Couples expecting to retire this year can expect to spend nearlya quarter of a million dollars in out-of-pocket health care coststhroughout their retirement.

The exact estimate, $245,000, is up from the $220,000 estimatedin total costs last year, according to Fidelity’s BenefitsConsulting Group.

This year’s estimate represents a 29 percent increase from 2005,when Fidelity estimated retirement health care costs to be $190,000per retiring couple.

Read: Retirees not planning on health carecosts

In 2010, Fidelity’s cost estimate hit $250,000. A companyrelease suggested increasing life expectancies in part explain thisyear’s estimate increase, but it did not elaborate on why estimatespeaked in 2010.

Projected costs are run on a hypothetical couple, both aged 65,with a life expectancy of 85 for the male and 87 for the female,reflecting higher mortality rates released last year by the Societyof Actuaries.

The estimate presumes couples don’t have employer-provided retireecare and that they qualify for Medicare.

Deductibles and co-pays associated with Medicare Part A, whichcovers inpatient expenses, Medicare Part B, which covers outpatientcosts, and Medicare Part D, which covers prescription drug costsare the core expenses in the estimate, which doesn’t includelong-term care costs such as nursing home expenses that wouldundoubtedly drive cost projections higher.

In July, the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicareand Medicaid Services projected Medicare spending per enrollee togrow 1 percent in 2015, or slightly higher than the overall rate ofinflation in the economy.

If the projection holds true, it would be the sixth consecutiveyear Medicare inflation has been line with the overall inflation, astark contrast to the previous decade.

In 2001, Medicare inflation was more than 9 percent, whileoverall inflation was just over 2 percent.

For this year’s projection, Fidelity assumed a 4 to 5 percentannual rise in health care costs goingforward.

Brad Kimler, executive vice president of Fidelity’s BenefitsConsulting Services, hopes retirement savers take note of theprojected increase in costs.

“The sticker shock of $245,000 hopefully reinforces for manypeople that they need to act now, regardless of age,” saidKimler.

Fidelity’s projections echo other industry analyses. Last year,a white paper from HealthView Services, aMassachusetts-based consultancy that markets a health care costmodeling tool for retirement advisors, showed Medicare only coversabout half of baby boomers’ health care costs in retirement.

The paper also projected premium costs for a hypotheticalcouple, aged 55 and living in Massachusetts (premiums vary bystate).

When the couple retires at 65 and assuming they buy intoMedicare Part B and D coverage and Medigap coverage, their annualpremium will be $22,981 by 2034, when the couple is 75, andincreased to $46,568 in 2044, when they are 85.

Wealthier retirees are expected to see a significant jump inMedicare Part B coverage in 2016.

About 7 million retirees, or three out of 10 beneficiaries,could see Part B premiums rise to over $1,000 a month percouple.

Most beneficiaries won’t see a rise in premiums, thanks to theso-called “hold harmless” provision in Social Security law, whichsays Medicare premiums won’t go up if there is no cost of living adjustment in SocialSecurity, which there is not projected to be for2016.