The cost of assisted living, home care and nursing home care is the top health-related concern of older adults leading up to the 2024 election, according to the results of a new poll.
A National Poll on Healthy Aging from the University of Michigan surveyed older adults by phone and online between Feb. 22 to March 12 on 26-health-related issues. The results were published Wednesday by JAMA.
Five of the top six worries of the 2,576 participants were related to costs of healthcare and health insurance, followed by financial scams and fraud.
More specifically, the cost of assisted living, nursing home care and home care was No. 1 on the list of healthcare concerns, with 56.3% of survey participants indicating that they were “very worried” about it. In addition, 38.1% said they were very worried about access to quality assisted living, nursing home care or home care, making it No. 7 on the list of concerns.
Other top concerns were the cost of medical care (No. 2, 56.2% very worried), the cost of prescription medications (No. 3, 54.3%), financial scams and fraud (No. 4, 52.8%), the cost of health insurance and Medicare (No. 5, 52.1%) and the cost of dental care (No. 6, 44.6%).
More than half of older-adult respondents in almost all demographic groups reported being very worried about the costs of medical care and prescription drugs, with “significant” differences by gender and political ideology. Women reported being more concerned than men, and liberal and moderate respondents were more worried than conservative individuals.
Those results are similar to those of a spring National Poll on Healthy Aging, which also placed the cost of assisted living, nursing home care or home care (56%), the cost of medical care (56%) and the cost of prescription medications (54%) at the top of the list of concerns among older adults.
