Number One worry: cost of health care in retirement
Posted on 13 April 2012
By Mark Miller
Permanent URL of this article: http://retirementrevised.com/money/number-one-worry-cost-of-health-care-in-retirement
What worries Americans most about their prospects for achieving a secure retirement? The cost of health care.
Americans are less confident that they’ll have enough money to pay for medical and long-term care expenses in retirement than they are about their ability to cover basic expenses, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s recently released Retirement Confidence Survey.
Affluent households seem especially worried. Seventy-nine percent of investors with $250,000 or more in investable assets responding to the most recent Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Survey cite health care costs are their top financial concern – ahead of the nation’s budget deficit, unemployment or possible tax hikes. And 34 percent say they are more worried about the financial strain associated with a chronic health situation than how it might compromise their quality of life.
It’s the third year in a row that health care cost worries have topped Merrill Lynch’s survey. Growing awareness among older Americans that longevity is rising is a key factor, since it raises the specter of ballooning lifetime cost.
