If you're worried about having enough passive income to maintain your lifestyle during retirement, you're not alone. Having to spend more just to maintain their current standard of living is a constant concern for most families.

There isn't much that you can do to stop the march of inflation, but you can prepare. Filling your portfolio with dividend-paying stocks that raise their quarterly payouts faster than the underlying inflation rate could even lead to extra spending cash.

Medtronic (MDT 0.91%), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY 0.71%), and AbbVie (ABBV 0.99%) have many years of reliable dividend growth under their belts. If there's one corner of the economy investors can count on to grow in good and bad macroeconomic conditions, it's the healthcare sector.

You can put off buying a new car for years, but medical conditions rarely give customers of these companies an option. Here's how adding them to your portfolio and holding them over the coming decade gives you a great chance to realize a growing passive income stream.

1. Medtronic

Medtronic got started with pacemakers in the 1950s. Cardiovascular devices such as leadless pacemakers and replacement valves are still a large part of the business, but there's much more. For example, it markets implantable devices that can alleviate chronic back pain.

Surgeons all over the world employing a growing suite of Medtronic's minimally invasive solutions have allowed the company to raise its dividend for 47 consecutive years. At recent prices, the stock offers an attractive 3.5% yield.

In the U.S. and other developed nations, populations are aging. Older folks use a lot of healthcare, which is driving up overall spending. The U.S. spent $4.9 trillion on healthcare in 2023, which was 7.5% more than it spent a year earlier.

Last year, Medtronic generated a healthy $5.5 billion in free cash flow but needed just 66% of this sum to meet its dividend obligation. With the unstoppable trend toward increasing healthcare expenses at its back, investors can reasonably expect plenty more dividend payout raises in the years ahead.

2. Bristol Myers Squibb

In the U.S., spending on prescription drugs rose 11.4% year over year to $450 billion in 2023. With this tailwind at its back, Bristol Myers Squibb has been able to raise its dividend payout for 16 consecutive years. The stock offers a 4.3% yield at recent prices.

Bristol Myers Squibb stock has been under pressure because there are aging blockbusters in its product lineup that could lose market share soon. For example, Eliquis is an oral blood thinner that racked up $3 billion in sales during the third quarter of 2024. It's responsible for 25% of total revenue but will likely begin competing with generic versions in the U.S. beginning in 2028.

While Bristol Myers Squibb could lose Eliquis revenue in a few years, its portfolio of more recently launched drugs with longer periods of market exclusivity could more than offset the losses. The company's growth portfolio, which contributes 49% of total sales, grew third-quarter sales by 18% year over year.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration approved an injectable version of Bristol Myers Squibb's blockbuster cancer therapy, Opdivo. Sales of the infused version of the immunotherapy rose to $2.3 billion in the third quarter. An easy-to-administer injectable version that's interchangeable with the infusion could allow Bristol Myers Squibb to retain Opdivo revenue when the infused version begins losing patent-protected market exclusivity a few years from now.

3. AbbVie

AbbVie is another big pharmaceutical company made of many pieces moving in opposite directions. Its former lead drug is an anti-inflammatory injection called Humira.

At recent prices, AbbVie stock offers a 3.7% yield. The company has more than quadrupled its dividend payout since spinning off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013.

Competition with lower-cost biosimilar versions of Humira is hammering sales of the blockbuster injection. In the first nine months of 2024, AbbVie reported Humira sales that fell 34% year over year to $7.3 billion.

Despite huge Humira losses, total revenue during the first nine months of 2024 rose by 3% year over year. A pair of drugs that launched in 2019, Skyrizi for psoriasis and Rinvoq for arthritis, are offsetting Humira losses on their own.

In the third quarter, sales of Skyrizi rose 51% year over year to reach an annualized $12.8 billion. Rinvoq sales bounded 45% higher year over year to an annualized $6.4 billion.

With the heaviest Humira losses already in its rearview, AbbVie could grow by a high single-digit percentage in 2025 and beyond. Adding some shares to a diversified portfolio now looks like a great idea for most income-seeking investors.