Poll finds tax-free accounts are used less by those who may need them most

Most older adults are not using tax-advantaged savings accounts to save for future health expenses, a new poll of people age 50 to 80 suggests, and those who do are more likely to have high incomes and education levels, and to be in good health and under Medicare eligibility age.

At the same time, 18% of people age 50 to 80 are not at all confident that they’ll have enough money to pay their share of health costs in the next year, and 15% have had trouble paying for health care in the past year, according to a new report from the National Poll on Healthy Aging. Some said that worries about costs made them delay seeking care in 2020 (13%), or kept them from seeking care they needed (12%).

CBSSM's Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., is associate director of the poll and first author of the new report.

More details are below.