More Older Americans Worried About Future of Medicare: Survey

More older Americans are concerned about the future of Medicare, according to according to research published Wednesday.

Seventy-four percent of Americans ages 50 to 64 say they are “extremely concerned or concerned” that Medicare will not be “available when you become eligible to receive it,” according to West Poll Health-Gallup 2024 on Aging in America.

That number increased 13 points from 2022, when 61 percent of the same age group said they were worried about the availability of Medicare once they were eligible for it.

Seventy-three percent of Americans of all age groups surveyed said they are “extremely worried or concerned” about the availability of Medicare when they become eligible for it, an increase of six points from 2022.

“The threats to Medicare and Social Security are great and people are concerned that policymakers will not do enough to protect and strengthen them,” said Timothy Lash, president of West Health, in a press release accompanying the report.

“These safety net programs are part of the fabric of aging that millions of older Americans rely on, so any potential disruption or question mark surrounding them is cause for alarm and deserves greater attention and action from policymakers.” , Lash continued.

The financial outlook for Medicare funding has improved over the past year, with its funding to pay all costs of hospital services for elderly and disabled beneficiaries not expected to end until 2036, as opposed to the previous year’s estimate that it would end in 2029.

“The fact that such a large percentage of U.S. adults see little prioritization of issues that affect older Americans underscores the extent to which such prioritization can influence voting preferences, particularly among those who are already eligible for federal welfare programs. safety net and those who soon will be,” Dan Witters, research director for the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index, in the release.

The West Health-Gallup survey was conducted between Nov. 13, 2023, and Jan. 8, among 5,184 adults.

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level when response percentages are around 50 percent. When response percentages are about 10 or 90 percent, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus one percentage point.

Age subgroups have higher margins of error, generally ranging from plus or minus three percentage points to plus or minus five percentage points.

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