Baby Boomer Population Analysis

In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.

Consequently, to qualify for Medicaid, which is designed for beneficiaries with low income, one must receive a monthly income below the average poverty level, which is around $2,000 per month and have no cash assets, in order for Medicaid to cover long-term care facilities. When applicants spend down his or her assets, Medicaid will look at any “financial gifts” made within the past 5 years; this could result in the denial of benefits depending on the number of months the gift could have paid for a long-term care facility (Fischer, 2011).

Medicaid is a social health care program that covers nearly 60 million Americans, including children, pregnant women, seniors, parents and individuals suffering with disabilities. Medicaid is the biggest source of funding for health related services and medical needs for the people with low income in the United States. This program is funded jointly by the state and federal level governments, but it is the state’s responsibility to manage this program. The Medicaid program is not a required program that states have to use, but all 50 states have implemented this program. With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and its passing in 2010, the ACA unveiled its plans to expand Medicaid eligibility to nearly all low-income adults as an addition to the other groups that fall into the Medicaid eligibility. The Medicaid program had “many gaps in coverage for adults” because it was only restricted to the low income individuals and other people with needs in their own specific category. In the past, the majority of the states who had adults that did not have children dependent on those parents were not eligible for Medicaid. These low income adults without dependent children would be without medical insurance assistance before the ACA was introduced. Medicaid is now available to all Americans under the age of 65 whose family income is at or below the federal poverty guideline of “133 percent or $14,484 for an individual and $29,726 for a family of four in 2011” (NSCL).

The challenges and impact of Baby Boomers on long-term care systems are going to modify the manner in which traditional health care, patient access, financial payments and treatment are delivered. Baby Boomers will have an extensive amount of care maintenance needs involving various rehabilitation conditions, acute and chronic illnesses, which will require a significant amount of thoroughly trained gerontologists, skilled nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, community advocates, and family involvement. This article explores options sought to reduce the costs to society and Baby Boomers as innovative savings, tax credit options, and other alternative long-term care financing choices lessening the impact on the long-term care system.

Throughout the early 1980’s and 1990’s the Federal Medicaid program was challenged by rapidly rising Medicaid program costs and an increasing number of uninsured population. One of the primary reasons for the overall increase in healthcare costs is the

North Carolina has the highest index of the uninsured population approximately 1.6 million. Being uninsured has a profound impact on the health and well-being of the people. The ACA had a significant impact on the different population categories of North Carolina. According to The Affordable Care Act 2014, Medicaid will cover most low-income people if Federal Poverty Level (FPL) is no greater than 138 percent (Milsted, 2013). The people that have more impact are the children six to eighteen, working parents, nonworking parents, and childless adult. Prior to Affordable Care Act, Medicaid was limited to a specific group of low-income individuals, such as children less than six, pregnant women, elderly and disabled. Childless

Prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), North Carolina’s (NC) uninsured population in 2009 was estimated at 1.7 million people under the age of 65. This equates to 20.4% of the population (Milstead, 2013).

Medicaid initially established that each state is responsible for designing their medical costs to pay medical care for the poor. Also, Medicaid created as a voluntary program for each state; they have to have the choice to participate. For one thing, because of the rising costs of healthcare, it has been difficult to bring Medicaid recipients into the “mainstream” of United States (U.S.) medical care. Donald R. Barr notes, “between 1975 and 1989, the cost of the Medicaid program increased by an average of 11.9 percent per year before adjusting for inflation” (172). The rising costs of healthcare are necessary for each state to determine if it is beneficial for them to participate in the Medicaid program. As the government level of payment is determined by each state economic condition. For instance, a state with lower per capita income will receive more government funding. A state with higher per capita income receives less reimbursement for program costs. Therefore, on December 31, 2010, many states continued to experience budget cuts. As a result on August 2010, Congress increased reimbursement rates through June 2011.

In these services they would usually be offered help with activities of daily life, such as eating or bathing. Some home services also give them other benefits such as residential services, personal care or case management. To give more open details on experiences of Medicaid beneficiaries who need home and communities based services Musumeci and Reaves discuss nine seniors who are disabled and who live in different states. Those include people with different kind of disabilities which can be either developmental, physical or intellectual and issues such as autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and their functional limitations that are there because they aged (Musumeci & Reaves, 2014). Based on interview that were given from these people to the Kaiser Commission in 2013 based on Medicaid and uninsured, these peoples’ profiles clearly show us how beneficiaries funds, well-being, status of their employment are affected by the coverage of Medicaid and the role these services play in their daily lives (Musumeci & Reaves, 2014). In the last years states are trying to work on rebalancing long-term care system by dedicating more spending to home and community care rather than institutional care. The reason is this being the efforts that are driven by beneficiaries who are

Medicaid also provides health and long-term care for 58 million low incomes individuals. However, about 44 million people in low income families receive comprehensive low cost health coverage under the program, and 14 million elderly and person with disabilities receive acute and long-term care ( ). Among, the 58 million people in

     The preventative care also follows to Medicaid problems. As Medicaid only covers some people like children and people with disabilities, it only covers half of the medical expenses. For the elderly and the disabled, it doesn’t cover long-term nursing home care or prescription medications. (Reese) If things weren’t bad enough, Bush administration has opposed broad cuts to Medicaid by up to ten billion dollars. This is

Because of the baby boom generation, they have caused a huge impact on the United States demographics. Results have shown that there is an increase of the median age, which means the population has gotten older. Results also show an increase of population in metropolitan and suburb areas of the older people. Baby boomers are called the first suburban generation, because their parents were the first to populate the suburbs during the postwar period. Thus, the older people may stay near these areas due to the fact that their parents resided there as well. The population changes of states were also analyzed. The states are most likely facing a population change due to the older people migrating after retirement. When comparing the states for

Germany was reported to recognize and support nearly 72% of family caregivers and plan beneficiaries who have chosen to receive direct services of a cash stipend which amounts to half or less than half of the cost of home/community-based care (Campbell, Ikegami, & Gibson, 2009). In addition, if a family member had provided a minimum of fourteen hours of care per week, the long-term care insurance coverage would cover that individual’s social security premiums and respite care for vacation with the aim of making the caregiver’s job more competitive with regular employment opportunities (Campbell, Ikegami, & Gibson, 2009). In Japan, long-term care insurance coverage has attempted to support the caregiver role by offering services such as home assistance, adult day care services, respite care, home modifications, assistive devices, and visiting home health care (Campbell, Ikegami, & Gibson, 2009). The United States could learn from both of these approaches utilized by Japan and Germany according to Campbell, Ikegami, & Gibson (Campbell, Ikegami, & Gibson, 2009). The CLASS Act would have provided a similar cash incentive in the United States, and it would have allowed consumers to have the greatest amount of choice while the main drawback would have been the potential impact on the development and availability of formal services in communities (Campbell, Ikegami, & Gibson,

Yet of perhaps greatest importance to the American healthcare system and industry is the demographical information of this older population in terms of its particular characteristics and disposition. More specifically, healthcare professionals and policy analysts must understand the aging populations’ economic and living situations, and their overall health status (Jacobsen, Kent, Lee & Mather, 2011). Economic factors are key as they directly pertain to the likelihood of reliance on publically-funded healthcare programs, while “the marital status and living arrangements of the elderly are closely tied to levels of social support, economic well-being, and the availability of caregivers” (Jacobsen et al., 2011, p. 4). The importance of this population’s general health status is, of course, self-explanatory.

Medicaid is for low income: pregnant women, children under the age of 19, people 65 and over, people who