So, you’re ready to retire. You’ve reached the ripe old age of 60. You’ve paid off all your loans and are debt-free. You no longer support your dependents financially. You did your calculations and created a healthy retirement budget for everything. Everything… except that niggling pain you’ve been feeling in your back. The same pain the doctor said may require surgery in the long term. The one you put off to meet your targets, thinking your company health insurance would cover, at the very least, as a sign of gratitude for your many years of “contribution to the business”. The one that threatens to wipe out a huge chunk of your retirement savings. Yes, that one. What do you do?

Every year many people retire or look forward to retirement without considering how important being healthy is to the entire process. What is the benefit of having a huge well-earned payout at the end of your career only to turn around and invest it in keeping you barely alive or just enough to enjoy what's left?

Health is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In other words, you don’t have to be visibly sick to be unhealthy!

Let’s look at it this way. People begin to think about retirement between the ages 40 and 50. This is usually when physical manifestation of chronic disease begins to set in.

Don’t fret. If you haven’t been living a healthy life there’s no time like the present. START NOW.

Here are a few tips to ensure you have a healthy retirement:

1. Live a healthy lifestyle

Avoid the things that could have long-term negative effects on your life like smoking and excessive alcohol intake. Eat more healthy organic foods and cut down on the cheaper, processed foods. Maintain a healthy weight. Exercise!!

2. Get a good health insurance policy

Find out if your health insurance has benefit plans to cover you in retirement and what the cost implications may be.

Also, find out if your group policy can be carried into retirement.

3. Save towards a health plan proactively

Accidents happen. The absence of a health insurance cover should not preclude you from saving to cover potential health challenges. Remember, the older you get the greater your risk for chronic disease or any unforeseen health-related event.

To be Continued……..

Thanks for Reading

NB: This article was compiled by Dr. Papa Nii Maale-Adsei, Acacia Health Insurance, a Subsidiary of the Enterprise Group