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A Profile of Older Americans: 2004
Health and Health Care
In 2004 (January-June), 37.4% of noninstitutionalized older persons
assessed their heath as excellent or very good (compared to 65.8% for
persons aged 18-64). There was little difference between the sexes on
this measure, but older African-Americans (57.7%)** and older Hispanics
(60.1%) were less likely to rate their health as excellent or good than
were older Whites (76.9%).***** Most older persons have at least one
chronic condition and many have multiple conditions. Among the most frequently
occurring conditions of elderly in 2000-2001 were: hypertension (49.2%),
arthritic symptoms (36.1%), all types of heart disease (31.1%), any cancer
(20.0), sinusitis (15.1%), and diabetes (15.0).
Almost 70% reported in 2004that they received an influenza vaccination
during the past 12 months and 57% reported that they had ever received
a pneumococcal vaccination. About 24% (of persons 60+) report height/weight
combinations that place them among the obese. Over 26% of persons aged
65-74 and 16% of persons 75+ report that they engage in regular leisure-time
physical activity. Only 8% reported that they are current smokers and
only 4% reported excessive alcohol consumption. Only 2.4% reported that
they had experienced psychological distress during the past 30 days.
In 2002, over 12.7 million persons aged 65 and older were discharged
from short stay hospitals. This is a rate of 3,575 for every 10,000 persons
aged 65+ which is more than three times the comparable rate for persons
aged 45-64 (which was 1,159 per 10,000). The average length of stay for
persons aged 65+ was 5.8 days; the comparable rate for persons aged 45-64
was 5.0 days. The average length of stay for older people has decreased
almost 5 days since 1980. Older persons averaged more office visits with
doctors in 2002 – 6.6 for those aged 65-74 and 7.2 for persons
over 75 while persons aged 45-65 averaged only 3.7 office visits during
that year. Almost 96% of older persons reported that they did have a
usual place to go
for medical care and only 2.5% said that they failed to obtain needed
medical care during the previous 12 months due to financial barriers.
In 2002, older consumers averaged $3,741 in out-of-pocket health care
expenditures, an increase of 45% since 1992. In contrast, the total population
spent considerably less, averaging $2,416 in out-of-pocket costs. Older
Americans spent 12.7%of their total expenditures on health, more than
twice the proportion spent by all consumers (5.9%). Health costs incurred
on average by older consumers in 2002 consisted of $2,002 (53%) for insurance,
$905 (24%) for drugs, $688 (18%) for medical services, and $146 (4%)
for medical supplies.
(Sources: Advanced Data From Vital and Health Statistics
and other data releases from the National Center for Health Statistics
website; and the Bureau of Labor Statistics website)
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| Last Modified: 4/29/2010 3:49:49 PM |
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