Population Ageing Problem in America - Essay Example

Task: Population ageing problem in America There American population is experiencing the challenge faced by other developed countries as the UK and Germany of an ageing population. The American population has a growing number of citizens above sixty-five years of age. The domination of an ageing population has a number of constraints on state and federal governments' budgetary allocations. First is a considerably high demand for funds and budgetary allocations for public-funded health. A high proportion of the aged, in a population, pose constraints on the income support strategies allocated to old aged. The increase in such strategies, aimed at supporting income from for the ageing population, consequently has considerable effects on the economic performance of America. With a high percentage of the ageing population, there is a high likelihood that there are a few people paying taxes given the few active members of the population. This creates a possible shortage of public funds allocated for programs that support the aged population in America. The ageing problem has related implications on the organization as well as the delivery of health care services. The high probability that there will be a challenge of few professionals to offer health care services to the old aged is inevitable. An ageing population experiences a change from acute to chronic illness. According to Fairman, a considerable portion of the American population has chronic complications (Fairman 8). Health care provision for an ageing population, therefore, shifts from attending to acute healthcare to providing attention to chronic diseases that are common among the aged population. The medication changes from those that provide a cure for acute conditions to those used to correct multiple disabilities. Doctors shall help patients to cope with illnesses, overtime, rather than providing acute cure. Chronic illnesses also have its associations with disabilities that call for long-term health care provision. There is high demand for facilities that aid in providing long-term health care for the disabled. Setting up facilities as nursing homes calls for additional investments in the health sector as the population continues to have a high number of the aged (Williams 105). The increased demand for long-term Medicare provision to the aged population in America calls for the fragmentation of finances allocated to the health sector. The concern over the high demand for healthcare workers to provide services to the old continues to grow with high numbers of the aged population. An increasingly ageing American population demands an increased supply of nurses as well as professional staff to work in healthcare centers. The high increase in the number of the aged population may outdo the supply of professionals and nurses to care for the aged in the labor market. Attracting the services of professionals and nurses is predicted to involve high wage and fees for the aged. With the economic recession, the only a small percentage of the aged may afford the services provided by nurses and professionals. To contain the situation, government has a number of public programs for the aged population. Such programs provide long-term care and financial and income support to the aged. Public programs also provide essential services to the aged as housing and other social services. Financing the health sector by the government is a considerable challenge with the increased population of the aged. Mobilization of finances for acute care for the aged needs broad intervention to satisfy the high increased population. Public sources of acute care financing, with increased population of the old, may need support of private financial sources. Financing and administering of social insurance calls for high investment, from the government, with an increased number of the old in the population. Other acute care services as hospital shall consume high portion of the allocation from public funds as taxes. There is a predicted increase in premiums as for financing physicians and other services provided to the aged. This presents a significant challenge since income of the old aged may not match the expenses for medication. There are costs of outpatient prescriptions that the aged are most likely to incur and that the programs provided by the government do not cover. These include drugs bought outside health institutions as well as eye and dental health care services. The cost of enrollment in private health maintenance organizations is alarmingly escalating with the high rise in the number of aged Americans. Such organizations are private, and no covers offered by the government that reduces the cost of medication incurred by the old age in to help finance the services offered. In cases where beneficiaries of Medicare programs choose their private organizations, they face the challenge of choosing only those within their level and are affordable. The allocation of long-term care resources in America experiences notable challenges from the high population of the old age. Most of the long-term care receives financial support from Medicaid (Wiener and Tilly 1). Finances from Medicaid support a high proportion of nursing homes in America. The increase in the number of adults turning to old age calls for a high allocation of more finances in Medicaid than there was before. There is a notable escalation in the amount used in Medicaid by both the federal as well as state governments. It is noteworthy that Medicaid programs function as entitlements to individuals, and there is no public as well as private insurance. For such reasons, most Americans at their old age use their own money as expenditure on long-term care. A high number of retired and old Americans translate to high budgetary allocations retirement incomes (Thio and Taylor 104). The major sources of finances for retirement incomes include pensions from both the public and private sectors and welfare payments. The harsh economic conditions, mainly after 2008 saw a number of retired Americans spend an appreciated portion of their savings. A large percentage of Americans in their old age are under pension. In addition, a plausible number receive welfare payments. This translates to a high allocation from for pensions from social security. The benefits from social security increases annually with the high rate of inflation experienced, especially after 2008. In conclusion, America’s population consists of a high number of the people above the age of sixty five and consequently the ageing problem. This translates to a number of implications for the country given the composition of the population having a high number of old people. As an ageing society, the American population faces a number of challenges mostly related to the escalating cost of health care for the old age. Increasing allocations from the social security is among the challenges that the country face because of its ageing population. Works Cited Fairman, Julie. Making Room in the Clinic: Nurse Practitioners and the Evolution of Modern Health Care. New Jersey, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2009. Print. Thio, Alex and Taylor, Jim. Social Problems. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Print. Wiener, Joshua and Tilly, Jane. Population ageing in the United States of America: implications for public programs. International Journal of Epidemiology, 31. 4 (2002): 776-781. Web. 16 Dec. 2012. Williams, Stephen. Essentials Of Health Services. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2005. Print. Read More