Retirees Unsure of Medicare's Future

June 25, 2010 at 08:00 PM
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Nearly 90 days after the passage of health care reform legislation, retirees covered by Medicare are confident that Medicare will be available for the rest of their lives but are less confident that it will be there for their children, according to a new survey.

Extend Health Inc., South Jordan, Utah, a private Medicare exchange company, conducted the survey in June and found that 64% of retirees with Medicare coverage are very or somewhat confident that Medicare will be available during their lifetimes, but just 23% have the same confidence that it will be there for their children.

The survey further revealed that 61% of respondents are not confident that Medicare will be there for their children and another 14% describe themselves as unsure.

Extend Health conducted the same survey in March, days before health care reform legislation was passed. Since then, the number of retirees who responded that they are very or somewhat confident Medicare will be available for the rest of their lives increased from 59% to 64%. The number who responded that they are not confident decreased from 32% to 24% in that time, according to the survey.

In that time, retirees' confidence that Medicare will be there for the rest of their children's lives has remained around 20%.

The survey polled 408 retirees with Medicare coverage.

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