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End-of-Life Choices

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Chronic diseases and the cost of care are rising. Are disease management programs improving outcomes for patients with complex, chronic conditions?

No Middleman

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Health Care Costs

Friday, July 29, 2011

Baby Boomers Worried About Rising Medical Expenses, Poll Finds

Many of the U.S.' 77 million baby boomers are concerned about mounting medical costs, according to a recent Associated Press/LifeGoesStrong poll, the AP/Washington Post reports. In addition, the poll found that many baby boomers are not prepared for future medical decisions or for long-term care costs.

Poll Details

The poll involved online interviews of 1,416 U.S. adults, including 1,078 baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 (AP/Washington Post, 7/28).

According to the poll, 43% of baby boomers polled said they were "very" or "extremely" worried about being able to pay for their medical costs, including long-term care. The second major concern was losing financial independence, with 41% of baby boomers listing it as their primary concern (Kerr, AP/Boston Globe, 7/29).

The survey also found that just 34% of baby boomers have health care proxies or living wills. Proxies give medical power of attorney to another individual, who can make health care decisions for a person unable to do so, while living wills allow people to lay out their wishes for medical treatment.

Context of Poll

The poll comes as a struggling economy, longer life expectancies, growing health care costs and challenges to popular entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare are putting added financial pressure on baby boomers, the oldest of whom are slated to turn 65 this year, according to the AP/Post.

Fidelity Study

According to a separate study by Fidelity Investments, baby boomers who are 65 years old and plan to retire this year with Medicare coverage will need $230,000 on average to cover medical expenses in retirement.

That figure does not include long-term care coverage that can cost from $1,000 to $8,000 annually. Among the baby boomers surveyed, 83% said they did not have long-term care coverage (AP/Washington Post, 7/28).

Reader Comments:
  • 3
  • 08/04/2011
  • Robert Forster

Words have meaning and I am not sure what is implied by "single payer." While we ideologically are seeking a public single payer we already have one in Medicare. Recent studies have shown that our Medicare does poorly on care and cost/capita than other westernized countries who are classically single payer, have better population health, and utilize more of the private market in their models. So we think the Feds. should do it, while e.g. Canada, Germany, Switz, etc are moving more to the private market. All very interesting. Health and healthcare costs are driven not by our medical delivery system but principally by our culture--e.g., behaviors. Our obesity binge can never be dealth with adequately from a healer standpoint--we as Americans must change our values and culture to ultimately control our medical illness expenditures. At most, treatment of the ill, only contributes to 20% of the health of the population by all academic medical macroeconomists.

  • 2
  • 08/01/2011
  • Vashti Winterburg

Let's face it, until we have single payer the vast majority of us will stay in the medical bankruptcy pool. California should join Vermont and vote for a single payer system. When Medicare became law the poverty rate among the elderly dropped from 26% to 9%.
Vermont expects to save $500 Million a year by going to single payer health care. Last I looked, Massachusetts would save over $2 Billion a year. It'd be interesting to know how much California could save every year.

  • 1
  • 07/29/2011
  • Ken Duggan

This article is yet another example of why we need the single payer option for healthcare. How can anyone feel secure in their retirement if we have to factor an additional $230K in savings/investments?
Delaying retirement or not retiring at all are the sad realities of the baby boomers who have been adversely impacted by this economy.



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