Survey: Many 'Baby Boomers' Struggle with Health Care Costs, Access

The majority of older working adults struggle with the cost of health care, are concerned about their ability to maintain access to health care and want to enroll in Medicare before they are 65, according to a recent survey.

The Commonwealth Fund Survey of Older Adults, (PDF file: 40 pages / 197 KB. More about PDFs.) which included "baby boomers " between 50 and 64 living in working households, found that 72 percent of respondents said they would be very or somewhat interested in enrolling in Medicare before age 65. The survey also found that 71 percent of respondents would be interested in having 1 percent of their paychecks withheld and put into a Medicare health account.

Much of that interest may stem from the financial strain that health care puts on many older working adults. According to 2004 U.S. Census data, 6.6 million people between 50 and 64 have no insurance; that's a jump of 1.1 million from 2000 figures. Add to that the fact that the number of businesses that employed 200 or more people and that offered health insurance dropped from 66 percent in 1988 to 36 percent in 2005, and it's understandable that older workers are left feeling the financial squeeze of health care at a time when they are most likely to have at least one chronic condition.

For example, 43 percent of respondents with household incomes less than $25,000 and about 30 percent in households earning between $25,000 and $59,999 "reported they had not received health care because of costs," the survey found. More than one in 10 older adults with incomes above $60,000 reported health care access problems.

Also telling: 35 percent of older adults in working households said they had had problems paying medical bills in the previous 12 months or were paying off accrued medical debt. Of the survey respondents, 23 percent of people with household incomes of $60,000 or more and more than 40 percent of people with household incomes between $25,000 and $59,999 reported bill problems or medical debt.

Moreover, "two-thirds (66 percent) of older adults in working households said they were very or somewhat worried they might not be able to afford needed medical care in the future," the survey found. "Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of older adults in working families said they were very or somewhat worried that health insurance would become so expensive they could not afford it any longer."

"Despite evidence that exposure to medical costs is unhealthy for older adults and potentially harmful for the Medicare programs and the U.S. economy overall, older adults are becoming less rather than better protected," the survey report said.