Zócalo Public SquareA Silver Tsunami Is About to Hit U.S. Health Care – Zócalo Public Square https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org Ideas Journalism With a Head and a Heart Mon, 21 Oct 2024 07:01:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 A Silver Tsunami Is About to Hit U.S. Health Care https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org/2016/04/25/a-silver-tsunami-is-about-to-hit-u-s-health-care/ideas/up-for-discussion/ https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org/2016/04/25/a-silver-tsunami-is-about-to-hit-u-s-health-care/ideas/up-for-discussion/#respond Mon, 25 Apr 2016 07:01:00 +0000 Zocalo https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org/?p=72245 Every day between 2010 and 2029, 10,000 Baby Boomers retire. Some say that the aging of this massive generation—which makes up slightly more than a quarter of the U.S. population—threatens to break the health care system. As more people live longer, they will seek more treatment from a system already beset by critical professional shortages. In addition, Baby Boomers face epidemics of obesity and diabetes. The trustees of Medicare estimate the program will run out of money by 2030. Is it possible to build our health care infrastructure to accommodate this wave of retirees without adding to the cost and bureaucracy of the system? And will poorer, more diverse, younger Americans be willing to support the health of an older generation that has not always been generous to them—given the uncertainty about the future of their own health care? In advance of an April 26 Zócalo/ASU event on the future of our health care system—”Will the Aging of America Bankrupt …

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]]> Every day between 2010 and 2029, 10,000 Baby Boomers retire. Some say that the aging of this massive generation—which makes up slightly more than a quarter of the U.S. population—threatens to break the health care system. As more people live longer, they will seek more treatment from a system already beset by critical professional shortages. In addition, Baby Boomers face epidemics of obesity and diabetes. The trustees of Medicare estimate the program will run out of money by 2030. Is it possible to build our health care infrastructure to accommodate this wave of retirees without adding to the cost and bureaucracy of the system? And will poorer, more diverse, younger Americans be willing to support the health of an older generation that has not always been generous to them—given the uncertainty about the future of their own health care?

In advance of an April 26 Zócalo/ASU event on the future of our health care system—”Will the Aging of America Bankrupt the Healthcare System?“—we posed that very question to people who think a lot about how the Baby Boom will impact us overall.

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