LA Seniors Count: Survey of the Older Adult Population

October 6th, 2008

LA Seniors Count: Survey of the Older Adult Population has been published by the Los Angeles County Department of Community and Senior Services.

This survey of over 16,000 L.A. County seniors is a needs assessment of seniors and senior services in Los Angeles County.  Topics of the survey include health (access to health care, use of health services, affordability of health care), transportation (access to and ease of use for public transportation), housing (affordability, safety and home maintenance), employment (access to jobs), and other areas.  The survey breaks down results by geography (supervisorial districts, council districts), race/ethnicity, and age (60 to 74, 75 to 84, and 85 or over).

 

Selected Findings:

 

• By 2030, L.A. County will have nearly 3 million people over age 60, compared to about 1.4 million today (pg. 2).
• Nearly one in five seniors surveyed (or about 18%) lacks affordable dental care (pg. 6).
• Nearly half of seniors surveyed (47%) said that they did not have prescription drug coverage (pg. 6).
• 29% of seniors stated that they experience social isolation and expressed a desire for more social interaction (pg. 7).
• One in ten seniors stated that they had trouble affording utilities to the point where it affected their quality of life (pg. 71).
• About one in five seniors lacked transportation for medical appointments (pg. 7).  
• A quarter of seniors had responded that they had concerns about identity theft (pg. 73).