It’s Money Over Marijuana for Old People

Never has a consumer poll validated my opinion as much as a new survey of about 3,400 U.S. adults age 50 or older conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.

Let me get my biases out of the way first, and then I’ll tell you about the survey results that validate my opinion.

With one exception — my mom — I’m not much for old people. I’m 64, so I’m talking about people older than me. It started on the golf course when in my early 20s I would slip out of work to play a quick nine with a buddy of mine the day after Easter each year. Invariably, we’d be stuck behind a foursome of old guys who had nowhere to be and would spend 10 minutes or more looking for a lost ball in the fescue.

They would never let up play through because, well, they were seniors, and we would just have to wait. It drove me absolutely nuts.

My aggravation with old people continues to this day when I’m at the deli counter in the grocery store, at the pharmacy, at the bank, at the dry cleaner’s, driving on any road around my house, getting on and off the train, ordering food at a drive-up window. I try to run all my errands before 10 a.m., when all the seniors come out and clog up every transaction taking place in a five-mile radius.

Sorry. It’s how I feel. I know it’s wrong and insensitive. But my life expectancy is 84, which means I only have 20 years left to get things done.

Anyway, this survey from the University of Michigan accurately captures the behaviors and personalities of most if not all of the seniors I know. The survey asked the respondents to rank their level of concern with 26 health-related issues.

Not surprisingly, the top five issued all had to do with money. The following are ranked by the percentage of respondents who said they were “very concerned” about the issue:

• Cost of medical care (56%)
• Cost of home care, assisted living or nursing home care (56%)
• Cost of prescription medications (54%)
• Financial scams and fraud (53%)
• Cost of health insurance/Medicare (52%)

I get it. When you’re on a fixed income like many seniors, you obsess about how much something costs and whether you can get the same item cheaper. In fact, in “Open Your Eyes to a Social Determinants of Health Blind Spot” I said the only social determinant of health that really matters is financial stability.

“These findings offer a striking reminder of how much healthcare costs matter to older adults,” said John Ayanian, M.D., director of U-of-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, in a press release.

Neither the press release nor the three-page survey report went into the health-related issues that were of least concern to seniors. You had to dig around their website and click through some interactive charts to find them. But I did. And they, too, confirm what I know about most older people I know.

The five health-related issues the respondents were least concerned about were:

• Marijuana/cannabis use (11%)
• Alcohol use (12%)
• Access to social and recreational activities (16%)
• Health risks from polluted water and air (20%)
• Racial and ethnic discrimination (20%)

I have no doubt that will describe the elderly foursome ahead of us on Monday when I slip out of work to play a quick nine with my buddy. It’s not Easter, but I hope to finish the round by spring.

Thanks for reading.