"Moneywise with Kelvin Boston" is the nation's premiere multi-cultural financial affairs program.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Christina Mazzanti
(202) 587-4158
New Documentary Examines
America’s “Financial
Insecurity”
Changes in Health Care and Retirement Pose New Challenges
for
Both Employers and Employees
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 6, 2005) Americans have never lived longer nor enjoyed such financially comfortable retirements. But recent changes in the benefits and health care systems now place increasing responsibility on individuals to manage their current health care and the financial aspects of their retirement. Are companies and employees equipped for the new realities of health care and retirement? What can Americans do to better prepare themselves and their families?
Financial Insecurity: Facing America’s Health Care and Retirement Crisis is a new one-hour public television documentary that explores these questions in depth. Hosted by Kelvin Boston, moderator of the PBS series Moneywise, the program features case studies of real Americans who are facing uncertain financial futures and comments by leading experts in the field.
This timely special delves into extensive research, findings and major studies from Princeton University, EBRI, The Rand Corporation, The Kaiser Family Foundation/Hewitt Associates Survey, The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and many others. Among the program’s observations:
- America’s population is changing. Those more than 80 years old have become the fastest growing age group in America. The share of the American population over age 65 will go from 12 percent today to 20 percent in 2035. Medical advances have helped people stay healthy longer – but at a cost.
- The cost of health insurance is now growing at twice the rate of the rest of the economy. Between 2000 and 2004, the average annual cost of health insurance for an American family rose from $7,000 to more than $9,300 – a 33 percent increase. For working Americans and for the companies who employ them, paying for health care is becoming a bigger and bigger challenge.
- Sky rocketing costs and reduced employer coverage have contributed to an increase in the number of the uninsured. There are now 44 million Americans without health insurance.
- In response to rising costs, some employers are seeking different solutions that involve employees more deeply in their own health care decisions. These new insurance programs are called “consumer driven” plans. They are designed to give participants more control and responsibility for funds allocated to health care and they provide consumers with more information to make better decisions.
- While life expectancy has increased, the age of retirement has declined from 67 in the 1950s to around 62 today. But even as they face rising health care costs and the prospect of longer life, the baby boom generation isn’t saving very much. The average combined 401(k) and IRA savings for Americans in their 40s and 50s is only $37,000, far short of what is required in retirement.
In an interview for the program, Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute concludes, “Financial security for Americans is changing. We’re moving away from a paternalistic society where employers provided very comprehensive benefits. Workers and retirees will bear the burden of the risks associated with investing money, the risks associated with how long you live, and the risks associated with how fast prices increase.”
Other experts interviewed in the program include Alicia Munnell of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Jim Smith of the Rand Corporation, Brigitte Madrian of the Wharton Business School, William Gale of the Brookings Institution, Meredith Rosenthal of Harvard University and Dennis Scanlon of Penn State University.
Host Kelvin Boston is moderator of the weekly PBS financial series Moneywise, which provides easy-to-use, practical advice on everyday financial concerns. The goal of the program is to empower viewers by demonstrating how they can use their financial resources more effectively. He is the author of the best-selling book Smart Money Moves for African Americans (Putnam/Perigee 1996.) The New York Times has called him as an “outspoken voice for Black economic empowerment.”
Financial Insecurity: Facing America’s Health Care and Retirement Crisis was conceived and produced by David Adler who has a MA in economics from Columbia and has done graduate work in economics at Oxford. He is the recipient of the Royal Television Society Award (UK) for best arts documentary and his programs have aired on the BBC, Discovery and Cinemax. He has written several articles about behavioral economics and edited an anthology which examines the prospects for US economic growth published by the Cambridge University Press. The program is produced by New River Media, a Washington, D.C. production company specializing in documentary, series and educational television. Andrew Walworth is Executive Producer.
Financial Insecurity: Facing America’s Health Care and Retirement Crisis is scheduled to air nationally in early 2005 on public television. Videotapes and transcripts of the program are available upon request.
Major funding for Financial Insecurity: Facing America’s Health Care and Retirement Crisis is provided by Hewitt Associates – a global human resources services firm with additional funding by Novo Nordisk.