Having employer-sponsored health insurance does not insulate midlife adults – those between the ages of 50 and 64 – from the burden of high health care costs. This cohort faces higher rates of chronic conditions and requires additional routine care as they age, but high costs drive many people to delay or avoid medical care because they can't afford it, according to an AARP report.

About three-quarters of midlife adults have private health insurance, including group coverage through an employer or through an individual health insurance plan. However, midlife adults paid higher premium costs and those costs grew faster than those premiums paid by other adults, according to an AARP Public Policy Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago analysis of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Premiums have grown 38% for midlife adults with single coverage plans since 2011, compared with only 25% for younger adults.