SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An Extend Health survey of 1,140 seniors on Medicare revealed that 74%1 of respondents are “very” or “somewhat” confident that Medicare will be there for the rest of their lives – the highest level of confidence expressed since Extend Health began surveys on this question in December 2009. Asked the same question in a survey conducted just three months ago, in June 2012, just 61% said they were “very” or “somewhat” confident.
Extend Health, operator of the nation’s largest private Medicare exchange, fielded the current survey on October 17–18, 2012. It was timed to gauge seniors’ confidence in Medicare after several months of intensive debate on the future of Medicare by both presidential candidates and their campaigns. Extend Health is a Towers Watson company.
Said Bryce Williams, Founder of Extend Health and Managing Director of Exchange Solutions for Towers Watson, “We’ve been tracking seniors’ overall confidence in Medicare for almost three years. Over time, we’ve watched seniors’ confidence in Medicare move up and down based on the nature of political debates and news headlines. Results from the current survey represent the sharpest increase in seniors’ confidence in Medicare since we initiated these surveys – a reflection perhaps of both presidential candidates’ strong messages that they are determined to protect Medicare for this generation of seniors.”
The following chart shows the pattern of increases and decreases in confidence since March 2010, right before the passage of the health care reform law.
Detailed results from the survey question are as follows:
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How confident are you that Medicare will be available for the rest of your life? |
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October 2012 |
June 2012 |
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Very confident |
27.2% | 24.1% | ||||||
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Somewhat confident |
47.0% | 36.7% | ||||||
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Unsure |
19.8% | 20.3% | ||||||
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Not confident |
6.0% | 18.9% | ||||||
Extend Health has helped hundreds of thousands of seniors compare and choose private Medicare plans. Extend Health is the only place seniors can compare thousands of plans from more than 80 carriers side by side and find plans that best meet their needs. Licensed benefit advisors are available to help seniors evaluate their Medicare coverage and explore new options quickly and easily.
About Extend Health
Extend Health, Inc., founded in 2004, is a leading provider of health benefits management services, including the largest private Medicare exchange in the country. For more information, visit Extend Health on the web at https://www.extendhealth.com.
Extend Health is a registered trademark of Extend Health. Other names may be trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners.
1 For top line reporting purposes, Extend Health rounds percentages up or down as appropriate.
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