The healthcare conversation that doesn’t end at 65.
Medicare, Long-Term Care, and Dental. Three separate decisions, each with timing windows that matter, each with consequences that compound across a 20-year retirement.
Medicare conversations follow CMS Scope of Appointment rules. We will confirm the topics together before the call.
For California families approaching or already in retirement, the healthcare side of the plan tends to get treated as one conversation. It is actually three, and each one has its own architecture, its own timing, and its own way of getting expensive when the wrong decision sits in place too long.
Medicare
The decision you make at 65 quietly architects the next decade of your healthcare. Original Medicare covers about 80% of medically necessary services, and the remaining 20% is closed by one of two paths: a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) policy, or a Medicare Advantage (Part C) plan. Both work well for the families they fit, and the right path depends on your providers, your travel patterns, your budget priorities, and your appetite for annual plan-shopping versus predictable monthly costs.
The Medicare Transition Review is a 20-minute conversation about your specific timing, your providers, your prescriptions, and which path fits your priorities for the next decade.
Long-Term Care
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services projects that 56% of Americans turning 65 today will need long-term services and support during their lifetime. Federal estimates that include informal care put the figure closer to 70%. About one in five of those people will need care for five years or longer. In California, memory care typically runs between $9,000 and $13,000 a month, which means a 36-month event can draw more than $400,000 out of a family’s balance sheet.
There are three workable paths to fund long-term care. A traditional long-term care insurance policy. A hybrid product that combines life insurance with a long-term care rider, which returns the premium to your heirs if the care event never happens. An annuity income rider that doubles or triples its monthly payout during a qualifying care event. Choosing to self-fund can be the right answer for some families. Choosing it without seeing all three modeled side by side is rarely the right answer for any of them.
Dental
Most Medicare clients are surprised to learn that Original Medicare does not cover routine dental, and that the dental benefits inside many Medicare Advantage plans cap out at a level that does not cover anything beyond basic cleanings. Standalone dental coverage is a small line item in most retirement plans, and an easy one to get right.
If your priority is the income or legacy side of the plan rather than healthcare, the Wealth and Legacy pillars cover those conversations.