When I think of aging, I know it’s inevitable and its scares me a little (haha jk),
but in thinking of this discussion I think that we need to focus on everybody
from the newborn, youth, to the adults and the elderly people. Yes, we are
currently focused on the baby boomers, but as they are continuing to leave us
and head to heaven, we need to focus on our life cycles to continue the human
race. It is projected that the number of Americans ages 65 and older will nearly
double from 52 million in 2018 to 95 million by 2060 (Mark Mather, 2019).
We do need to address the issue of aging Americans, medical spending for the
elderly is continuing to rise, its estimated that elderly spend $98,000 per year
in healthcare spending (nber.org, 2015). Another interesting fact is that it is
estimated that the number of older aged adults 65 and over (77 million) will
outnumber children under the age of 18 (76.5 million) (Vespa, 2018). a We
need to keep this number in mind as we need to continue to grow our
population while taking care of or aging population. We need to focus on all
ages moving forward.
Mark Mather, P. S. (2019, July 15). Fact Sheet: Aging in the United States.
Population Reference Bureau: https://www.prb.org/resources/fact-sheet-aging-
in-the-united-states/
nber.org. (2015, June). Bulletin on Aging & Health: Medical Spending of the
Elderly. National Bureau of Economic Research:
https://www.nber.org/bah/2015no2/medical-spending-
elderly#:~:text=Medical%20spending%20by%20the%20elderly,percent
%20of%20all%20medical%20spending.
Vespa, J. (2018, March 13). America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers/The
Graying of America: More Older Adults Than Kids by 2035. a United
States Census Bureau:
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/03/graying-america.html
