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Older Americans Big On Internet, Elderly Not There,
Yet
Income appears as major obstacle for many senior
citizens
Jan. 19, 2005 – With the Internet becoming an
increasingly important resource for informed decisions about health and
health care options, a recent national survey of older Americans by the
Kaiser Family Foundation finds that less than a third (31%) of senior
citizens (age 65 and older) have ever gone online, but that more than
two-thirds (70%) of the next generation of seniors (50-64 year-olds)
have done so.
The differences between senior citizens and 50-64
year-olds are striking and indicate that online resources for health
information may soon play a much larger role among older Americans.
Twenty-one percent of seniors have gone online to
look for health information compared to 53% of 50-64 year-olds; 8% of
seniors get "a lot" of health information online compared to 24% of
50-64 year-olds; the Internet is 5th on a list of media sources of
health information for seniors compared to first among 50-64 year-olds;
and 26% of seniors trust the Internet "a lot" or "some" to provide
accurate health information, compared to 58% of 50-64 year-olds.
The survey also finds that a significant digital
divide could leave those most in need with less information on which to
base important health care decisions.
Seniors whose annual household income is under $20,000 a year are much
less likely to have gone online (15%) than those with incomes between
$20,000-49,000 (40%) or those with incomes of $50,000 a year or more
(65%).
Most seniors (64%) on Medicare fall into that
lowest income category of under $20,000 a year, while just 8% have an
income of $50,000 or more. Furthermore, seniors with only a high school
degree or less are much less likely to have gone online than those with
some college or a college degree (18% v. 45% v. 60%).
"We know that the Internet can be a great health
tool for seniors, but the majority are lower-income, less well educated
and not online," said Drew Altman, President and CEO, Kaiser Family
Foundation. "It's time for a national discussion on how to get seniors
online."
With the passage of Medicare reform that allows
recipients to choose prescription drug discount cards, the federal Web
site Medicare.gov has become an important resource for comparing the
benefits of competing cards. The survey, conducted in March-April 2004,
found that 2% of all seniors had gone online to Medicare.gov (further
tracking surveys by the Foundation indicate that number has remained
relatively stable, at 4% in June, 8% in October, and 3% in December
2004).
The survey - e-health and the Elderly: How
Seniors Use the Internet for Health - is being released at a
briefing today in Washington, D.C. that includes representatives of AOL,
the National Institute on Aging, the AARP, and SeniorNet, an
organization that helps train older Americans in computer skills.
Additional
Findings:
Most Popular Health
Topics Researched Online
Prescription drugs top the list of health care
topics researched, with more than a third (37%) of online seniors (13%
of all seniors) saying they've looked online for drug information,
including 16% (5% of all seniors) who say they have used the Internet to
compare prices for prescription drugs, and 15% (5% of all seniors) who
say they have actually purchased prescription drugs online. Other
popular health-related searches include nutrition, exercise or weight
issues (30% of online seniors; 9% of all); cancer (23% of online, 7% of
all); and heart disease and arthritis (21% each of online and 6% of
all).
16% of online seniors say they have used the
Internet to follow news coverage of health policy issues (5% of all
seniors), while 14% say they have looked for information about health
providers online (4% of all).
Influence of Online
Information on Health Behaviors
Among those seniors who have gone online for health
information, a third (34%; 7% of all seniors) say they have talked with
a doctor or other provider about information they found online; 23% (5%
of all seniors) say they changed their own behavior because of
information they found online; and 23% say they made a decision about
how to treat an illness or condition.
19% of those who have looked for health information
online say they check the source "always" or "most of the time," while
58% say they "never" or "hardly ever" do this.
Online Contact From
Doctors and Drug Companies
Just 3% of 50-64 year-olds and 1% of seniors say a
doctor has ever recommended a particular health or medical Web site to
them.
Among those seniors who have ever used e-mail, 7%
have communicated with a doctor or other provider via e-mail, while more
than half (54%) have received e-mails from pharmaceutical companies and
others advertising drugs, supplements, or other medical products.
Seniors Keeping in
Touch
Among those seniors who go online, about a third
say they consider e-mail (34%) and the Internet (33%) "an important part
of your life that they wouldn't want to do without."
About half (56%) of seniors who use e-mail say it
makes it "a lot" easier for them to stay in touch with family and
friends.
For more information at the Kaiser Family Foundation – Click Here
Methodology
e-Health and the Elderly is a nationally representative, random
digit dial telephone survey of 1,450 adults age 50 and older, including
583 respondents age 65 and older. The survey was designed and analyzed
by staff at the Kaiser Family Foundation in consultation with Princeton
Survey Research Associates (PSRA), with fieldwork conducted by PSRA. The
interviews were conducted from March 5 - April 18, 2004. The margin of
sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is +/- 3%, and for
those aged 65 and older it is +/- 4%. For results based on smaller
subsets of respondents the margin of error is higher. Note that sampling
error is only of many potential sources of error in this or any other
public opinion poll.
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