While the White House has stated that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will enable Americans to do more with their employee benefits, their assertions have done little to quell consumers' retirement living concerns.
According to a joint survey, conducted by financial firm Merrill Lynch and research company Age Wave, nearly three-fourths of those polled said that serious health problems – and how they could afford them – were their biggest concern as it pertained to living a long life.
Additionally, nearly half of respondents – 47 percent – said that they were worried about eventually running out of money in retirement, preventing them from being able to live comfortably, the survey indicated.
There appears to be sufficient reason for why so many consumers have anxiety over healthcare expenses.The Merrill Lynch study also revealed that of all the bankruptcies that occur in the U.S. approximately 60 percent of them are due to unpaid medical bills.
Even though supporters of the ACA saying that the bill will make health insurance more affordable for everyday Americans, internal estimates from more than a dozen of the nation's largest insurers say otherwise.
In a memo obtained by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, 17 nationally recognized insurance companies predict that premium costs will swell between 100 and 400 percent above where they are now.
The main reason why premiums are expected to increase so substantially, according to the report, is the ACA makes more services available than what standard plans provide for today.
"Despite promises that the law will lower costs, the [ACA] will in fact cause the premiums of many Americans to spike," the report stated. "The empirical data reveal that many Americans, from recent college graduates to older adults, will not be able to afford the law's higher costs."
