More than half of the people who voted in the 2020 election were aged 50 and older, making this age group a key demographic for candidates up and down the ballot. Now, a shows what issues top their lists of health-related concerns going into this November's election. Five of the top six issues that the highest percentage of reported being very concerned about have to do with the cost of different kinds of health care, from medical care and to , health insurance and dental care.
Financial scams and fraud, which can cause intense stress and mental distress, also made the top six. Published in by a team from the University of Michigan's Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, the study is based on data from the . The poll, conducted in February and March 2024, asked more than 2,500 adults ages 50 and older nationwide how concerned they were about 26 different health-related topics for older adults in their community, not just for themselves.
Five of the top six topics all earned a 'very concerned' rating from at least 50% of older adults, with costs not far behind at 45%. The new research shows some differences among older adults based on age, gender and self-reported political ideology. For example, 67% of those who called themselves liberal were very concerned about the cost of medical care for older adults in their community, compared with 56% of those who called themselves moderate and 51% who said they are politically conservative.
When it came to the cost of prescr.