Majority of employees sacrifice retirement for health care benefits

Sunlife Financial Inc., a Toronto based financial services organization, released a retirement poll today finding that 64% of employees would continue working past 67 in order to retain health benefits -- a motivator that rose from the sixth most popular reason in August to the third in December when the poll was conducted.

Forty to 49 year-olds are most likely to continue working into their golden years, with 77% of them planning to work past the traditional age of retirement for health care benefits, a 60% spike in the last 90 days.

Despite the plethora of employees working for health benefits, they continue to sacrifice their health as approximately one third (34%) of employees delayed a routine or elective medical procedure.

Investments savings from 401(k)s, IRAs, or annuities were left untouched by 90% of respondents, suggesting that health comes second to supporting a financially stable lifestyle.