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Babyboomer's Healthcare: Policymaking Options As the baby boomer generation ages and increases its demands on the healthcare system, policymakers will be forced to develop a better system to respond to the needs of the 50+ consumer. Bruce Clark, DPH, a co-founder of Age Wave, Inc. and the Impact Presentations Group, has studied the baby boomer market for many years. Writing about this generation's likely impact on the health sector as its members age, he emphasizes that industry professionals must lose no time preparing themselves to handle changes. Some states have already started taking steps in that direction. Minnesota's Aging Initiative, for example, assists the elderly in finding the resources and services they need to remain independent and in their homes. New Jersey Easy Access Single Entry (NJ EASE) offers seniors an easy way to access services that address their financial, medical and social needs. Using a single toll-free telephone number, the elderly can learn about community programs offering information and assistance, outreach, care management, transportation, education, insurance counseling, and adult protective services. Individuals over 50 have a much higher incidence of chronic disease, includingarthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure. In the 65+ age group, 80% of people have at least one chronic disease, and the average patient has three or more chronic conditions. In responding to these trends, policymakers must accept that the current system, designed to respond to acute ailments, isn't adequate for delivering quality care to this population. The current eldercare network is a mass of programs and services, run largely by well-meaning volunteers. Its irregular nature will be more inadequate as the senior population swells. By reformulating this network, seniors will gain a more logical means of accessing services, and policymakers will learn more about which services are most vital and which systems of delivery work best. In addition to preparing for the senior boom, policymakers should be aware of certain other transformative trends. The mapping of the human genome willtransform diagnoses and treatment of disease. While advances in research will lead rapidly to cheaper and more effective diagnostic tools, treatments will be longer coming and will be more expensive. Prevention is also being increasingly prioritized. The cost of treating illness for a growing population will force society to increase disease prevention efforts. The "genomics revolution"will redefine prevention, making it more precise, cheaper and less dependenton individual behavior. Further, the nomenclature of disease and even medicine will change radically in the future as we move from "organ" level (heart, kidney, bones, muscle, etc.) to the "molecular" level in how we diagnose, treat and even describe disease and health care professions. These changes reflect a crucial deepening of medical understanding, echoed by vast bioethical dilemmas. "Who lives, who dies, who decides?" – an oceanic question we will confront in our biotechnology-driven future. Issues related to privacy, insurability, care rationing and cost will alltake on added dimensions. Back To Mature Market News → Go To The GenerationTarget.com Mature Market Bookstore → |
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