Participant Corner: Good Health is the Best Wealth

Believe it or not, staying healthy just might make you wealthy. With small lifestyle changes and healthy choices, you may reduce your annual healthcare costs and increase your income. These lifestyle changes can be as simple as limiting your salt intake or taking your prescribed medication regularly.

For purpose of the case study, Alisha and Jasmine are compared in two levels of care: average managed (loosely follows physician recommendations) and well managed (fully complies with physician recommendations).

Alisha and Jasmine are both 45 years old and both sought medical treatment for high blood pressure. Alisha doesn’t follow the lifestyle changes her doctor suggested, whereas Jasmine diligently follows her doctor’s recommendations. With Jasmine’s small changes she saves more than $1,000 in out-of-pocket healthcare costs. Additionally, Jasmine’s combined pre-retirement and in-retirement savings will be $89,456 more than Alisha, as shown in the table below.