The 2013 EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey reveals that most workers believe their employers or unions will continue to provide health care insurance — although there have been employer surveys indicating that, at some point in the future, some may not.

Not that workers fail to appreciate future uncertainties: While 46 percent of worker respondents to the WBS survey indicate they are extremely or very confident about their ability to get the treatments they need today, only 28 percent are confident about their ability to get needed treatments during the next 10 years.

Similarly, when it comes to retirement, the Retirement Confidence Survey has, for nearly a quarter century now, shown a remarkable resilience in worker confidence regarding their financial future in retirement, belying the savings levels indicated in that same survey. Over the course of that survey, we've seen confidence wax stronger and then wane and while we've seen distressingly low levels of preparation, more recently we've also seen a growing awareness of the need for those preparations.