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Almost 19% of respondents to a recent survey said that they are concerned that inflation will not allow them to continue to afford senior living or home care.

PayingforSeniorCare.com partnered with Pollfish to survey 1,000 adults aged 55 or more years online in late October. Questions covered how inflation has affected their expenses over the past two years, what changes they’ve made to their lifestyle and how they’re feeling about the future with regard to inflation.

A total of 18.7% of respondents said they were concerned that inflation will not allow them to continue to afford senior living or home care.

Even higher percentages of respondents said they were concerned about whether they would be able to continue to afford needed medical care (25.3%), their current home (22.8%) or prescription drugs (20.2%). The biggest concerns, however, were related to being able to continue to afford groceries or household necessities (43.7%), gas for the car (41.5%) or travel to see family (38.5%).

Respondents said that inflation has caused them to cut back on entertainment and leisure activities (94.3%), reduce energy use (48.1%), delay or cancel trips to see loved ones (35.2%), skip meals (14.4%), cancel or delay medical procedures (10.3%), ration prescription medications (9.1%), move to a less expensive home (4.9%) or move in with loved ones (4.5%). 

Of eight areas, respondents ranked healthcare last in terms of areas where expenses have noticeably increased in the past two years due to inflation. The category of groceries and food was ranked No. 1, but the category of rent or mortgage payments and property taxes was ranked No. 5, and the category of prescription drugs was ranked No. 6.

See the complete survey results here.