Are We Gambling the Future of our Seniors?

The projections of the future senior needs are consistent throughout literature and readings. There will be an increase in our senior population who will have an extended life expectancy and fewer caregivers to provide the needed support. In addition to the rise in the senior population, there will be an increase in health costs to serve the needs of the growing populous mostly due to the management of chronic illnesses. “Policymakers, service providers, and the general public are all concerned about the crisis in health care. This crisis refers to the costs, the growing numbers of uninsured individuals of all ages, and the status and future of health care system. People age 65 and older account for over 30 percent of the nation’s annual federal health care expenditures” (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 732).

I envision a future where services for seniors are more coordinated either through care management or technology applications and education available to elders and caregivers. I have mentioned in other blogs that there exists a need for a plan for living while aging. Yesterday, I received a publication which intrigued me….i.e. some of us plan for retirement; some of us plan for end-of-life & dying. However, few of us plan for those in-between years. It got me thinking. Long-term care services for our blossoming senior population needs to have a brighter outlook without the dread and blight that is currently associated with long-term care. Providers of geriatric care and services should be looking at how they can accommodate a more discerning group of customers and making the necessary changes such as advanced technology, homelike environments and green spaces, privacy, and enhanced autonomy via patient-centered care.

For me, one of the most looming issues is how are we to pay for the anticipated and required services of an emerging growth of seniors? “For the first time in human history, people aged 65 and over will outnumber children under age 5. This crossing is just around the corner, before 2020. These two age groups will then continue to grow in opposite directions. By 2050, the proportion of the population aged 65 and older (15.6 percent) will be more than double that of children under age 5 (7.2 percent). This unique demographic phenomenon of the “crossing” is unprecedented” (He, Goodkind, & Kowal, 2016, p. 3). With this trend around the corner, possibly states should be banking more of the state’s income in gearing up services for seniors. One possible solution would be to split state’s lottery revenue (currently a lottery system exists in 44 states plus DC) between education and geriatric services. It seems we are gambling the future of our seniors currently anyway so why not use the Powerball to enhance our senior services?

References He, W., Goodkind, D. & Kowal, P. (2016, March). An aging world: 2015. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p95-16- 1.pdf Hooyman, N. R. & Kiyak, H. A. (2011). Social gerontology: A multidisciplinary perspective. Ninth edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. dba Allyn & Bacon.