Government & Elderly - Part 2
There are supposedly four key “aging shocks”:
uncovered costs of prescription drugs
costs of medical care that are not paid by Medicare or private insurance
actual costs of private insurance
uncovered costs of long-term care
In addition to these costs, the cost of services needs to be added to this sum. Supposedly 42% of people who live to the age of 70 will live in a nursing home before death. Many long-term care systems have arisen, whilst others have dwindled away such as home health care. Nursing homes have seemed to replace them. The main concern when it comes to this all is the ever-inflating costs of care. These costs seem to come from the cost of nursing homes.
However, these costs must be dismissed since elders are becoming mor eand more reliant on assistance from others. 65% of elders need families and friends for assistance in daily activities, and another 30$ rely on informal care.
There is a growing economic burden on the future elders of the United States. In order to find any hope for fixing it, a finance system for long term care needs to be established, as well as reassessing the treatment of seniors in American culture, creating an affordable community-based delivery system, and investing in healthy aging to lower disability rates. Of course these are all easier said than done. It is partly a government issue and partly a personal issue.
The federal Medicare program roughly funds 24% of all long-term care costs, yet these costs cover mainly home care and medical injuries rather than custodial long care. However, Medicaid is a key role in the long-term care financing system. 64% of elderly nursing home residents in 1995 relied on Medicaid to fund some of their care. Medicaid focused mainly on the more frail elders residing in nursing homes. Today, there is little to no focus on nursing homes and not enough resources are devoted to the residents there. To improve the state that we are currently in, the government needs to put an emphasis on the elderly and nursing homes. In return, we must do our part to live healthy lives as well as invest and plan for the future. Long-term care is very expensive and most middle-class families aren’t prepared to pay it. We must start now if we want to have an effect for our future.
When it comes to the abuse of elders in the United States, 7.6%-10% of study participants in major studies experienced abuse in the prior year. 41 per 1000 surveyed faced higher than self-reported rates of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse or neglect. The disabled elderly face even worse cases. Roughly fourteen million U.S. elders have disabilities. 33% of institutionalized adult women have faced interpersonal violence, whilst 21% of institutionalized adult women without disabilities have faced Interpersonal violence. 5.1 million American elders have some form of dementia. In 2010, a study discovered that 47% of those who participated have been mistreated by their caregivers, whilst 50% of people with dementia have experienced some form of abuse. In 2008, a study showed that 70% of state surveys miss at least one deficiency in nursing homes and 15% of surveys miss actual harm and immediate jeopardy of a nursing home resident.
Elders who suffer from abuse, no matter the extremity, have shown to have 300% higher risk of death compared to those who have never experienced abuse. There are signs of higher psychological distress and additional health care problems. Not only is the abuse emotional and physical, but financially. Roughly $2.9 billion dollars were exploited in 2009.
Main Sources: x , x , x
Part 1 Here
