Health Care Tops Concerns Among Affluent Americans

04/22/2010

Recent health care reform may not be enough to ease Americans' concerns about affording health insurance premiums - even if they have a high income.

A recent survey conducted by Bank of America Corp. showed that 62 percent of respondents were most concerned about meeting health care costs, despite a decrease in worries about reaching overall financial goals during the current economic conditions. Saving toward retirement was the second most common concern, drawing about 50 percent of respondents.

The Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly targeted individuals with assets in excess of $250,000, putting their income well out of the range experienced by many Americans. These consumers will be subject to capital gains and Medicare payroll tax increases used to afford the health care reform, according to a recent report by BusinessWeek. This has played into their concerns.

"While Washington in the past quarter has been talking health care, health care, health care, these affluent Americans have heard health care, but are thinking retirement, retirement, retirement," Sallie Krawcheck, president of Bank of America Global Wealth and Investment Management, told BusinessWeek.

A recent report by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College showed that an average married couple age 65 will face some $197,000 in uninsured health care costs through retirement.

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