Aging_Population

The impact of the aging population has created an alarming impact on the U.S health care system. This is especially in regards to the financial impact for government programs such Medicare or Medicaid that within the next 20 years the number of Medicare beneficiaries is expected to reach 71 million, representing 22 percent of the U.S. population (Iglehart JK. 1999). Medicare was created in 1965 with the purpose to provide insurance for the elderly and handicapped. The primary funding for this program comes from Employers and employee contribution from their payroll into a trust that is used to provide medical care for the elderly and handicapped. However, due to the longer life expectancy and rising cost it has been estimated that Medicare will face depletion within the next 10 years. Medicare consist of three component part A, B and recently added in 2006 part D. Each component pays for a certain levels of health care services. Part A covers inpatients care as well as routine office visit and long term nursing home facilities such as rehabilitation centers or hospice. Part B covers diagnostic testing, labs and ambulatory surgeries such hip or hip or knee replacement procedure. While Medicare part D offers prescription coverage that covers 75% of the cost of the prescription. Ideally each of these programs was aimed to worked together to provide complete health care coverage for the elderly and handicapped. Economic and demographic changes has rapidly challenge the longevity because of the number of people such as the “baby boomers” era that will have accessed health program such as Medicare has increased rapidly due to the large number of retirees. Collectively these factors have forced the government to find alternative solution in an effort to reduce cost and prevent reduction in benefits. Restructuring the program to focus more on preventative care has shown some promising results. Programs within the Medicare are now offering more wellness program and vaccinates in an effort to combat the rising cost of inpatient and hospitalization care. This is a just a small step to a big problem. The bottom line is Medicare must find a way to adapt to the financial challenges of the aging population. They must find a solution that will maximize their option and allow ample time to phase in changes . Iglehart JK. 1999. Medicare. N Engl J Med, 340: 327-332