Many first world countries are showing flat or negative population growth. Negative, of course, refers to fewer people being born than are dying. The United States is showing positive population growth, but a big demographic bulge is causing concerns for the future.
The baby boomer generation is essentially a bulge in the population chart for the United States. There are simply more people in this age range than younger groups. In many ways, this has led to the serious wealth growth we've seen in the latter part of the 20th century. As this population bulge begins to grow older, society is faced with some major issues.
For all the criticism and controversy surrounding health care, there is no disputing that great gains have been made in medicine. People are living longer. While this is assumed to be a good thing, it raises a host of practical problems.
The first issue is financial. Whereas people could retire at 59 with a pretty good idea of how much money they needed to live, now that number is much vaguer. A majority of the baby boomer generation hasn't even saved remotely enough money to retire on. With the loss of company pension plans, many are wondering where the money is going to come from to take care of these people. Social security? Please!
The financial issue leads to a bigger one - elder care. As boomers age, they are living longer. That doesn't mean that they don't have medical problems. From Alzheimer's to various aging issues, the need for elder care is growing and will increase dramatically in the future.
Who is going to pay for this? Federal health care provisions provide nominal services. Boomers for the most part haven't saved near enough money to pay for it. Throw in the cost of medication and medical services and we stand on the cusp of a major societal problem.
The only option that appears apparent is the care in question be
rendered by the children of the elderly. This will put even more stress
on a smaller population group that is trying to pay for social security
and other governmental programs. There are many issues that are debated
regarding the future, but few seem willing to discuss elder care. If we
don't plan ahead, we may be in for one seriously disaster development.
Alex Jensen is with OrangeCountyCarePlacement.com - a free orange county assisted living placement service for seniors.
Article Source: DesireToRetire.com