There's nothing like worrying about healthcare, especially how you'll pay for it in retirement.
That's the concern of more than 62 percent of boomers who have not yet retired, and who say they are "terrified" about the costs of healthcare destroying their retirement or making it altogether impossible.
So says a survey from the Nationwide Retirement Institute, which found that those worried boomers — all affluent, by the way, with at least $150,000 in household income — not only fear the effects of out-of-control healthcare costs on their potential retirement, but are also convinced that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be of no help to them.
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In fact, more than half of those affluent boomers (55 percent) are convinced that the PPACA will increase what they pay for their own healthcare costs, and more than a quarter (26 percent) of employed affluent boomers believe they will never be able to retire.
While the PPACA is popular among some — mainly lower-income people who have no other means of coverage and are happy to have access to multiple insurers, as well as guaranteed coverage — the affluent boomer are not among them. Indeed, 64 percent of the affluent boomer respondents said that the PPACA would instead be a drain on the U.S. economy.
Sixty-three percent said it would hurt their employers, while 45 percent said they would postpone their retirement if they had to buy their own insurance.
More than a quarter of parents (27 percent) said they'd put off retiring so that they could keep their adult children on their employer's health insurance plan. And 41 percent of parents said they'd give all their money to their children so that they'd be eligible for Medicaid-funded long-term care.
While affluent boomers claim to be very confident to confident that they're well informed on their personal benefits and the effects of the PPACA (32 percent vs. 24 percent), they're more likely this year to say that they expect the single biggest cost in retirement to be their healthcare (51 percent, compared with 43 percent last year).
And most of these affluent boomers wish they understood Medicare better (61 percent). In fact, 73 percent of those who talk about retirement plans with a financial advisor say that it's important or very important that that advisor talk with them about health care costs during retirement. Yet 77 percent say they haven't had that talk with a professional advisor.
Among those who have, 75 percent talked about the costs not covered by Medicare. Almost two-thirds of affluent pre-retirees weren't aware that Medicare does not cover long-term care expenses.
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