An Amazing Statistic

This is incredible. You have to ask what the super-wealthy are getting for their $94,000+ worth of care their last year of life.

The study estimated that out-of-pocket health care spending in the last year of life amounted to $11,618 on average, with the 90th percentile equal to $29,335, the 95th percentile $49,907, and the 99th equal to $94,310.

Yes, you read that correctly: Health care spending in the last year of life by the top 1 percent of Americans is nearly twice the annual income of the typical American household.

Spending in the last year of life varies by age of death, too. Here’s a look at total out-of-pocket expenditures by both wealth quintile and age at death:

Source: “The Risk of Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure at End of Life“

The findings are based on data from the Health and Retirement Study from
1998-2006.