I keep reading that you have to allow hundreds of thousands for in case you get sick when you're retired.
My experience suggests that's not really so.
For most of my life I've been self employed (or retired) and medical insurance has been a significant expense but not as horrible as I've heard.
Before medicare kicked in I paid (as I recall) up to $600 a month for a high deductible policy. I had to pay copays of $20 or so when I visited a doctor, and similar costs for most prescriptions. And I always had an annual out-of-pocket limit. It varied from $5,000 to $7,000. So no matter how much medical service I required, It would never cost over $7,000 plus my monthly premiums. It's a lot, but not hundreds of thousands.
When I turned 65 I signed up for Medicare. Part A is free and part B costs about $100 a month. I signed up for a medicare advantage program that costs nothing extra. It looked really good on paper but I wasn't sure if it was as good as it looked. Well, it was very good.
The year after I signed up with Medicare I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That year I had extensive surgery, a week in the hospital, six months of weekly chemotherapy, 7 visits to the emergency room, 5 or 6 c-t scans, weekly blood tests, and a few more things I can't recall at the moment.
I paid $350 for the hospital and surgery, $50 for each c-t scan, $400 for each chemo infusion, $60 for each emergency room visit. I didn't add it all up, but I marveled about how reasonable it all was. Then at the end of the year I received a refund. I had accidentally paid more than my annual $4,000 maximum. Plus some friends took up a collection for me and gave me about $1,400.
The following year I had cataract surgery in both eyes. That cost me $5 every time I visited the doctor. Maybe 6 or 7 visits?
I agree it would have been very bad without insurance, but I've always had insurance. And once you get to Medicare age you don't have to worry about pre-existing conditions.
And nursing home costs? If you have a paid for home you won't need it if you're in a nursing home so you can sell it and use that money plus your regular ongoing income to last a long time.