Healthcare Financing For An Aging American Population

United States is the largest and most diverse society on the globe. It spends almost 2 trillion dollars every year on health care, which is one in every seven dollars in the economy. U.S is one of the very few nations where all its citizens do not have medical coverage. Although it spends heavily on per capita on health care, and it has the most advanced medical technology system in the world, still it is not the healthiest nation on earth. The system performs so poorly that it leaves 50 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered (Garson, 2010).

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

One dominant economic feature of the healthcare industry is the growing need for both basic and specialized healthcare due to the continued aging of the “Baby Boomer” generation. This generation consists of over 79,000,000 individuals born in the US between 1946 and 1964. As this generation has aged, the need for healthcare has increased dramatically. Let us take a look at some statistics:

The United States spend entirely to much money on health care compared to other industrialized countries. Yet, other countries achieved far better health for more people at less cost, according to OECA. Of the 34 countries rated by the OECD study, the United States ranks #1 in health care spending per capita and #1 in percentage

It is widely believed that the aging of the U.S. population is a major driver of the annual growth in the demand for health care and in national health spending

The single most important impetus for healthcare reform throughout recent history has been rising costs (Sultz, 2006). In the book called The healing of America: a global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care, Reid wrote that the nation’s health care system has become excessively expensive, ineffective, and unjust. Among the world’s developed nations, the US ranks near the bottom for healthcare access and quality. However, the US ranks at the top for health expenditure as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and average of $7,400 per person (Reid, 2010). Therefore, Americans are spending

The U.S government spends about 17% of GDP on healthcare industry which is enormously high as compared to any other industrialized nation. President Obama

In the article, “America’s Healthcare Revolution, Who Lives? Who Dies? and Who Pays?” by Joseph A. Califano Jr, the author starts by explaining the fact that the US is an aging society. Clifano states that the combination of three important factors, i.e., the aging US population, the increasing cost of healthcare and the decreasing proportion of actual workers, will cause the US to encounter an unfunded healthcare liability. This unfunded liability, according to the author, will eventually place a substantial pressure on publicly-funded health, and long-term support programmes for the elderly. In support of his vision on healthcare delivery system in the United States, the

Medicare is a federal government program that attempts to medically cover individuals 65 years and older and those with permanent disabilities, the most difficult population to serve. For fifty years, Medicare has provided economic and health security for older Americans, providing access to essential medical benefits including acute, chronic, and preventive health services. While the implementation of the Affordable Care Act improved Medicare by providing additional preventive services and brand name prescription drugs for less, there are still many flaws in Medicare, such having gaps in coverage, lack of supplemental costs, structural complexity, and large out of pocket expense that prevent the program from effectively offering health coverage to many individuals. As the Baby Boom Generation ages and the longevity of the population increases, Medicare costs will rise and constitute more and more of the federal budget, crowding out other important sectors.

The fact is that the U.S. spends more money on health care than any other country in the world, even when adjusting for relative wealth, according to a 2008 study by Mkcinsey Global Institute (MGI). In 2012 that number was about 2.6 trillion dollars or 18.6% of their gross domestic product (GDP) (13), in other words the U.S. spent about 8,915 dollars per person on health care, or more than twice what they spent on food and more than China spent on all goods and services combined (See Figure 1, MG1 2008). The amount spent on health care is expected to continue to rise , though that rise has slowed in the last three years, estimates suggest it could reach nearly 4.8 trillion dollars by 2021; which would be roughly one fifth of the U.S. GDP (15)

The subject of healthcare in the United States can be a contentious one, and it is also an area where peoples' perceptions don't always align with the facts given by policymakers. What makes healthcare spending so scandalous is the amount of money the United States pours into healthcare each year. Over $8,000 per-patient per-year costs, amount that has more than double any of the other nation. Yet 15 to 25% of the American population has no healthcare coverage due to a lack of any form of universal

When it comes to the U.S. healthcare system, there are two sides of the argument. Some Americans may argue that the U.S. healthcare system is the best in the world given the many state-of-the-art healthcare facilities and innovative and advanced medical technology available, and there are those who argue that it is too costly and inefficient on many different levels (Chua, 2006). Despite the large amount of spending invested on their healthcare system, the U.S. consistently underperforms on most indicators of performance compared to other countries (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014). Healthcare costs such as doctor visits, hospital stays, and prescription drugs are more expensive in the U.S. than any other country in the world.

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.

In the year 2012, expenditure on US health care amounted to 2.8 million trillion dollars, accounting for 17.2 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the US. The annual average cost of health care for the characteristic American family of 4 amounted to more than

The American population is getting older which presents us with many challenges but also present us with potential opportunities. With the length of life and quantity and fraction of older persons rise in most industrialized and many evolving nations, a crucial question is whether this population will be accompanied by continued or better-quality health, an improving quality of life, and adequate social and cost-effective resources. This answer lies in the ability of peoples and societies, as well as modern social, governmental, financial, and health service delivery systems, to provide optimum assistance to older persons.