Growing Aging Population

Elderly people (women and men age sixty-five or older) (Macionis, 2005), Have many obstacles to face as they grow older, many of these obstacles involve social inequality. Not only do the elderly have to learn to deal with many forms of Ageism (the stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age), some also have to deal with the fact that they do not have enough savings or pension benefits to be self supporting, for most people over sixty-five, the major source of income is social security (Macionis, 2005). This forces many elderly Americans back into the workforce to continue to earn money to support themselves and or spouses. Although many elderly Americans may choose

The Older Americans Act (OAA) funds critical services that keep older adults healthy and independent—services like meals, job training, senior centers, caregiver support, transportation, health promotion, benefits enrollment, and more. The Act is overdue for reauthorization—and Congress needs to seize this opportunity to update and renew its commitment to these programs and those they serve. To ensure America’s aging population is able to maintain and live healthy lives provisions are needed to the current OAA. These provisions include:

Current numbers show substantial growth from the eighties, and estimates suggest that the demand for long term care among the elderly will more than double in the next thirty years. (Feder, Komisar, and Niefeld) This growth will exacerbate concerns about balancing institutional and noninstitutional care, assuring quality of care, and most importantly adopting and sustaining financing mechanisms that equitably and adequately protect the elderly who need long-term care.

The Medicare program is being perceived that it will go bankrupt in about 10 years unless there is major reform. There are six recommendations that should be reformed for the protection of the program for future generations. The program must protect retirees from an economic healthcare disaster. The cost of the program must be shared and this will motivate benefactors to reduce cost by adding accountability to the program. Reducing Medicare expenditures will have a much larger impact than increasing taxes. Calculating the retirement age in correlation to life

Life expectancy has increased over the last century. With this greater survival rate, there needs to be an increase in the rate of spending for Medicare. Despite what one does to improve their health behavior, the need for medical care cultivates as one ages. This need will continue to increase significantly as medicine continues to modernize.

As we become older, issues with our health begin to take affect and finding ways to fund for that care is becoming even more difficult. In the article “Some Elders Must Take Drastic Measures to Obtain Long-term Care”, national magazine journalist Mary A. Fischer (2011) states that many Americans must face demeaning and disempowering choices in order to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare—federal funded health insurance programs— such as refusing to pay for a spouses institutionalization, divorce, and spending down assets. The author argues that these choices leave the healthy spouse with decreased funds to plan for their own retirement expense (Fisher, 2011). Working in the health care field for 4 years, along with my family’s own personal experiences I can relate to this article, since I have seen a variety of ways that federal funded health insurances have been unable to meet the expectations and demands of its beneficiaries.

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.

As this baby-boomer generation continues to age there will be profound effects on the way that money is spent on health care and insurance. With approximately 77 million people turning 65 over the next several years, the amount of government spending on Medicare will greatly increase (Gigante, 2012). Thus, the demand for medical care associated with the aging population will so

Suitable health care would not be possible for the elderly population in America without the assistance of Medicare Part A. Medicare did not come about easily. Currently Medicare spending is more than what is being collected, questioning future solvency. There are many challenges with sustaining Medicare into the future. Medicare’s past struggles, present outcomes, and future challenges confirm that a national health plan is ever evolving to meet the needs of the current population and spending inflation.

Using Item B and elsewhere, assess the view that an ageing population creates problems for society

My group spoke against the motion with each person speaking on a particular subtopic. On my part of the group I talked about the several parts of Medicare: part A, B, C and D, the people it covers, their rights, and benefits to their beneficiaries, how much spend on Medicare and how it affects Medicare beneficiaries out of pocket cost. Concrete examples were given on how premium support program would shift more cost to beneficiaries; especially, traditional Medicare recipients and how it could affect Medicare beneficiaries out-of-pocket cost, increase mortality rate and health risk. Also, why the federal government spends more on Medicare: baby boom generation. For instance, Medicare is a health insurance plan provided by the federal government for people age 65 and older, young people with disabilities and individuals with chronic health diseases. These individual are people with less ability to work more or harder to save money for their medical cost as well as other expenses. They are weak and vulnerable, and even if they have saved money from their young age or their parents have saved money for their health, that money would diminish since there is no more income or less revenue for them. According to Henry K Kaiser Family Foundation report dated April 2016, from 2011 statistics - two-thirds of beneficiaries (66%) had three or more chronic conditions. More than one-quarter of all recipients (27%) reported being in fair or poor health, and just over 3 in 10 (31%)

Medicare is America’s largest health insurance program for the men and women over the age of 65 or with certain disabilities. For many Americans, this a huge part of how they can afford medications, doctor visits and other medical expenses. In recent years the number of Medicare enrollees has doubled (NASI, 2015). The “Baby Boomers”, people born from 1946-1965, is the largest generation within America with roughly 75 million Americans. This generation of Americans are all turning 65 around the same time and enrolling into this medical program. With the amount of new enrollees the total spending for Medicare will rise from 3.6% of the nations GDP to 5.1% by 2030, when the youngest of the baby boomer generation will be 65 (NASI, 2015). Even

The objective of this study is to examine the evolution of programs and services for aging population over the last fifty years. Toward this end, this brief study will conduct a review of literature that addresses these shifts and changes in policy. The timeline of the history of the services and pogroms for the aging population in the United States is shown in the following timeline and an explanation for these develops will next follow the timeline.

Instead of relying on income from previous occupation, the elderly population, income will fixate, resulting in dependency on their 401k saving plan and other government related programs to assist with activities of daily living. This is why I choose to work with this population, to ensure that dignity, worth, and respect of a person is maintained. However, the aging population should not feel that they are being treated as a burden by the government or their families. In the United States, we undermine our aging population by treating them as though they are not of any value. In reference to this mistreatment towards the aging population can cause issues such as unemployment, health, and elder abuse.

The growing concern regarding the financial security of Medicare is one of particular interest to the nearly 72 million baby boomers that become eligible for this government-assisted, and tax-payer bolstered, program over the next two decades. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010), there will be a rapid increase in baby-boomers between 2010 and 2030, as the entire baby boomer population move into the 65 years and over category (p.3). Political and financial revisions must be made to ensure the security of Medicare as the numbers of individuals paying into this program are soon to be surpassed by the number of individuals drawing-off this program (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The elderly are also at a disadvantage with transportation to health care visits, picking up prescriptions, and rehabilitation services. There needs to be an establishment of access not only to primary care providers, hospitals, and rehabilitation services, but access to other aspects of the health care system for the elderly population.