The Aging of the Baby Boomers
The baby boomers are the largest segment of the American population. This group born between the 1940s and the 1960s has millions and millions of members. But the baby boomers are now in their twilight years. The effect this has had is overall, the American population is aging. This has given rise to a whole new set of concerns. Things like second careers, retirement activities and long term health care are now foremost in the minds of many in the U.S. as America’s ‘greatest generation’ has begun to grey. But the baby boomers won’t go quietly into the sweet goodnight. Much like how they changed the way Americans lived two generations ago, they are now changing the way Americans view aging, retirement and death.
The baby boomers are the people who were born after World War 11. This generation ushered in a period of unprecedented prosperity and social change. They demanded new responses to the problems of civil rights, women’s rights, sexual freedom, restrictive marriage, the role of religion and America’s place in the world. They are a generation that broke down barriers, rewrote the social contract and created a wide range of technological advances that dramatically changed the way Americans live.
As the baby boomers age, they are bringing the U.S. face to face with the inadequacies of the health care system. Medicine is big business. Hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies make billions each year dealing with the growing throng of aging Americans who need health care. Unfortunately, not all Americans have adequate access to health care. Millions of members of the aging population do not have any, or at least not enough, health insurance. The spiraling cost of health care now takes up a disproportionately large percentage of the nest eggs many baby boomers had set aside for retirement. Many are Americans living longer, but now they have to scramble to find ways to make their limited resources last as long as they do. For millions this has meant an increasing dependence of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. This is putting almost unmanageable strain on the social safety net.
The good news is that these aging Americans are in relatively good health. The bad news is that the whole nation will have to work together to ensure this great generation of Americans are given an opportunity to contribute, are loved and respected and can die with dignity
