Their concerns may be exacerbated as the slow recovery and aging workforce has prompted the government to forecast that Medicare, the U.S. health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and the Social Security trust for the disabled and retirees will run out of money sooner than earlier projections.
Insufficient Funds
The trustees of the two programs reported in May that Medicare won't have sufficient funds to pay full benefits starting in 2024, five years earlier than last year's estimate, and Social Security's cash to pay full benefits runs short in 2036, a year sooner than the 2010 projection.
Maya Hahn, an Atlanta real-estate agent, turned 65 last week and said she plans to retire next year on less than half the "six-figure income" she earned during the early 2000s. She considers herself "semiretired" now because of the housing bust in the past few years.
"The happiest day of my life was the day I got my Medicare," she said. "It was a huge weight lifted off me" because of rising health-care and drug expenses in retirement.
"You have to think about what you spend on anything," she said. "You don't go out to movies. You don't go out to dinner. You don't go on vacation. There are no fun bucks."