If Kamala Harris and Donald Trump wish to win the votes of the older population, they need to focus more on health care.
A recent Pew Research Center Opinion poll shows that health care affordability is at the highest of American voters’ list of concerns – even ahead of concerns in regards to the federal budget, immigration and gun violence.
In the 2020 election, adults over 50 made up greater than half of the electorate, making the concerns of this necessary demographic amongst essentially the most critical within the upcoming presidential election.
A brand new study from the University of Michigan Institute for Health Policy and Innovationusing data from the National survey on healthy ageing The survey, conducted in February and March 2024, shows which health problems are of best concern to older adults.
Health and insurance costs are amongst the most important concerns
Concerns about the fee of health care and medical health insurance accounted for five of the highest six issues out of an inventory of 26. Respondents said they were very concerned about the fee of home health care, assisted living, and nursing home care (56%); the fee of medical care (56%); the fee of pharmaceuticals (54%); financial fraud and scams (53%); and the fee of medical health insurance and Medicare (52%).
University of Michigan
“The cost of health care and the need for health care are enormous for older people in the United States,” says the study’s lead writer, Dr. John Z. Ayanian, director of the Institute of Healthcare Policy and Innovation.
“We have made great progress in helping people manage chronic conditions and reduce their risk of cancer and other serious health problems,” says Ayanian, “but the costs of these services have risen faster than inflation over the past 20 to 30 years.”
Older people feel this more acutely, he says, because as health problems increase they spend a bigger share of their income on health care. This becomes especially difficult for retirees living on a limited fixed income.
“Older adults would like to see political leaders make greater efforts to keep all forms of health care costs under control,” says Ayanian Assets.
The psychological burden of monetary fraud
One of the most important concerns that emerged from the study was one which was not explicitly related to healthcare: financial fraud and scams. Ayanian and his team found that many older adults have been victims of monetary fraud or know individuals who have been. The Government Accountability Office estimates that older Americans 2.9 billion US dollars yearly through financial fraud.
The researchers selected to incorporate these scams of their study because these scams could cause high levels of psychological stress, Ayanian says. This stress also can spill over into other health problems if victims of monetary fraud have difficulty obtaining medical care, food or housing consequently.
When asked in regards to the top five health-related concerns, greater than half of respondents said they were “very concerned.” However, there have been some demographic differences.
More women than men were very concerned in regards to the study’s six most significant issues, and more liberals and moderates than conservatives were very concerned.
About 53.1% of respondents were women, 46.6% were men, and 0.3% were transgender or nonbinary. The overwhelming majority were white (77%), while political ideologies were split between liberal (17.3%), moderate (46.8%), and conservative (35.9%).
Participants with household incomes of lower than $60,000 per yr made up about 51% of the respondents, while those with incomes over $60,000 made up 49% of the group.
Regardless of household income, health care and insurance costs were equally concerning. Of respondents earning lower than $60,000 per yr, 58.4 percent said they were very concerned about health care and insurance costs, compared with 54.1 percent of respondents earning more.
The authors conclude: “To appeal to older voters, presidential and congressional candidates should prioritize communicating their plans to control health care costs.”
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