Take good care of your baby


Baby Boomers - A Healthcare Crisis Nears

Baby boomers are quickly approachinginsurance companies. Most nurses did not
retirement age, and as they do, there are abecome nurses to sit behind a computer and to
number of concerns that need to be addressed,talk  on  the  phone  for  hours.
particularly in the area of healthcare.
Unfortunately, there appears to be no easyHow  This  Will  Affect  Baby  Boomers?
answers to the healthcare problems that baby
boomers, and the population in general, willAdvancements in medical technology and
face  in  the  very  near  future.science means that people are living longer.
This does not always mean that there is a
Baby Boomers are people who were born betweenhigh quality of life for those that are
1946 and 1964. During this period of time theliving longer though. Many of these people
United States of America saw an explosion inwho would have died from a medical condition
birthrates that had never been seen beforetwo decades ago can now live for a long time
and nothing like it has been seen since.to come. These people often require a great
Today, baby boomers make up approximately 28%deal of long-term care, whether it is at home
of the total United States of Americaor  in  a  long-term  care  facility.
population.
Those receiving long-term care at home
With this group of people occupying such arequire nurses to help them with their
large segment of the population, it isday-to-day tasks. The following is a quote
predicted that there will be a majortaken  directly  from  the Medicare website (
financial strain on the healthcare industry
as a whole, as baby boomers reach retirement"Generally, Medicare doesn't pay for
age. There are many reasons why thelong-term care. Medicare pays only for
healthcare industry will face problems asmedically necessary skilled nursing facility
baby boomers begin to retire and begin toor home health care. However, you must meet
need  long-term  care  services.certain conditions for Medicare to pay for
these types of care. Most long-term care is
Baby  Boomers  Are  The  Nursesto assist people with support services such
as activities of daily living like dressing,
Go to any healthcare facility today and lookbathing, and using the bathroom. Medicare
around at the nurses who are working there.doesn't pay for this type of care called
One thing will become abundantly clear to"custodial care". Custodial care (non-skilled
you; the vast majority of nurses working incare) is care that helps you with activities
healthcare are in fact baby boomersof daily living. It may also include care
themselves. We have heard for the past fewthat most people do for themselves, for
years about nursing shortages and predictionsexample,  diabetes  monitoring."
that these nursing shortages will only get
worse.There is also a great deal of talk about
whether or not Medicare will even be around
There are many reasons why the United Statesin the coming decades. Consider the fact that
of America currently faces nursing shortages.28% of the population will no longer be
Traditionally, nursing has been a careercontributing to Medicare via taxes, while at
dominated by women. Women have made greatthe same time that 28% will be using more of
strides in efforts to gain equality over thethe  resources.
past few decades; much of this progress is
attributed to women who are from the babyIs  It  All  Really  That  Bleak?
boomer generation. With these strides in
equality, women have realized that they haveYes and no. It is true that there are no easy
many more career choices other than being asolutions in the foreseeable future to help
nurse, a schoolteacher, or a homemaker. Todaydeal with the nursing shortage, while the
women are running the largest corporations inneed for nurses will increase dramatically.
America, making great salaries, and receivingIt is also true that the economics of supply
high  levels  of  prestige.and demand will create a situation where
healthcare will become even more expensive,
A  Two-Fold  Problemwhile healthcare providers continue to raise
salaries  in  hopes  of  attracting  nurses.
As baby boomers retire a two-fold problem is
created. First, there will be even fewerSo where is the good news you ask? The good
nurses, because baby boomers make up such anews is that nurse recruitments are showing
large part of the current nursing workforce."some" success. Young people are showing a
The second part of the problem is that asrenewed interest in nursing, due in large
baby boomers, 28% of our population, retirepart to huge marketing campaigns put out by
they will require more healthcare as a partnursing schools and healthcare organizations.
of  the  aging  process.The flip side of this is that these young
people are going for the high level nursing
As you can see, there are some seriousdegrees such as Registered Nurse (R.N.) and
healthcare problems that need to beNurse Practitioners (N.P.), but the lower
addressed. Leaders in the healthcare industrylevel (lower paying) jobs such as Certified
have been working extremely hard in trying toNursing Assistants (C.N.A.'s) and Certified
find a solution. Sadly their efforts are onlyMedical Assistants (C.M.A.'s) remain
making minimal impacts in increasing theunderstaffed. These are the ones usually
nursing  workforce.providing direct care while the RN's and
Licensed Practical Nurses (L.P.N.'s) are
Healthcare companies have tried everythingmeeting accreditation requirements by doing
from raising salaries to offering outrageousall of the charting and talking to insurance
sign on bonuses. Money does not seem to becompanies.
the key to get people interested in nursing.
Survey a group of nurses and most will notThe other good news is that insurance
complain about their salary. What they willcompanies are planning ahead and offering
complain about is the day-to-day workloadslong-term care insurance plans that will
that they face. Nurses are overworked andallow you or your loved ones the ability to
carry larger and larger patient loads as abe able to pay nurses for long-term care
result  of  shortages.services. Many baby boomers are taking their
future into their own hands by taking out
Combine this with the fact that nurses, whothese  long-term  care  insurance  policies.
typically get into healthcare to provide
direct patient care, are being forced to doFinally, leaders in government and the
more administrative type tasks. Some of thesehealthcare industry are working diligently to
tasks include excessive charting to meetaddress what is a predictable issue. Since
requirements set forth by Medicare andthese are predictable events, they can be
insurance companies, and trying to getplanned for as much as possible.
patients care certified, or paid for, by



1 A B C 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 94 95 96 97 98 99 100