Older Workers Worried About Promised Medicare and Social Security Benefits, Watson Wyatt Su...( Many Do Not Expect to Receive...),Health

Many Do Not Expect to Receive Full Benefits After Retirement

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Many older workers, particularly those without employer-sponsored retirement plans, retiree medical plans or other financial resources, do not expect to receive their full Social Security or Medicare payments after they retire. Confidence is especially low among those who are relatively younger, female or have a lower level of education, according to an analysis by Watson Wyatt (NYSE, Nasdaq: WW), a leading global consulting firm.

Roughly six out of 10 (61 percent) older workers -- those 50 to 64 years old -- are not confident of receiving their promised Medicare benefits and 51 percent are not confident of receiving promised Social Security benefits after they retire. The analysis is based on a 2007 Watson Wyatt survey of 5,000 older employees.

Confidence in these government programs is partly associated with how secure workers are in their own financial resources for retirement. Ninety-six percent of older workers who are confident of having adequate personal resources to live on comfortably five years into retirement are also somewhat or very confident they will receive their Medicare and Social Security dues. However, among those who are worried their own resources will not be sufficient, only 87 percent are confident of receiving their full Medicare benefits, and 85 percent are confident of receiving their full Social Security benefits.

Confidence falls farther along the horizon: Of those who are confident of having sufficient personal resources to last 20 years into retirement, 67 percent and 66 percent are also confident of receiving their promised Medicare and Social Security benefits respectively. Of those who worry their retirement resources won't stretch that far, these numbers fall to 44 percent and 41 percent respectively.

"People with less overall confidence in their retirement resources are likely to w
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