Article: Factors Associated with Health Insurance Affordability Concerns Among U.S. Adults Age 50-64: a Cross-Sectional, Nationally Representative Study

Authors: Aaron M. Scherer PhD, Erica Solway PhD, MSW, MPH, Preeti N. Malani MD, MSJ, Jamie Luster MPH, Jeffrey T. Kullgren MS, MD, MPH, Matthias Kirch MS & Renuka Tipirneni MD, MSc

Journal: J Gen Intern Med. 2020 Mar 6. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-05732-2. [Epub ahead of print]

Excerpt:
U.S. adults aged 50–64 must navigate a myriad of challenging decisions about their health, health insurance, and employment as they approach Medicare eligibility at age 65. Compared with their predecessors, baby boomers are experiencing more chronic health conditions, healthcare costs, and personal debt.1 Uncertainty about federal health policy has also produced concern about future healthcare coverage among this population.2 All these factors contribute to medical costs and health insurance affordability being top concerns about retirement among U.S. adults aged 50–64.1, 3 Prior research with this age group has demonstrated that concern about affording health insurance in the future is associated with delaying retirement due to a desire to maintain employer-sponsored health insurance coverage and also delaying or forgoing needed medical care.4, 5 Such avoidance of care could negatively affect long-term health.6 The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with concern about ability to afford health insurance in the future among U.S. adults aged 50–64.

Link to journal online:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-020-05732-2