Kaiser Family Foundation Issue Brief
May 2012
Tracy Yee, Peter J. Cunningham, Gretchen Jacobson, Tricia Neuman, Zachary Levinson
This analysis looks at the difficulties uninsured people aged 55-64 have accessing and affording health care. Using data from HSC’s 2010 and 2007 Health Tracking Household Surveys and the 2003 Community Tracking Study Household Survey, researchers from HSC and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that four in 10 of these near elderly report having unmet health care needs or delaying treatment, while three in 10 uninsured near elderly lived in families reporting problems paying their medical bills largely due to the cost. Medicare beneficiaries and near elderly people with private insurance reported problems accessing care at a significantly lower rate than uninsured near elderly, after controlling for differences in demographics and health status.