Helen Levy, Ph.D., U of M faculty contributor to national poll, left, and Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., lead author of national poll | University of Michigan
Helen Levy, Ph.D., U of M faculty contributor to national poll, left, and Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., lead author of national poll | University of Michigan
Rising inflation costs are causing seniors to cut back on everyday expenses, according to a new poll, findings of which could have a big impact in Pennsylvania, ranked 5th in the nation for the number of citizens age 65 and over.
Fifty-two percent of older Americans said they cut back on at least one every day expense during the past year, and 53% said they felt stress about personal finances, according to the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging.
The poll also found that 16% of older adults said they’ve had trouble paying for health-related costs, or even delayed or avoided getting healthcare, because of rising costs.
Pennsylvanians have been feeling the impact of inflation, with the average household in the state spending $958 more per month in June 2024 to purchase the same level of goods and services that they purchased in January 2021, according to a report from the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee.
The average household in the Keystone State has spent $22,492 more due to inflation over that same time period.
A survey of Pennsylvania voters released July 2 by the Commonwealth Foundation found that 69% of the state’s voters said inflation and price increases impacted their household’s ability to maintain their standard of living either “a great deal” or “a fair amount”.
Given those rising costs, and the University of Michigan poll findings, Pennsylvania is particularly impacted by the rising costs of inflation, with twenty percent of the state’s population being age 65 and over, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Pennsylvania is ranked fifth among the fifty states for the number of people age 65 and over, according to a 2017 Penn State study, and that older population grew at a rate 20 times faster than the state’s general population from 2010 to 2017, increasing by 16.3%.
The poll was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI). The survey was administered online and via phone among 3,370 adults age 50 to 101 in February and March 2024.
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