GenerationTarget.com - Mature Market News

Marketing Effectiveness

Impact Presenters

Change Your Thinking
Change Your Results
Or be left behind. . .

Mature Market News - Thought Leaders and Noteworthy Events

Welcome to the GenrationTarget.com
Marketeer's Bookshop

Prime Life Marketing Library

List Price: ~~$114.90~~
Our Price: $98.00

The Focus Group Kit Book Set

List Price: ~~$185.00~~
Our Price: $170.00

The Focus Group Kit Book Set

List Price: ~~$54.95~~
Our Price: $49.95

How Baby Boomer Consumers Experience Healthcare

Understand how baby boomers are approaching and being exposed to the healthcare system, to better understand how to reach them.

With their count not far off 80 million, Americans aged 40-59 – the "baby boom" generation – are already making swelling the ranks of the nation's 50+ population. Soon they will begin to retire and become identifiable as "senior citizens" – little as they may welcome the designation. The U.S. population's "center of gravity," so to speak, moves with the boomer, and as they age an increasing level of attention must be paid to our healthcare delivery system. How will demands change; how can or should it be reconsidered, restructured?

In order to better address these dilemmas, it's necessary to ask a certain number of questions about consumers in this demographic. What is their approach to healthcare? And, crucially, what is their experience so far? Health professionals and industry marketers, if they want to keep a handle on the boomer flood, must speak to them where they are.

With this in mind, consider some illuminating statistics about boomers and healthcare:

Exercise represents an important lifestyle element to most baby boomers. Two-thirds of all boomers exercise; more than half of the 33 million gym memberships in the United States are held by people 50+, and boomers 55+ make up the fastest-growing segment of membership holders.
In one year, boomers will spend up to $4 in anti-aging products.
Health websites get the bulk of their hits from 50+ web users.
94% of baby boomers will self-treat before they deciding to visit their doctor.
Boomers say they are looking for an "equal partners"-style relationship with their physician. One-third have asked their doctor about a drug they've seen advertised.
Two-thirds of all caregivers in the United States are baby boomers. It has been estimated that the total number of caregivers stands at over 22 million.
The average U.S. caregiver is a 49-year-old, married woman with at least one child under eighteen, who spends 20 hours a week looking after an aging relative.
Increasing numbers of baby boomers are having their first extensive experience of the healthcare system through their involvement with an aging parent, and these exposures are shaping their perceptions of treatment.

At least two clear lessons should be taken from the above. One, boomers are definitively taking control of their health, pursuing fitness and preventative measures with gusto. The other is that caregiving is an unavoidable issue for members of this generation. Boomer healthcare needs should not be considered only in terms of their own health concerns at the present time. For those who are caregivers, or even know caregivers – a significant number, as indicated – the healthcare system's response to caregiver needs speaks volumes about its overall efficacy. And boomers, alert consumers that they are, will certainly be looking ahead to their own declining years and asking whether the healthcare system, as they have experienced it, will be ready for them.

Back To Mature Market News →

Go To The GenerationTarget.com Mature Market Bookstore →

COMPANY INFORMATION | MARKETING BOOKSTORE | TRAINING AND EDUCATION | PRESENTERS AND SPEAKERS |