There’s good reason health care expenses top the list of Americans’ retirement concerns.

Average projected lifetime premiums for traditional Medicare options are $688,996 for a healthy 65-year-old couple retiring in 2026, according to the health spending analytics company Health View Services. When deductibles, copays, hearing, vision and dental are added, total costs increase to $955,411 for Medicare Parts B, D, and supplemental insurance. In plans across many states, 2026 premiums are over 50% higher than they were just four years ago.

“There’s little reason to expect these figures will fall or even stabilize in coming years,” Ron Mastrogiovanni, Health View Services CEO, told Advisor Upside. “I am worried for older Americans. My primary response to this data is to encourage people to save more and prepare proactively for the cost of care in retirement.”

Big Policy Concerns

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released 2027 payment proposals last month that could hurt both hospitals and insurers. The plan would increase payments to insurers by just 0.09%, well below analyst expectations of around 5%. Should it take effect, Mastrogiovanni warned, insurers may pull back offerings, reduce benefits, or include more restrictions within their offered plans. Some hospitals may close outright. Current premiums are already hard to stomach for clients:

• Monthly Part B premiums soared 9.7% in 2026 to $202.90, while annual Part B deductibles climbed 10.1% to $283.
• Annual Part A deductibles increased 3.8% to $1,736.
• Part D monthly base premiums also rose 5.8% to $38.99.

“Even if we don’t see a big price hike in 2027, the quality of your plan could drop, especially in cases where prescription drugs for chronic conditions are no longer covered,” said Michael Daley, a policy expert with Health View Services.

Separately, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 set an annual out-of-pocket maximum on prescription drug spending of $2,000 for people on traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage, while shifting more responsibility for covering excess costs onto plan providers. The intent of the legislation was to aid retirees who spend beyond these new limits on prescription drugs. “For these individuals, many with chronic health conditions, this may be financially helpful,” Mastrogiovanni said. “However, the ripple effect of the new rule has resulted in higher overall costs for the remainder, who do not benefit from a lower out-of-pocket maximum.”

The Hard Truth. There isn’t much any particular advisor can do to change the course of health care cost inflation in the United States. What they can do, Mastrogiovanni and Daley said, is account for factors such as a client’s health status, coverage preferences and state of residence to help them prepare for retirement healthcare expenses with greater clarity and confidence.

Just like 41 of the 42 shots-on-goal Canada put up against Team USA in the Olympic hockey finals on Sunday, a wide swath of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs have been denied.

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled levies imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act illegal, but not before they generated nearly $200 billion in revenue, according to an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. While the ruling hasn’t triggered widespread portfolio overhauls, it is shaping financial planning conversations, particularly around inflation and client budgeting. However the tariff saga plays out, the implications may be felt in financial plans for years to come.

“We’ve all been facing higher inflation and higher prices since 2020,” said Chris Maxey, chief market strategist at Wealthspire Advisors. Tariffs are one more variable advisors must account for when projecting spending needs decades into the future, he told Advisor Upside. “Inflation is being felt pretty acutely by clients, and that impact just continues to build year after year.”

Market Moves

The SCOTUS ruling could also ease pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep rates elevated. Doug Evans, chief investment officer at the Callan Family Office, said lower tariff risk may allow for a less aggressive stance this year. “You’re already seeing it in mortgage rates,” he said, noting 30-year rates have slipped back into the 5% range. “That will have a bigger impact on everyday consumer lives than the cost of toys or textiles.”

Market reactions have been relatively subdued:

• The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow all fell less than 2% Monday.
• Meanwhile, yields on 10- and 30-year US Treasurys drifted slightly lower.

Maxey argued the shifts likely have less to do with tariffs and more to do with a Citrini Research report on the future of artificial intelligence, questioning whether many people will be out of work in the next few years. “If you go back six months and look at all the betting market odds, it was largely assumed that the Supreme Court was going to overturn the tariffs,” he said. “I really don’t know that the market was caught off guard by the decision.”

That’s Politics. Most advisors subscribe to a “don’t invest in politics” approach. When tariffs were first imposed last April, portfolios largely held steady despite brief volatility. Major indexes recovered within about a month. Still, advisors aren’t ruling out further trade action. The administration has multiple legal pathways to pursue additional tariffs under national security or sector-protection arguments.

“This administration is not going to give up that easily,” Maxey said.

Wealthtech firms don’t usually move the markets, but don’t tell that to Jason Wenk.

The CEO of the digital custodian Altruist was enjoying a long weekend in Mexico earlier this month when news of the launch of his company’s new AI tax agent shaved millions of dollars from competitors’ market caps all before the chips and guac got served. Charles Schwab’s stock sank almost 11% in the days following the announcement, while the prices of brokerages like LPL Financial and Ameriprise dropped 13%. “We had one really nice and relaxing day, and then the next morning, I woke up to complete chaos,” Wenk said.

What had Wall Street on edge? A new artificial intelligence-powered tax tool that’s designed to create strategies for clients based entirely on their documents, and actually writes unique code for each individual client. It analyzes 1040s, account statements, pay stubs and other forms, and could become the “canary in the coal mine,” Wenk said. While some believe the selloff was a market overreaction, the tools are certainly beginning to worry investors. “It’s the sort of thing that people have feared the most about AI,” he told Advisor Upside.

The tax agent may be just the beginning for the Culver City, California-based company that landed $152 million in its latest funding round in April at a $1.9 billion valuation. Altruist is already working on a financial planning agent slated for release this year. Advisor Upside sat down with Wenk to talk about AI and how the tech is primed to reshape wealth management.

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