Health Insurance Cost-Sharing Reductions Are Critical to Ensuring Affordable Health Care for Older Adults

Over 2 million lower-income older adults ages 50-64 rely upon subsidies known as cost-sharing reductions to help make health care more affordable and accessible. Over a third (35 percent) of adults receiving cost-sharing reductions are older adults ages 50-64. For people with modest incomes, high cost-sharing can present an enormous barrier to accessing necessary medical care. By reducing these barriers, cost-sharing reductions provide critical financial protection for consumers, especially older adults with chronic conditions or significant health care needs. Cost-sharing subsidies are most important to low-income people with high medical expenses—including older adults with chronic conditions—who, without the subsidy, would be at risk of unaffordable out-of-pocket cost burdens and medical debt.