Topeka ? Kansans who retire over the next three decades generally won’t have enough money to cover their living expenses, a new study suggests.

And Gov. Bill Graves said the problem would become a big issue for state government.

	www.agingkansas.org

The report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington was presented Thursday to the state’s Task Force on Long-Term Care Services. The task force, which includes legislators and advocates for the elderly, is in the third year of a five-year study of the needs of senior citizens.

The report said that by 2031, living expenses for all elderly Kansans could be $700 million more than their retirement incomes. The report focused on Kansans who were born between 1936 and 1964.

“That’s something we should all be concerned about,” Graves told the task force. “It’s not a subject we know a lot about.”

Graves, Secretary on Aging Connie Hubbell and legislators on the task force said the report was important because it represented the first research of its kind for the state.

“This study means that many people in the next generation of Kansas seniors will need more money from family members and from other public and private sources in order to pay their expenses,” said Sen. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, a task force member.

The report suggested covering basic living expenses would be no problem for couples, particularly those born from 1936 through 1940. But 38 percent of single men and 71 percent of single women born in those years wouldn’t have enough retirement income, it said.

The percentages of single men and women who won’t have enough money begins to increase when health care costs are included, the study said.