Lost jobs, lost health care

While retirees cope with diminished nest eggs, younger workers worry about unemployment increasing. It could reach 8 percent nationally, according to some estimates. Workers in the hardest-hit industries, such as manufacturing, construction, and retail, are already feeling the pinch. With the loss of jobs comes the loss of health-care coverage. Twenty percent in our survey said they're unable to afford medical bills or drugs; 15 percent said they lost coverage or their benefits were reduced because of the downturn.

Jami Rowland, a flatbed truck driver from Owasso, Okla., believes he lost his job in part because the economic slowdown resulted in less freight to transport. He also lost health insurance for himself, his wife, and his 2-year-old daughter. The prescription drugs that cost them $90 a month with coverage will now cost $430 without it. "I may go off of my prescriptions but will try to keep my wife on hers," he says.

Rowland says he's trying to buy a tractor to go into business for himself. But he's worried about fuel costs. He says he hopes the government will tackle energy independence, as did 84 percent of our poll respondents. "One thing I would like to see is the forward movement of drilling our own oil for energy independence and tax breaks or some incentive for the discovery of new energy sources," he says.