The Importance Of Aging In The United States

Between 2010 and 2050, the United States population ages 65 and older will nearly double, the population ages 80 and older will nearly triple, and the number of nonagenarians and centenarians—people in their 90s and 100s—will quadruple. (KFF, 2015) Trustees of Medicaid are forecasting that in 2024, Medicaid will start running out of funding. Although there is little evidence in the trustee’s projections it is still something that needs to be looked as more and more people are getting older and are needing benefits vs a number of people putting in. Every day there are 10,000 people turning 65 or older.

1) INTRODUCTION The world has experienced a steady increase in life expectancy in this century. The dramatic increase in average life expectancy imposes a great challenge in healthcare. World Health Organisation (2015) reported between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years of age will double from 12% to 22%. The most rapidly growing segment of the Singapore population is the older people.

From Statistics provided by the Department of Commerce from the years of 1949 to 1959, a steady increase is seen in the GNP, which shows the nation’s overall wealth (Document G). These numbers suggest the economy booming soon after the war, meaning that even during the recession of 1953 people had money enough and steady jobs to support their lifestyles. This was done during Eisenhower’s Administration, and the statistics show that the tactics he chose to increase the GNP worked, as it went up almost $500 in 10 years. Though the GNP went up, the government also spent much more money than previously, even on things such as the Interstate and Highway System. This system was put in place as a defense mechanism in June 1956, and was widely recognized across the nation as a grand idea to pull the nation back together.

The need for birth control has grown due to increased sexual activity in teens. Each year 850,000 adolescent girls become pregnant. 41.3% of pregnancy are teens 15-19 years old and 20% of abortions are teens. With the growing use of birth control in teens in the last decade teen pregnancy rates are steadily going down.

More babies were born after the war than ever before just in 1946 alone 3.4 million babies were born, and begun the so called “baby boom.” Couples after the war had children to make up for the lost time, and the economic prosperity of America at the time. At the same time the suburban boom occurred with families moving out of the cities into surrounding areas. Year after year more and more babies were born with the numbers rising every year until over 4 million babies a year were born; until 1964 when the birth rate started to decline, and ending the baby boom generation. By the end of 1964 baby boomers made over 40% of America’s population.

A. Ageism- prejudice towards people based on their age (Moody, 13). With the life expectancy nearly doubling over the past 100 years, more and more Americans are surpassing the 65-year age landmark. In a survey of people age 60 and above, 80% reported experience with ageism (Dittmann, 2003). Ageism has harm on the mentality of the aging American.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau everyday 220,000 people are born (U.S. Census Bureau). This should be concerning to everyone since Earth will reach its population carrying capacity in a few decades. Scientists believe that the maximum capacity of people the planet can sustain is somewhere between nine and ten billion people. The human populace is already well on its way to eight billion. At this rate the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by the year 2056 there will be ten billion humans inhabiting Earth (U.S. Census Bureau).

Citizens have been told that, “The compromise bill would raise $409.5 million over five years. About $300 million would cover expanding pre-K, community schools, and fixing parks, rec centers and libraries”(Vargas, C., Nadolny, T. L., & Terruso, J,2016). This would be a great help to the communities and citizens of philadelphia As well as creating a new source of revenue, it will also lower the amount of money spent on medical costs from drinks, Currently, “the nation spends an estimated $190 billion a year treating obesity-related health conditions.” (The Nutrition Source, 2015) . Overall this will be a positive advantage from taxes on sugary

Generation Y - (people born between the 1980’s and 2000) d. Generation Z – (people born after the year 2000) Baby Boomers were basically born during the post WWII. It is known so because after World War 2, there was a population “boom” that continued for decades due to the substantial economic growth that occurred during this period. It is also believed that by 2030, about one in five Americans will be older than 65, and therefore the aging of the population will place a strain on government and health related demands. Generation X, as compared to Baby Boomers, was a highly educated generation. They were more acceptable and inclusive of other cultures and has a long embraced diversity.

Osteoporosis is one of the major public health issues, worldwide including Malaysia. As the average life expectancy of the world’s population increases, so does the proportion of the population suffering from osteoporosis. According to Kinsella and Wan (2008), from 2010 to 2040, the world population ≥65 years of age will double from about 506 million in 2008 to 1.3 billion by 2040, accounting for 14% of the world’s total population; those aged 80 or older is projected to double from 2010 until 2050. Osteoporosis will affect the overall health, social interaction and productivity of a person’s life as the fractures occur can lead to disability. Women who fell more often after their fracture reported decreased social participation independent of their physical function (Miller et al, 2009).

“The outlook in this field is extraordinarily favorable, diagnostic medical sonographers and ultrasound technicians should experience job growth of 46 percent nationwide between 2012 and 2022 ranking the field among five fastest growing occupations in the country and resulting in 27,000 new jobs” (Boyle). The job for this career should grow in most regions but it is likely to vary geographically with most states having a fast growth than the nation’s average. The five most regions where the jobs of sonography is growing the fastest during 2012 and 2022 is Puerto Rico, Texas, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. The averages for each region is, Puerto Rico 58. 7 percent, Texas 57.6 percent, Arizona 54.9 percent, Utah 54.1 percent, and lastly Colorado with 51.3 percent.

Over the years we have seen a rise in the Medicare, Medicaid and the Children 's Health Insurances programs, all government programs that provides a right to health insurances has seen a rise since 1985, in that year it totaled less than 10% of the federal budget, but by 2012 these programs took up 21% of the federal budget. Studies have shown that Obamacare will increase the federal deficit by $300-$700 Billion in the first ten years, and could increase the deficit to $1.5 trillion in the second 10 years. If everyone was covered by the universal right to health care than the federal deficit can even larger. I think politicians are mistaken because they look over the fact that by instating Universal health care, it could reduce the administrative cost. According to the American Medical Association, on average, private health insurance plans spend 11.7% of premiums on administrative costs vs. 6.3% spent by public health programs.

Racial and ethnic disparity in teen pregnancy rates abound. The National Campaign (2014), observed that African American female teens are twice in danger of getting pregnant than white teenagers; about four out of every ten of them would have gotten pregnant by their 20th birthday, and that as at 2010, the pregnancy rate for this racial group already stood at 99.5 out of every 1000 for female teens aged 15 to 19. Further studies suggest that the Hispanic/Latino minority group is not far behind, with rates greater than the national average (Shoff & Yang, 2012). The economic costs are enormous and multifaceted; educational, health, occupational, economic, and so on.

Medicare is a government program that was formed in 1965. It was created to help provide health coverage for people 65 years old or older, people under 65 years old with certain disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal disease. Medicare is currently the largest payer for health services in the United States. Medicare paid for 20% of the total national health spending in 2012. Since 1969, Medicare spending per enrollee has continued to rise.

According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation about one-third of American men and women are labeled as obese along with about 13% for children. The Center for Disease control also did a study measuring the trends for BMI from 1960 - 2000 whereby they came to the same conclusions, that the percentage of overweight and obese Americans is increasing. So, despite individual success stories of burning calories and shedding pounds we see an upward trend for plus size Americans. Most likely environmental factors