9 in 10 Older Adults Rely on Prescription Medications

The vast majority of adults 65 and older living in the United States take prescription medication to manage their health conditions, like diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.

But a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics highlights that accessing these necessary drugs isn’t always simple — about 1 in 5 older adults do not have insurance coverage for prescription drugs. And even for those with a prescription drug plan, paying for medications can be expensive. As a result, some older Americans are skipping doses or delaying refills to save money.  

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Using data from the 2021-2022 National Health Interview Survey, researchers found that an estimated 89 percent of older adults took prescription medication in the last 12 months. Roughly 4 percent of older adults who were prescribed medication did not take it due to cost, the new report shows, and prices kept an additional 3.4 percent of adults from taking their medication per doctor’s orders, though previous research suggests these shares are far greater.

A 2019 poll from the health policy nonprofit KFF found that nearly a quarter of adults age 65-plus report difficulty affording their prescription drugs, and a study published in 2023 in the journal JAMA Network Open found 1 in 5 older adults don’t take their medication as prescribed due to cost. What’s more, a 2024 survey from AARP found that nearly half of adults age 50-plus have skipped filling their prescriptions — or know someone who has — due to cost.

Older adults struggling with food insecurity — meaning they don’t have enough to eat or don’t know where their next meal is coming from — were six times more likely than their food-secure peers to not get prescription medication or take it as prescribed, the CDC report found. More than 5 million Americans age 60-plus live with food insecurity, according to a 2023 study conducted by Feeding America. Older adults in fair or poor health and people with disabilities were also more likely than their counterparts to not get their medicine or take it as prescribed due to cost.

What’s more, CDC researchers found that individuals living with several chronic health conditions were more likely than those with fewer health issues to engage in cost-saving strategies, like taking less medication than prescribed, skipping a dose or delaying a refill due to cost. Overall, older adults with no prescription drug coverage were more likely to not get their prescription medication or take it as prescribed than people with private or public prescription drug coverage.