for their own golden years. Could asset-based long-term care insurance policies be the solution?

New research shows that forcing smokers to look at scary warning labels doesn't make them less likely to buy cigarettes. In fact, it may make them more likely to. Are anti-tobacco advocates wasting their money and effort on a pointless campaign?

Two Republican senators unveiled a Medicare overhaul Thursday that features an accelerated transition to private health insurance for many seniors, a gradual increase in the eligibility age, and higher premiums for middle-class and upper-income retirees.

There's a persistent assumption going around about what happens after one retires -- your spending shrinks. Sure, your house may be paid off by then, and you may be able to ditch some work-related expenses. But that's not the full picture.

Nearly everyone is feeling the pain of high health care costs. Between 2003 and 2010, the cost employers paid for family coverage rose 50% and employees' share of the tab increased 63%. That's money siphoned away from the rest of the economy.

If you're very sick and not very wealthy in America, your best move may be to flee the country -- because you'd be better off in any other first world nation. Otherwise, expect to pay through the nose and possibly wind up deep in debt, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund.

A record number of Americans %u2014 49.1 million %u2014 are poor, based on a new census measure that for the first time takes into account rising medical costs and other expenses. The numbers released Monday are part of a first-ever supplemental poverty measure aimed at providing a fuller picture of poverty.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among American women: 12% will develop it at some point in their lives, and at that point, the health battle begins. But those women often must fight one a second front as well, dealing with the multiple threats cancer poses to their financial well-being.

In this economy, people aren't just cutting out luxuries, nearly half of Americans are skimping on necessities like medication and doctor visits -- drastic actions that could be dangerous to their health.