Demographics_Paper

The population demographics in this paper will be focusing on the elderly aged sixty and above. The part of the elderly population includes foreign born immigrants and the native born elderly. There are many reasons that the elderly population changes and the way it affects health care and costs for care and prescriptions. The elderly are affected by many issues and health care is affected the worst because of the cost related to the care they may need as they age. The growing elderly population has made it expensive for them to afford the health care that they need at a reasonable price. The elderly require a bit more care than the younger population and this causes health care costs to rise. Having resources would be good because it can help them to try and decrease their health care costs. Having the help of the community providing the resources that could help would be beneficial when it comes to lowering the cost of health care and services. Population is important and elderly have been around and deserve better health care and reasonable prices. Demographic Population The elderly makes up about 67% of the population aged sixty and over. In the year 1900 people aged 60 and over constituted for 16% of the population. Since 1900 the population has grown and the average age of a life expectancy has increased from age 47 in 1900 to 76 years of age in 2000. There was a decrease in birthrates within this period of time and the foreign born immigrants have accounted for 30.9% of the elderly population and they make up 13.6% of the U.S population. When the decrease of population occurred health care was not in demand and when the population started to grow again the demand for health care was greater, as was the cost to receive health care when necessary. The elderly population has increased and so has the demand for health care and the cost go up with this demand. The elderly population requires more intense care than the younger population, which has increased the demand for doctors with specialty backgrounds. The elderly require more care and this can be a challenge for doctors and insurance companies. The increased cost of health care affects the elderly because of the care they need, which also raises the cost of prescriptions they need either on a daily basis or monthly basis. The increase has also increased the demand for in home care because today’s families are busy and it is harder for them to care for the elderly person at their home and nursing homes are too expensive for the families to afford, so the cost of in home care has also increased. Each community should have the option of a wellness center for the elderly to go to for exercise and to keep themselves healthy. A wellness center would also offset the cost of healthcare because they could offer education for those who are able to care for themselves and provide services to those who can not care for themselves. A wellness center may also be full of resources for the families who are looking for help caring for the elderly. With the population booming services are in demand and the needs are higher for in home care and with prescription drug costs so high some elderly people are looking for help and to be able to market generics to them would help when it came time to get their prescriptions. Educating the elderly on the generic form of prescription drugs would help them to understand that the generics are the same as the brand names and can lower the cost. The cost of prescriptions is high and the elderly population is having a hard time trying to afford these costs. The way a community can address the challenges the elderly face is by providing educational services and to help when the need is in demand. Helping by driving the person to an appointment, or to pick up their prescriptions, or to bring them grocery shopping is a good way to start. When people help with yard work the elderly person is happy to have the help because they may not be able to do the work. Keeping the elderly population active can help with the lowering of health care costs to make it more affordable for this population. Having a large population can make health care stay high but also having to see so many different doctors can also keep the health care costs high. Conclusion Medical care for the elderly is important and should not be brushed aside. Sometimes having high costs such as health care can be discouraging for the elderly because it becomes unaffordable. The elderly have a hard time because of fixed incomes and it makes it hard to afford and also with drug costs being high the elderly usually try to go without and they suffer from not having their medications. Having affordable health care is important because of the elderly population growing so rapidly, so lowering the cost of health care is important because it should be more affordable so they are not discouraged from receiving care for their illnesses. Having the health care issues it is important to get educated and to make sure as a community that the elderly are taken care of properly. Having high costs make it difficult and the services offered are priced high too and should be more reasonable and affordable for everyone. The demographics of the elderly population is important and should be considered when setting prices for health care. If there is an illness involved the health care costs seem to rise and this is where it can become more expensive. High cost is discouraging for the elderly taking on the burden of these costs can cause more strain and without resources can make it very discouraging for the elderly to want to see their doctor for fear of having to pay more for the care they need at that time. Lower prices for health care would benefit the elderly and make it easier for them to see a doctor and not have to pay high costs for services and with the help of the community this could become reality and the elderly can be stress free. References Rogers,A. , Raymer,J. (2001) ., Immigration and the Regional Demographics of the Elderly Population in the United States. Journal of Gerontology , vol 56B. No.1, 544-855,pS44 retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/health/docview/197625607/fulltextPDF/12E63F57FA57DB69772/6'accountid=35812 on March 28, 2011 Franzini, L.M.,Mikhail,O.I, Skinner, J.S. (2010). McAllen and El Paso Revisited: Medicare Variations not Always Reflected in the under Sixty-Five Population. retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/health/docview/824062922/fulltextPDF/12E63F57FA57DB69772/5'accountid=35812 on March 28, 2011 Arendt, J.N (2004). Income and “Outcomes” for Elderly: Do the Poor have a Poorer Life' Social Indicators Research retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/health/docview/210091250/fulltextPDF/12E63F57FA57DB69772/4'accountid=35812 on March 28, 2011