Examples Of Trends In Health Care

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.

Our healthcare system is in a state of constant change. Just as the industry was adapting to the demands of countless healthcare reforms, the fate of regulations like the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and others like it, dangle in the wind. As the country transitions to a newly appointed administration, there is an increasing level of uncertainty among industry leaders. Federal, state, and local mandates continue to drive the need to improve the quality, costs, and outcomes of care which add to an already overburdened and burnout system. These coupled with our highly secular society who is primarily focused on the treating and curing illness through advanced technology, medications, and procedures has resulted in a

According to Edlund et al., (2003), the Long-Term Care Security Act signed in 2000 by President Clinton established the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program, which in 2002 offered a long-term care insurance program to federal government employees, retirees, and their family members. This type of long-term care employer assisted insurance has great appeal as the last of the Baby Boomers have entered their early fifties. In “Ready, Set, Grow,” Paul Barr (2014) stated that there are 10,000, Baby Boomers per day becoming eligible for Medicare, and those in their sixties focus on cost saving solutions; whereas Baby Boomers in their fifties emphasize the importance of quality, and ease of access while exploring new care models with innovative patient interactions and unique financing

Baby boomer aging is one of the large causative factors of this increase in demand (Glicken & Miller, 2013, p.1883-1889). According to Glicken & Miller (2013), the elderly population will nearly double in the next fifteen years putting a strain on the healthcare workforce. Also, more than half of physicians have intentions on limiting care access with regards to Medicare patients. Many medical doctors are refusing to care for Medicaid patients. This is a result of the growing number of individuals now with the means to afford healthcare due to the

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

America spends 2.5 times more on healthcare than most developed countries yet still ranking 51st in life expectancy in the world (Baum, 2015). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented January 1, 2014 by President Obama to expand coverage to millions of individuals in need. It consists of two separate pieces of legislation: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services, 2016). Although the ACA will give health benefits to millions of uninsured Americans, hospitals are receiving less compensation because of the high demand of health care from over qualified recipients. Through the Children’s Health Insurance Program and also the Social Security Act, states are able to pilot a test approach that could extend coverage up to 200 percent of the poverty line (Sommers, Kenney, & Epstein, 2015). Such a large increase in the size of the population that is now eligible to apply for the ACA comes with a sizable amount of fiscal responsibility from the states and puts an immense strain on the amount of money guaranteed to pay for the services provided (Sonier et al., 2013). Given the lack of funding from the Medicaid program, absence of reimbursement strategies, and budget of healthcare in America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),

Long-term care is vital in the United States health care system. As the population ages, more people will need assistance to recover from illness or injury, and others will need end of life care to ease their passing. People who use long-term care are all ages. From young to old, people can receive it if they cannot care for themselves because of a condition, an illness, or an injury that requires assistance for a period of 90 days or more. The concern people face when looking at long-term care is the funding. Medicaid will likely be drained of funds long before the country’s aging population is past its peak and while there are some options of insurance coverage, not everyone may afford them.

Health care in the United States is currently facing a looming crisis that requires an urgent response of intervention. With the baby boomers population on the rise, there will ultimately be an increased need for long-term care (LTC) services. Pratt (2015) defines baby boomers as “the name given to the large number of people born in the period following World War II, between 1946 and 1964” (p. 17). According to Mikulaschek (2013), “Beginning in 2010, the roughly seventy-eight million baby boomers began turning sixty-five at a rate of three to four million per year leading to growing concerns over meeting their healthcare demands” (p. 86). This brings the number from about forty million in 2010 to seventy-two million in 2030 causing them to account for almost twenty percent of the total U.S. population (Mikulaschek, 2013, p. 96; Pratt, 2015, p. 17). This alarming rate will correspond to the increasing number of elderly individuals with chronic conditions who depend on LTC services for daily functioning (Pratt, 2015, p. 17). This influx of baby boomers presents the health care industry with a plethora of issues related to costs, quality, and access to the LTC services that this population so desperately needs.

Due to the passing of Obamacare, also known as The Affordable Care Act, American’s today are provided more access to healthcare than ever before. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010 and signifies universal healthcare reform. This legislation includes provision in healthcare to extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. The ACA reform bill contains many other important changes as well, including, implemented measures to lower healthcare costs, improve system efficiency, eliminate coverage denial for pre-existing conditions, and increase coverage for children or dependents to age 26. What effect will this new law for healthcare reform have on hospitals, individuals, nurses, other healthcare providers, and on America? Throughout this paper the author will explore the changes and how our economy, political, and healthcare delivery system is affected.

Our text discusses the importance of funding long term care. In this day and age the average lifespan is expanding which means the demand for long term care facilities may increase. The longer we live, the more likely we are to need long term health care services and supports. Quadagno (2014) notes that here in the United States, long term care facilities and nursing home organizations are funded primarily by Medicaid. While Medicaid and Medicare services are beneficial to the aging population, the funding does not adequately allow residents of nursing homes the best of care.

Over the next 50 years the expected growth of the older adult population in the United States will have a profound impact on the health care system. The baby boom generation is already having an effect on the heath care system and this is expected to grow as the century progresses. Individuals in this age

Medicare and Medicaid turned into the public health care coverage programs in the U.S. marked into law. Medicare was planned for people more than 65 years of age and those with an end-arrange ailment, and low-income individual, however represent some portion of Medicare spending. The cost of long-term care (LTC) is relentlessly rising, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) incorporates a few arrangements that expect to enhance deficiency in the long-term care framework, in addition to enhancing workforce enrollment and maintenance.

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.

Long term care needs are increasing for the elderly population beginning significantly around 2015 (Shi & Singh, 2005). Multiple factors contribute to this increased need but the majority of the barriers evolve around the increasing age of the baby boomer population. The aging population is expected to grow from 125 million in 2010 to 157 million in 2020 (Shi & Singh, 2005). When looking at this aging population, it is expected that those over 70 years needing long term care will increase from 10 million in 2010 to 15 million in 2020 to 21 million in 2030 (Shi & Singh, 2005). The population is aging and people are living longer. Consequently, the need for long term care is increasing as will the duration of the need (CDC, 2013).

According to the U.S. Census, the United States population is projected to reach 400 million by 2050 with an expected growth of approximately 87 million for individuals over the age of 65. This growth rate for the elderly population is projected to impact policy, health care programs, and health care providers (Ortman, Velkoff & Hogan, 2014). As the population increases and ages, the need for advance care planning will also increase, therefore changes must be made within the healthcare system that will accommodate services and policy of reimbursement plans must be established to cover necessary care.