How will health care fare as boomers turn 65?
On January 1, 2011, the first “baby boomers” turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare. The aging boomers are a massive group—more than 75 million people strong, or nearly one-third of the U.S. population. The baby boomers present a number of challenges and demands to an already stretched-to-the-limit health care industry.
Is 60 the new 50?
Unlike other generations, the average boomers have no desire to grow old quietly or accept aches, pains and lack of mobility as part of aging.
Instead, this group feels too young and active to let age curtail their activities: They seek medical treatment for everything from bunion removal to face lifts, joints that don’t work or are painful get replaced and their expectations for feeling healthy, energetic and vital make them active participants in the health care industry.
Even though lifestyles, health and expectations of health are different today than in past generations, boomers can’t avoid the health problems that accompany growing older.
Health care needs will triple
According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), “The baby boomer generation will impact health care for decades to come as more than 37 million boomers will be managing more than one chronic condition by 2030, with one out of four, or 14 million, living with diabetes; almost half will be living with arthritis and more than one-third, or over 21 million, will be classified as obese and living with all the health risks associated with obesity."
From 1980 through 2030, the over-65 population will triple and health care needs will expand proportionally.
Advocates for change
Rick Wade, Senior Vice President of Communications for AHA, thinks hospitals need to focus on "forming community-based collaborations and strengthening outpatient services." He adds that the boomers are the "perfect group to advocate for change in this critical area." Changes to health care delivery, especially for chronic conditions, will need to be addressed.
Wade says, “National attention must be placed on how health care is paid for, and the boomer generation is the perfect group to advocate for change in this critical area.”
Increase in health care workers needed
Wade points out that many health care workers today are also baby boomers and new strategies must be developed to draw more people into the health care industry.
“The average age of a hospital nurse is over 40—the bulk of our nurses are in the tail end of the boomer generation,” he said. “We have to figure out strategies to create new workers and find a way to replenish nurses, getting the experienced nurses to move into teaching.”
It’s not just nurses that will be in short supply, it will be physicians too. Wade says there aren’t enough primary and family care physicians to handle the booming generation because oftentimes family practice is overlooked for higher-paying specialties.
Special training
Gerontological Society of America (GSA) president Lisa Gwyther, MSW, agrees. "Complex chronic illness is an issue that we all will face with age. The current fragmented system of care desperately requires an increase in better-prepared personnel to sustain itself."
Marie Bernard, MD, President of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, said “policymakers” must act swiftly to tackle the health care problems on the horizon.
"To meet the needs of our aging parents and grandparents, we need to increase the number of geriatric health specialists—both to provide care for those older adults with the most complex issues and to train the rest of the workforce in the common medical problems of old age," Bernard said.
Health care costs
Have an extra $100,000? If not, you can’t afford a year in the average nursing home, according to Time.com. Time reports that hiring an aide to spend about six hours a day will end up costing about $40,000 a year. “Medicare, meanwhile, covers up to only 100 days of long-term care and often involves co-payments. Medicaid will cover long-term nursing-home care but only after the person has drained his or her savings account,” reports Time.
As health-care costs rise and coverage declines, baby boomers will have to become vocal advocates for healthcare reform and work with policymakers to find ways to protect their health and their pocketbook at the same time.
