It's a sad fact of life that the older you get, the more you seem prone to health problems. Think "planned obsolescence" and you get the message that, after a fixed number of years, body parts seem to wear out. While there are spares available when people donate them, the science to grow new parts in a lab dish seems slow in developing. We have a biodegradable scaffolding and can extract human cells, but no one has been able to bioengineer the bigger organs like livers, kidneys, lungs and hearts. It should be so easy to crack open the chest and swop a new for old heart. The SF writers have been promising it for decades. Why is the real science so slow in catching up? Well, while we wait for an answer, let's look at how seniors should deal with the problem of people living longer and needing more medical maintenance to keep them moving.

Before we moved into civilized times, the health care services were built on the reality that most people died just a few years after they retired. Then, as medicine began to get its act together, life expectancy extended. Both men and women can now expect to live beyond eighty. Medicare was not designed with this in mind. This means there's a crisis looming. The cash in the fund will run out sometime over the next twenty or so years. Quite when the tipping point will come is uncertain. It depends on who you choose to listen to. The reality, however, cannot be avoided. At some point, entitlement spending will eat up the money put by, and the taxpayers will start paying directly. To deal with this, the politicians are talking about moving the retirement age. More interestingly, there are emerging limits on what Medicare will cover. This creates a gap between entitlement and money available. You are expected to cover this gap.

Most health experts now agree it's better for everyone approaching old age to buy additional insurance cover. Now it comes down to you to do a little research into Medicare's limitations. It's good for most of the "vital" services but do your health needs shade to the less vital? Find out what costs are excluded and where you will be expected to find co-payments. With your retirement savings, are you going to be able to fund the gaps? If not, start off by looking at the Medicare Advantage plans. These are specifically written to cover the more obvious gaps. If you feel these plans will not be adequate, there are specialized private policies available.

Supplementary health insurance policies can cover co-payments, the cost of all drugs and the expenses if you have to stay longer in hospital. As with any policy provided by for-profit insurers, there's a risk you will not get the best value for money. However, in this instance, most states have rules requiring the private insurers to provide cover broadly similar to that available under the Medicare Advantage plans. This should make you think twice. The supplementary health insurance policies must be "as good as" those available within Medicare Advantage, so why go outside the Advantage plans? Only you can make this decision. It's possible the private policy is better value given your personal circumstances.