Providing Health Insurance Coverage

Question:
What do most Americans consider more important than managing debt or building their retirement fund?

Answer:
Having health insurance! The intensified media coverage of the past year has boosted health care to the number two spot on a list of financial planning issues, according to the 2009 National Consumer Survey on Personal Finance recently published by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards.

The top five concerns are: (1) managing retirement income, (2) providing health insurance coverage, (3) managing/reducing current debt, (4) building a retirement fund and (5) building an emergency fund.

Clearly, having health coverage for oneself and one's family is an important issue for many Americans at all levels of income and education, no matter where they may live or what their gender or ethnicity is. But the report does not indicate what kind of health insurance people want. In fact, many seem willing to trust their employers or others to make that decision for them.

When planning your financial future, it is important that your decisions do not oppose each other. This is an issue where your goals need to work together so that funding one area won't inadvertently cause increased debt in another.