BEST HEALTH TESTS FOR A LONGER, HEALTHIER RETIREMENT
In retirement, having the income you need for the rest of your life is just part of the goal. You also hope for the good health to enjoy your post-working years. You can calculate your budget, savings rate and inflation, but how do you calculate your future health risks?
Modern medicine provides ever-improving ways to assess and address medical risks. Here are a few of the most useful tests, widely recognized for their effectiveness. The results can help you and your doctor make more informed decisions about potential treatments and lifestyle changes that can extend your longevity and improve your retirement outlook.
Which Health Tests Are Most Effective?
The No. 1 cause of death among Americans is heart disease. High cholesterol is one of the main causes of heart disease, so managing it is vital.
Specifically, you want to track your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol), a well-established risk factor for heart attack and stroke.
"Everyone should know their LDL cholesterol," said Dr. Michael Greger, author of "How Not to Die." "The lower the better."
For most people, a result under 100 milligrams of LDL cholesterol per deciliter of blood is good. But for those with a 10% or greater risk of having a significant cardiovascular event in the next 10 years — based on various red flags such as high blood pressure, diabetes status and smoking — the number should fall below 70 milligrams.
If you already have cardiovascular disease, an even lower LDL reading is advisable — and possible.
"Thanks to new drugs, we can get LDL down" well below 70 and even into the single digits on occasion, says Greger, founder of NutritionFacts.org.
Weighing Your Heart Health Risks
Testing for cholesterol is a normal part of an annual physical. But there are other, less obvious medical tests and technologies that can also play a valuable role in improving your health outlook, especially for those approaching retirement age.
The Apolipoprotein B test, more commonly called ApoB, measures the protein that sits on the cholesterol-laden particles in your blood.
"It's the most accurate blood test for assessing risk of heart disease, yet it's not ordered by many doctors," said Barry Rotman, M.D., an internist and founder of Banner Peak Health, a concierge medical practice in Walnut Creek, Calif.
In addition to blood tests, another way to assess your heart disease risk involves imaging. A coronary artery calcium scan, which takes less than 10 minutes, uses a CT scan machine to check for calcified plaque in the lining of your coronary arteries.
"It's an ultrafast, low X-ray exposure measure of your anatomy," Rotman said.
When planning your retirement budget, know that insurance typically does not cover this test, which can cost $150 and up including the scan itself (usually done in a hospital) and a radiology report. Adults with borderline high cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease can confer with their doctor on whether the test result indicates the need to start statin drugs.
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Cancer Screening: A Work In Progress
The second leading cause of death for Americans is cancer. While there is no single medical test that can help lower your overall cancer risk, there are ways to collect data that can prove helpful.
The most hotly debated blood test, Galleri, gained notoriety when telehealth provider Hims & Hers HealthHIMS aired a commercial during the Super Bowl that referred to it. The test can lead to the early screening of 50 types of cancer, but it's still a developing technology.
"It's imperfect and somewhat controversial, but it gives a glimpse of how we might diagnose some cancers early," Rotman said. "I'm bullish on it."
The FDA has not approved Galleri. But its manufacturer, Grail, says it has sold over 475,000 Galleri tests since its launch in 2021. Another retirement budget note: The list price is $949 and insurance generally does not cover it, although some doctors offer discounts.
Do You Really Need A Full-Body Scan?
An even more controversial tool is a full-body scan. In theory, these scans can screen for a wide range of longevity-reducing conditions from heart disease to cancer. But it's unclear if potential early detection of these conditions outweighs the risks.
"If we did total body MRIs on 100 55-year-olds, we might find abnormalities in about half of them," said Ira Schwartz, an internist in Portsmouth, N.H. "It might be a shadow in the pancreas, a lesion in the liver or a module in the thyroid."
Yet the abnormalities may prove harmless. The odds of false positives — ultimately benign findings that nevertheless trigger anxiety and a series of invasive procedures — can undermine the rationale for the test in the first place.
Diabetes Tests Raise Awareness
Diabetes and even prediabetes can affect your longevity. More than one in three American adults, roughly 100 million people, have prediabetes — a precursor to full-blown diabetes. And about 80% of them don't know it.
Half of those diagnosed with prediabetes who don't take steps to treat it will develop cardiovascular disease within five years. Good management of diabetes through diet, exercise and appropriate medical care can go a long way toward making retirement years better.
A good first step is asking your doctor about adding a hemoglobin A1C test (often shortened to A1C) to your routine blood work for your next checkup. It measures average blood glucose levels over the past 90 days and provides a better sense of your diabetes risk.
An even better tool for people at heightened risk of diabetes is a continuous glucose monitor.
"It measures glucose at continuous intervals," Rotman said. "[A1C] provides some clues, but it's nowhere near as accurate as tracking how your sugar level changes every 15 minutes or so."
Health care costs play a big role in your retirement budget. While any or all of these diagnostic tools can be useful, even lifesaving, consult with your doctors for the best ways to plan for a long, healthy retirement.
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2026-05-15T13:16:24Z
