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Comment by bryan11 | Hacker News Reader

A comment heard from several friends: "Why save for retirement? One large medical expense can wipe out years of savings. You're better off enjoying life and spending what you earn while you can."

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Except they can't take money from your 401k if it is employer sponsored. Just Google "401k bankruptcy protection"

But a person who's had such an event can empty their own accounts to survive.

IRAs are protected in most states as well.

Wouldn't insurance be a better response?

I think the argument is that not even insurance can properly insulate you from this risk.

I'm not familiar with your system, so excuse my ignorance; can they do that? Take money from your pension scheme?

No, they can't take money directly from the "pension scheme". Social Security cannot be garnished to satisfy judgments from private creditors, and in most cases, retirement accounts are privileged and will not be forcibly garnished or confiscated by the authorities to pay an outstanding judgment. Also in most cases, you can retain retirement accounts through a bankruptcy. This is a good reason to make sure a lot of your savings is allocated into designated retirement accounts and not just a standard savings account.

Parent poster is commenting on the general expense of medicine, but for your typical retiree, it shouldn't be too out of control with Medicare.

A Roth IRA is a wonderful savings and retirement account if you have creditors at your door: you can remove the contributions at any time penalty free.

I'm not an American so I could be wrong, but I don't believe they can take money from their Old Age Security (government pension?), but that is not enough money to live off of anyway. If you have personal savings, you must use that to pay your medical bills, even if you are living off of that savings. This system seems so inhumane to me as a Canadian. You wouldn't treat your own children or family that way (if they're hungry you would feed them wouldn't you?), why accept it as 'normal' for your society as a whole. Figure out a way to use your absolutely immense resources to take care your own. We don't have it perfect in Canada either, but at least I know I won't be eating cat food in my retirement even if my own plans for my future haven't worked out.

Edit - sibling poster pointed out that personal savings in approved retirement savings plans/schemes would not be put at risk for medical debts, which makes sense. The problem however with the folks described in this story is that a substantial amount of people _don't_ actually do this - they either have not saved anything, or their savings were in other forms (real estate, etc) which have been eroded/lost.

>>One large medical expense can wipe out years of savings.

Your medical expenses should be a part of your retirement savings.

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