As election approaches, national poll shows which health topics concern older adults most

More than half of the people who voted in the 2020 election were age 50 and older, making this age group a key demographic for candidates up and down the ballot.

Now, a new study 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 older adults reported being very concerned about have to do with the cost of different kinds of health care, from medical care and prescription drugs to long-term care, health insurance and dental care. Financial scams and fraud, which can cause intense stress and mental distress, also made the top six.

Published in JAMA by a team from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, the study is based on data from the National Poll on Healthy Aging. 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 dental care 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 prescription drugs, 64% of self-identified liberals said they were very concerned, compared with 54% of moderates and 51% of conservatives.

The new analysis also shows that higher percentages of women than men were very concerned about both types of cost, at 59% vs. 54% for medical care costs and 58% vs. 51% for cost of prescription drugs.

Those in their 50s and early 60s were also more likely to say they’re very concerned about the cost of medical care for older adults in their community than those over age 65, at 60% vs 53%.

And among those who live in rural areas, 62% said they are very concerned about the cost of medical care, compared with 56% of those in living in metropolitan areas that include both cities and their suburbs.

“It’s important for candidates for president, the U.S. House and Senate, and state offices to be well-informed about the top concerns of older voters,” says John Z. Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P., lead author of the new study and director of IHPI. “There have been efforts in recent years to reduce costs of some types of care for older adults, especially those enrolled in Medicare, but these findings suggest a strong interest in more action, across the political spectrum and various demographic groups.”

Rounding out the top 10 concerns were access to quality care in their home or nursing homes and assisted living facilities; health care quality; inaccurate or misleading health information; and access to affordable healthy foods.

The new study is based on a survey response rate of 71% and a statistically adjusted analysis of results from the poll’s core population.

The National Poll on Healthy Aging is funded by AARP and Michigan Medicine, U-M’s academic medical center. Ayanian is editor of JAMA Health Forum, but JAMA has a separate peer review process.

In addition to Ayanian, the research letter is authored by poll director Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., and members of the poll team Matthias Kirch, M.S., Dianne Singer, M.P.H., Erica Solway, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.W., Scott Roberts, Ph.D., and Nicholas Box, M.P.A.

Ayanian and Kullgren are faculty in the Division of General Medicine in the U-M Medical School’s Department of Internal Medicine, and both hold joint appointments in the U-M School of Public Health, where Roberts is a member of the faculty. Ayanian also has a faculty appointment in the U-M Ford School of Public Policy.

Read the reports issued in May with additional results from the full poll sample and a sample of Michigan adults age 50 and older. An interactive data visualization for the samples used for the May release is also available.

Research letter: Leading health-related concerns of older adults before the 2024 election, JAMA, DOI:10.1001/jama.2024.14353