May is Older Americans Month in the United States. During this month, national attention is focused on the aging of America including a proclamation issued by President Obama. In 2009, the older population (65 and over) totaled 39.6 million, an increase of 12 percent since 1999. This means one out of every 8 Americans today is an older American. The first of the 76 million baby boomers turned 65 on January 1st of this year and this generation will lead to a doubling of the older population by the year 2030.
Yet as we look at the future, we see the aging of our society as both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity comes from the realization that older Americans are a valuable and oftentimes under-utilized resource, Americans who want to, can and do contribute to society. It is said in today's corporate world that 80 is the new 50. Yet beyond the boardroom we must do everything possible to promote a cultural atmosphere that encourages the involvement of all older persons who wish to continue to contribute. We have noticed in recent years a new commitment to civic empowerment by older persons, doing things in their communities to improve the quality of life for themselves and their communities. It can be paid or volunteer work. An organization with the name Age for Action captures it well with its mission to help older adults work, serve, learn and lead.
The challenges associated with an aging society require confronting realities about health care and economic security as people age. Today's older generation was helped tremendously with the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935 and 30 years later with Medicare, Medicaid and the Older Americans Act. Social Security has helped seniors from falling into poverty. Medicare was developed as a universal health care model for Americans over the age of 65 and Medicaid has emerged as the largest federal program aiding in the costs of long-term care.
Yet the combination of the rising number of older persons in our nation and the growing concern about the deficit has led Washington to begin to reexamine these three entitlement programs. The goal of entitlement reform is to modernize the programs for the next generation of older person without shredding the safety net it has provided to the neediest of older Americans. Most of the short-term attention will be on Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare needs to be modernized so it becomes a program that does as much to prevent people from becoming sick as it does to treat them once they are sick. In recent years, this has led to expansion of preventive benefits. Most recently the Affordable Care Act set aside $10 billion in investments for a new Center for Medicare and Medicaid innovation to test out new models of health care delivery. One hopes this important provision of that landmark law can move forward.
Important decisions about the future of Medicare and Medicaid will be made in this coming year, perhaps at the time that Congress addresses the short-term need to raise the debt ceiling.
More broadly, the future of aging in our nation is about many things. It is about what services we provide for older adults and what their goals are. Who provides these services and how we work to ensure that more of the providers are trained not only in gerontology and geriatrics are important concerns. Also important are issues of cultural competency and sensitivity to the differences between rural and urban America. The future of aging and services must also be about the quality of access to these services for those who need them the most. As a society, are we aware of, and responsive to, all of the emerging aging populations, from minorities to the LGBT community? As a society we need to always realize that we live in a larger intergenerational community. The future of aging is especially about recognizing the critical importance of the family caregiver.
The future of aging also should be about the safety and well being of older Americans who have given so much to our country. The test of this will be if Congress funds the Elder Justice Act, a law which if funded and implemented would help protect our seniors from abuse, neglect and financial exploitation.
Aging policy and programs may be done differently in the future. More attention will be focused on building the "evidence base" and measuring outcomes. However, policies that force good programs to compete for crumbs make a mockery of the term public policy.
The future of aging and aging policy should always be about promoting the independence and dignity of the older person: to promote justice, to be free from elder abuse, poverty, isolation and loneliness. Our aging policies must always have a moral compass to guide it and if they do, older persons will have a better future in America.
