Baby boomers not prepared for disability

ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 14 (UPI) -- Most baby boomers would face serious financial hardship if they had to deal with a major disability in their household, a U.S. survey indicates.

A survey by Harris Interactive on behalf of America's Health Insurance Plans assessed how financially prepared baby boomers are if the primary wage earner in their household became disabled and was unable to work for an extended period of time. Fifty-five percent say they are not at all or somewhat unprepared and 15 percent say they are very or extremely prepared if a disability occurred.

Baby boomers were also asked how long they could go without their primary wage earner's income before they had difficulty paying their bills. Sixty-four percent would have difficulty within the first year, 49 percent would have difficulty in the first six months and one-third would have difficulty paying all their bills in just the first three months.

Fifty-two percent say they have more than $5,000 in non-mortgage debt, 25 percent of boomers have more than $20,000 in debt and 9 percent have debt of more than $50,000.

Harris Interactive conducted the online survey from April 25-29 among a nationwide sample of 3,607 adults age 18 and older, including 1,182 baby boomers ages 44 to 62.