The ever-so intriguing millennial generation continues to walk away from homeownership, cable TV and retirement savings, but they seem to be following a more traditional way of doing things when it comes to health care, according to a recent study.
The Benenson Strategy Group (BSG) polled over 1,000 millennials earlier this year discovering 86 percent carry health insurance and a majority of those polled considering it a critical employee benefit.
“Prioritizing security-oriented benefits suggests millennials take a more thoughtful and cautious view of the future than they are often credited for in the media,” BSG Managing Partner Danny Franklin said. “Understanding how this generation gathers information and uses medical services can help both employers and health care providers better communicate with millennials and serve them, particularly as their needs shift.”
Millennials, who recently overtook baby boomers as the largest segment of the workforce, want traditional job benefits and health insurance tops the list.
BSG also claims that when asked if they’d rather have better insurance or a 10 percent pay raise, 51 percent opted for the insurance while 49 percent chose the money.
They continued that though millennials are happy with their insurance and 60 percent are favorable toward Obamacare, they’re concerned about the system.
Forty-nine percent believe health care in the U.S. remains a system in need of repair.
As far as trust goes, health care providers such as doctors, nurses and hospitals are on the top of the list, while health insurance and pharmaceutical companies are on the bottom.
The millennial generation neither trusts President Donald Trump on health care nor expects him to improve it the strategy group revealed.
BSG found that only 22 percent of millennials trust Trump on health care policy, including just 45 percent of Republicans, 15 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of Independents studied.
“Even though most millennials do not expect health care improvements from the Trump administration, they still place a high value on health insurance and care about what happens to the system,” Franklin said.
In terms of the immediate future of health care, 47 percent of the polled millennials expect their health insurance options to deteriorate under Trump while 44 percent feel that the president’s eventual plan to repeal and replace Obamacare will undermine health care quality.
“Policymakers who jeopardize millennials’ insurance options risk alienating this younger set of voters and that could carry long-term political consequences,” Franklin said.
The full report can be accessed at: http://www.bsgco.com/insights/millennials-sound-off-on-healthcare.