Health Issues for the Aging

Health Issues for the Aging
Name
Course
Professor
Institution
Date
Health Issues for the Aging
As the average life expectancy and the number of older people rise in most developed and developing countries, a key question is whether this population aging would be accompanied by better health, a higher quality of life, and adequate social and economic opportunities (APHA, n.d.). The capacity of families and societies, current socio-economic, political, and caregivers, to offer optimal support to the older generation of people is part of the response to this question. Although all modern communities are dedicated to providing health and social services to their people, these structures are constantly changing, driven by various national and regional policy formulations. Health, social, and economic policies for the elderly differ significantly across developed countries. The use of appropriate cross-national studies to analyze these disparities will significantly help develop successful policies aimed at improving the health, social, and economic well-being of elderly populations.
Challenges Faced by the Elderly Populations
Lack of Public Health Priority
The potential fiscal stability of public and private pension, health, and social security programs and the consequences of these systems for savings and investment rates are among the most significant policy issues relating to health and longevity. The effects of population aging would be heavily influenced by how long people choose to live, pay taxes, and save. As a result of longer time spent in education and training while still young, faster retirement, and increased longer life expectancy, many people are now working for less than half their lives, compounding challenges to the viability of programs intended to serve the older people. Should the longer life expectancy persist with no corresponding increase in work life, the strain on these structures will become much more remarkable.
Public health has significantly contributed to this demographic shift and has traditionally been characterized in terms of demographics, focusing on identifying risk factors in individual populations and addressing the leading causes of death. People are living longer, so the challenge is to help them stay healthy and maintain a high quality of life regardless of the onset of chronic diseases at any age. Despite the enormity of the task, healthy aging has remained on the fringe of the public health agenda since its inception in the developed cities of the nineteenth century (Anderson, 2010). Also, during the mid-60s, when other sectors began to pay attention to the plight of older Americans, public health remained largely uninvolved. The Medicare and Medicaid services were developed by the Social Security Amendments of 1965, and the Older Americans Act of 1965 resulted in the establishment of the Administration on Aging. However, public health agencies were not specifically listed in the Older American Act until 1987, and they remained beyond the scope of aging.
Demographic Transition
There are at least three main factors that are causing heated debate and discussion about aging in the United States: the baby boom generation; whose births occurred between 1946 and 1964 (Kane, 1997), is currently undergoing an aging process; the rising number of people living with different forms of chronic conditions; and the US healthcare system overhaul. When the first group of baby boomers reached the age of 65 on January 1, 2011, the unprecedented generational shift gained attention nationally. Aside from a significant rise due to increased longevity, the population of older adults is changing in terms of racial and ethnic diversity, as well as functional ability. Despite the fact that an aging population puts pressure on policymakers as they try to contain increasing healthcare costs, new approaches to enhance community-based servi...