Working Americans believe Obamacare will hike health-care costs enough to significantly delay their retirement, according to a poll released Tuesday.
Thirty-three percent of workers believe that higher health-care costs courtesy of Obamacare will force them to continue working longer, a survey of 2,000 working Americans from personal finance company MoneyRates.com found. Just 17 percent of respondents said that the health-care law will allow them to retire earlier than expected.
Of the third who believe Obamacare will push back their retirement, 39 percent expect to retire more than five years later; 30 percent believe they’ll be forced to work an extra three to five years to make up for their growing health care costs. (RELATED: Survey: 60 Percent Of Health Care Benefits Managers Expect Obamacare To Increase Costs)
Health-care costs generally rise annually, even above normal inflation, but Obamacare regulations are pushing certain patients’ prices even higher. Mandated benefits, such as pregnancy services even for older couples or single males, are driving up the price of health insurance for those who would normally opt out of unnecessary coverage, according to a variety of experts.
But older Americans on average disproportionately benefit from Obamacare’s ban on charging elderly patients more for health coverage. The health-care law attempts to pay for older — and often sicker — patients’ more costly care by upping prices on young Americans instead.
In response to insuring costly patients and a list of new taxes, insurance companies have begun instating higher out-of-pocket costs, which will be more likely to hit older Americans who tend to use health care services more often. (RELATED: Survey: Employees Frustrated With Lower Quality, Higher Costs Health Care Benefits)
Money Rate’s results indicate that even those who are benefiting most from Obamacare policies are still expecting higher costs than before the health-care law passed.
But while Obamacare does spread the health-care costs of those close to retirement to younger customers, when it comes to the health-care law’s exchanges, older Americans may be less likely to qualify for premium subsidies — leaving them to feel the full brunt of any Obamacare-related rate hikes.
