Health Care Spending in the Next 8 Years
One of the key components to making sure that there’s enough money and health care available for all of us living in the United States is plan, plan, plan. If experts were just to estimate what the population will be in a particular year (and much of it has to be some speculation) or if age and gender breakdown weren’t taken into consideration, health care providers would find themselves with a huge demographic portion needing care and with no money available to serve them with. Luckily for all of us, the National Health Care Expenditure Accounts Projections Team (NHCEAPT) is all over this type of things, and they have identified a trend that all of us, from young to old, should be aware of. Here is what we can expect to see through the year 2017 (doesn’t that year just sound so scifi?) and some suggestions on how we can be prepared for it.
Get Ready Medicare: Here Come the Baby Boomers
Baby boomers are little kids rocking out and bopping around to some music on the stereo. A “baby boomer,” a term created by the U.S. Census Bureau, is used to describe anyone born right after World War II, when everyone was so happy to see one another return home safely that all they did was sit around and make babies. The decade is usually considered between the years of 1945-1955. My parents? Proud baby boomers. And soon enough, people like my folks are going to be needing to access public programs like Medicare. According to the folks with the NHCEAPT, the outlook for national spending in the next eight years calls for steady growth. Spending growth is projected to be 6.7 percent in 2007, similar to its rate in 2006. Average annual growth over the projection period is expected to be 6.7 percent.
How Health Care Can Handle the Boom
I’m imagine a group of petrified health care professional standing stock still in terror with their eyeballs bugging out as millions of baby boomers run at them full-tilt in walkers and using canes. We’re talking 72 million baby boomers here; 23% of our whopping 303 million national population. With nearly a quarter of the population soon to possibly be leaning heavily on a public program for health care and insurance, what’s a country to do? Having data available like the statistics and thorough reports provided by the NHCEAPT is a terrific starts-we know what we’re facing. There’s no question that nothing but the best health care should be offered to this generation (and all to come)-I want my parents being taken care of as well as they’ve always taken care of me.
How Health Care Can Handle the Boom
I believe that monetary preparation should start now. We’ve got a new administration with new ideals, and I’m sure the impending situation is not a secret to any of them. If the current health care and insurance situation here in our country is thoroughly scrutinized and reworked, I’m confident that money and programs can be shifted around so that not only is there plenty of money and resources available to the baby boomers, but to all the rest of our deserving citizens as well. Baby boomers themselves can help by taking matters into their own hands. Don’t automatically assume that things will change for the better right away, and look into your resources. Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) are worth looking into if you’re nearing retirement age, because they can help supplement retirement if you’re healthy by enabling the money to stay put and grow.
photo credit: albany_tim
Tags: health care, health care spending, health coverage, health savings account, medicare
