Robert Papalia took early retirement to care for his wife Marie.Robert Papalia
Robert Papalia, 74, took early retirement to care for his ailing wife Marie.
The couple’s monthly pre-tax retirement income is being squeezed by medical bills and taxes.
Many Americans face similar financial challenges and rely on Social Security amid high medical costs.
Robert Papalia, 74, was forced to retire earlier than he had planned after his wife Marie, 71, began to become increasingly ill. After working for a telephone company for more than thirty years, he retired at age 60 – five years before he planned – to care for her.
The couple, who live in Burlington, New Jersey, have struggled financially in recent years. Although they bring in about $5,000 a month in pre-tax retirement income, much of that goes to medical bills, high property taxes and expensive insurance benefits. At the end of the month, they are left with little, although Papalia said they were not in trouble.
“Do we have money in the bank? Yes. Is it a lot of money? No,” Papalia told Business Insider.
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Many Americans have told BI that they have struggled to prepare financially for the unexpected, such as a sudden health crisis or a death in the family. As Americans increasingly rely on Social Security and other retirement income to make ends meet, high medical costs can throw years of retirement planning out of balance.
Papalia’s goal was to retire in 2015 at age 65 so that he could receive Social Security benefits and have enough saved so that money wouldn’t be a big problem. However, in 2010 he retired to care for his wife full-time, undertaking a takeover of his business that lasted until 2014.
A lifelong diabetic, Marie had dealt with medical problems her entire life, including loss of vision in her right eye, static hypertension and low blood sugar. She received a prosthetic eye after suffering retinal damage.
Marie’s medical care was expensive, and the couple also cared for two dogs, both of which had costly medical problems.
Marie needed 24-hour care, and Papalia felt it was worth the financial sacrifice to retire early and spend every hour with her to ensure she stayed as healthy as possible. She suffered a heart attack in 2012 that forced them to pause their plans to sell their New Jersey home to move to an area of Pennsylvania where the cost of living was lower.
In 2014, Marie underwent open-heart surgery after doctors discovered her heart’s main artery was 95% blocked. Papalia said finances became much tighter that year; he added that Marie took eight or nine prescriptions every day. She has had difficulty walking in recent years and is dependent on a wheelchair.
“I’m sure when I look at my wallet at the end of the day, it’s the difference between night and day,” Papalia said, comparing his financial situation to that of 2010.
Papalia receives $2,132 per month in Social Security before taxes and insurance and $1,900 from his pension, while Marie receives $1,113 per month from Social Security. Papalia said that while they were staying afloat, some months were particularly tight.
Medicines can cost $60 to $70 each week, and hospital bills add up to a few hundred dollars every few months, meaning well over 10% of their income goes to Marie’s medical costs. Papalia said his health was stable, although he has acid reflux, neuropathy and an irregular heartbeat, for which he takes medication.
“Without insurance, I would be living under a bridge,” Papalia said. “If you don’t have insurance, you’re playing with fire.”
They’ve shifted their shopping to essentials at cheaper stores, and with food inflation in recent years, they’ve become even more methodical in their purchases. Papalia estimated they spend less than $100 on groceries each week, although they occasionally order takeout. He said pandemic-era stimulus checks helped them afford basic necessities.
“We go to doctors all the time for everything you can think of: clogged arteries, eye surgeries, a situation where she lost toes on her left foot,” Papalia said, noting that even though they get Medicare, the costs of deductibles and copays add up .
They pay more than $10,000 in property taxes each year, and they expect that to continue to rise. Their heating bill earns them almost $300 a month, while they pay more than $40 a month in life insurance. They also pay nearly $300 a month for car and homeowners insurance.
Papalia said it’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong with the house, sending them into the red. A few years ago he got an estimate of $11,000 to repair his roof, but because the original roofing didn’t meet building codes, it turned into a $36,000 payment that they won’t pay off until 2030.
“It’s a battle every day and something is going to pop,” Papalia said.
Finances were so tight, he said, that he took out a reverse mortgage on the house, a loan for older Americans to borrow against the equity in their homes and supplement their Social Security benefits.
He said they switch between 30 credit cards for different purchases to limit their budget, get rewards and keep the balance on each card low to maintain their credit.
Papalia said he had thought about getting a part-time job, but was rarely able to leave the house given Marie’s circumstances. Hiring a concierge would be too expensive, he added.
“We’re just taking it day by day,” Papalia said. “We worry about today and let tomorrow take care of itself.”
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