About one in four Americans (24%) report that they personally (15%) or they and a member of their household (9%) “have a long-term medical condition, illness or disease that would be considered a ‘preexisting’ condition by a health insurance company.” Factoring in the additional 19% who say another family member has such an illness or disease, the total percentage of U.S. households in which at least one member reports having a preexisting condition is 43%…
Across key demographic groups, age stands out as the biggest factor in self-reports of preexisting conditions; the older individual Americans are, the more likely they are to report having one. About one in three adults aged 65 and older (33%) and 50 to 64 (31%) report having a preexisting condition — a rate about twice as high as what young adults aged 18 to 29 report (16%).
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