10 questions to measure health care expenses

By entering your client's age, gender, state of residence, household income and planned retirement date into sophisticated software such as HealthView Services' HealthWealthLink tool, you can get a general idea of his or her future health care expenses in retirement based on localized Medicare plan costs and surcharges. But answer 10 more questions — five questions about your client's health condition and five about his or her lifestyle — and you can get even more-precise cost and life expectancy projections. The five health questions require a yes-or-no answer regarding high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The lifestyle questions ask about history of tobacco use and whether the client has had a physical exam within the last 12 months, exercises regularly, eats a healthy diet and has a family history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes.