One-third of nearly 1,500 wealthy Americans worry that a large portion of their assets will go toward financing health care costs, according to a survey by PNC Services Group. The fear is especially felt by middle-aged Americans; 43 percent of those between the ages of 45 and 64 named expensive health care costs as their biggest financial concern.

Forty-two percent of those surveyed specifically cited Medicare’s less-than-promising future as a substantial threat to their family’s wealth.
Concerns about future costs, however, don’t necessarily translate into anticipatory action. A mere 31 percent of those surveyed had purchased long-term care insurance and only 41 percent had named a health care proxy.

Those surveyed had annual incomes of at least $150,000 or more with investable assets of $500,000 (at least $1 million for the retired). Nearly 200 respondents had assets of more than $5 million and 116 had assets of more than $10 million.

PNC Financial Services Group is one of the nation’s largest financial services companies, providing services such as consumer and corporate banking, real estate financing and asset management.