Baby Boomers postponing health care

July 7, 8:25 AMBaby Boomer ExaminerPaul Briand

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Symptom of unaffordable healthcare -- giving up visits
to the doctor

As national policy makers continue to debate the future of health care in this country, for some Baby Boomers (and Gen Xers) it can't come fast enough.

Both groups are postponing health care at a greater rate than other age groups because of the cost.

Unlike Gen Xers, however, a greater percentage of aging Baby Boomers are facing health issues that require care -- cholesterol, high blood pressure, impending Type II diabetes, for instance.

Generation X and Baby Boomers are 3.5 times more likely to postpone care due to cost than the Silent Generation, according to a Thomson Reuters PULSE Healthcare Survey.

"It is important for healthcare providers, employers, and policy makers to consider how the economy and healthcare policies affect demographic segments differently," said Gary Pickens, chief research officer for the Healthcare and Science business of Thomson Reuters and lead author of the study. "Clearly, the age groups that represent the largest slice of the employer-sponsored insurance landscape -- Baby Boomers and Generation X -- are most susceptible to the ebbs and flows of the economy."

In general, Americans are making health decisions based on cost.

According to Thomson Reuters:

• 54.7 percent of postponed services were for physician visits, followed by
• imaging (8 percent),
• non-elective procedures (6.3 percent),
• and lab or diagnostic tests (5.7 percent).

Baby Boomers are in a not-so-sweet spot of vulnerability. As they are dropping out of the workforce -- either by choice (early retirement) or by force (layoffs). Those who are unemployed, according to labor statistics, are unemployed longer, finding this a difficult job market to re-enter. In the meantime, they are having trouble finding affordable health care. And they're too young to qualify for Medicare.

Here's a Reuters story on where the health care debate stands at this point.