With the ACA eliminating the pest of "Pre-existing Conditions" I plan to just pay for insurance. I know this is a faux pas, but Crohn's isn't something you can easily measure out, "100k in surgery in five years, 3k in diagnosis next year, 1k in medication over the next five years, evenly." It's a constant flow, up and down. I'm only just starting my career and, since my field is benefits-rich, I plan to let the state pay for my health insurance as long as I want them to. When that's finished, I'll buy my own.
So you aren't sure, in other words! Insurance premiums are insurance premiums, but I can't figure out what I should be planning, on average, over that. $5k/year? $10k? It's impossible to know and it freaks me out. (I know you can't give me the answer, just curious how you're thinking!) I'm also early in my career, so I have time to figure it out.
Afraid so. As I said, with my field, I'm not overly concerned with independent prices on insurance since my employer provides through benefits. However, a quick Google search turned up this (
http://www.ccfa.org/assets/pdfs/managing-costs-of-ibd.pdf) from the Crohns and Colitis Foundation. It prices cost-per-year for the medical insurer for Crohns at $19k and for Colitis $15k. Again, that's for the insurer and, obviously, the prices vary. It's going to depend on whether you need surgery and how frequent, what medicine you take, how many diagnostics you need, secondary illnesses (I have osteopenia because of Crohns which demands Bonivia to prevent spinal fractures). I can say that I've not yet reached a price tag that high, even with colonoscopy and tests.
Another source (
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10950042), the American Journal of Gastroenterology, breaks down the pricing for Crohns itself into mild, moderate (me!), and severe, with price tags at, respectively, 6k/year, 10k/year, and 37k/year. Since Colitis seems to be a slightly smaller price tag, you can probably go off these estimates as being a little on the safe side for colitis.
If I took an average of 20k/year (just for a nice round number that's also on the high end to allow for safety margin), using the 4% rule, it would require a 500k nest egg to draw that off of, yearly. Again, though, that's an average. If you have severe, it'll be substantially higher; however, inverse, if your Crohns/Colitis is NOT severe, odds are you'll have good years and bad years. One year, you'll spend the bare minimum on meds and check ups. One year, you'll have to bear down the cost of surgery. So, I doubt anyone is going to see a perfect average of 20k (or whatever) per year.
Oh, and that 500k nest egg to pull the 20k/year off of? I went ahead and crunched the numbers (very quickly). If you could put back $3050 per month at 7% interest (compounded once a year), you'd hit 500k in ten years. Roughly. In other words, you'd need make an extra $36k a year. Or save for a few more years. Save for 15 years, you cut that price down to $1675/$20k/year. And, let's add in 24k/year, the cost old MMM himself says is enough for a family of three. A little high for my tastes, but hey. That's a 600k nest egg on top of the 500k medicine egg. 1.1M total.
To reach 1.1M (at a very very rough estimate of 7% interest compounded once annually) in 15 years, you'd need, roughly, $3750/month or $45,000/year. Meaning, if we're using the save 75% rule, that's a rough rough salary of 60k/year. After taxes, of course. If you pushed things back to 20, then you're looking at $2225/month or $26,700/year or a total yearly salary of $35,600 (after taxes). Whew! Seriously, if anyone sees problems with the math, let me know. It was done on the fly.
Honestly, the numbers are surprisingly friendly, and I did that without realizing what I'd find. Of course, you'd need to save for all your other living costs beside, but if you put yourself on a 15-20 year time frame to retire right at the start of your career (for me, that's retirement by 45), then you've got plenty of time to scrap enough enough of a nest egg to cover both the average cost of your ailment AND standard living. Now, complications can occur. Cancer is a nastier threat for people with Crohns/Colitis and we're more likely to see the beast. However, some of that cost is already figured into those averages the sources provided (hospitalization and such) and there would be some overlap. And if you don't live healthy, that's going to increase costs too.
BUT! I might have to change my attitude towards the whole thing after doing that little round of math. FI with Crohns/Colitis is not entirely out of hand. It requires a higher price tag which means either more saving or more working depending on your salary. I hope to be earning 60k in the next year and, if I'm lucky, at least 80k at my peak. So even with the added burden, that's not impossible. The key thing is to understand your specific situation and make use of the resources available to you.
Crohn's doesn't have a particular short life span these days, but I've not heard of anyone diagnosed with it young living past 60.
Whoa there! That's a function of medicine, not the fixed mortality of the disease. Biologics have only been on the market for a hot second, and in 2014 we're only just starting to talk about the miraculous effects of fecal implantation. There's no reason to expect you won't live as long as you would without the Crohn's. There is lots of reason to expect we'll shrivel and ache faster than most, though..
True enough. After all, if I've only heard of 60 year olds passing away, clearly they were born sixty years ago, before Crohns and similar illnesses had proper treatments. And, as you mention, we're seeing the first steps in biologics (which are still in the "biplane" era of their life) and artificial GI tracts (which, if properly developed, could devestate the problem at its source, even if it doesn't cure it). As far as aches and shrivelling, that's not so much an issue as, you know, DEATH since it can be dealt with with the right habits and skills.
The main cause for concern is secondary illnesses. As I mentioned, I've got osteopenia from my Crohns, and Crohns/Colitis have higher risk of cancer, which is not only annoyingly fatal at times but damned expensive (the jerk). Best way to cut costs here is to be as healthy as you can, which can beautifully link with trimming the fat. Smokes? Grind them to dust beneath your feet! Eating out? Please! You can cook better for your gut than the man at Escape. A car? Nonsense! You've got to stay active anyway to relieve tension and stress and keep your insides feeling fresh and strong.
The better handhold you can get on your secondaries, the more butt you'll kick with both your condition itself and your wallet. This is also good because, with changing conditions, you'll be doing a lot of diagnostics and check ups. Clearing out the arteries and lungs and keeping the body moving will help alleviate other problems that you might mistake for a Crohns/Colitis flare up and, so, prevent you from having to worry/spend money without reason on something you could have avoided by exercising regularly.