Becker's Healthcare January 19, 2022
About 3.5 million Americans ages 65 and older and 1.8 million Medicare beneficiaries younger than 65 had difficulty affording their medications in 2019, according to a report released Jan. 19 by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation’s Office of Health Policy.
The report examined Medicare beneficiaries’ responses in the 2019 National Health Interview Survey. The researchers did not examine the 2020 survey because of “concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected both drug utilization and patterns of survey responses.”
Among adults 65 and older, Black and Latino Medicare beneficiaries in 2019 reported difficulty affording prescription medications at rates about 1.5 to 2 times higher than white beneficiaries. The report also found that women, beneficiaries with lower...