Baby Boomers Healthcare Crisis and How to Fix Care

Baby boomers healthcare crisis pressures grow as this large generation moves past retirement age, raising concerns that need to be addressed, particularly in healthcare. Unfortunately, there appear to be no easy answers to the baby boomers healthcare crisis that retirees, and the population in general, face today. For readers planning ahead, see our annual screening checklist and annual physical exam guide.

Baby Boomers are people who were born between 1946 and 1964. During that period the United States saw an explosion in birthrates unlike anything before or since. At their peak, baby boomers made up approximately 28% of the total United States population, which is why the baby boomers healthcare crisis touches nearly every family.

With this group occupying such a large segment of the population, experts predict major financial strain on the healthcare industry as baby boomers use more long-term care services, deepening the baby boomers healthcare crisis. There are many reasons why the healthcare industry will face problems as baby boomers begin to retire and begin to need long-term care services.

Baby Boomers Healthcare Crisis in the Nursing Workforce

Go to any healthcare facility today and look at the nurses on duty. One thing becomes clear: the vast majority of working nurses are baby boomers themselves, so retirements directly shrink the workforce behind the baby boomers healthcare crisis. We have heard for the past few years about nursing shortages and predictions that these nursing shortages will only get worse.

There are many reasons why the United States of America currently faces nursing shortages. Traditionally, nursing has been a career dominated by women. Women have made great strides in efforts to gain equality over the past few decades; much of this progress is attributed to women who are from the baby boomer generation. With these strides in equality, women have realized that they have many more career choices other than being a nurse, a schoolteacher, or a homemaker. Today women are running the largest corporations in America, making great salaries, and receiving high levels of prestige.

A Two-Fold Staffing Problem

As baby boomers retire, a two-fold problem is created. First, there will be even fewer nurses, because baby boomers make up such a large part of the current nursing workforce at the heart of the baby boomers healthcare crisis. The second part of the problem is that as baby boomers, 28% of our population, retire they will require more healthcare as a part of the aging process.

As you can see, there are some serious healthcare problems that need to be addressed. Leaders in the healthcare industry have been working extremely hard in trying to find a solution. Sadly their efforts are only making minimal impacts in increasing the nursing workforce.

Healthcare companies have tried everything from raising salaries to offering outrageous sign on bonuses. Money does not seem to be the key to get people interested in nursing. Survey a group of nurses and most will not complain about their salary. What they will complain about is the day-to-day workloads that they face. Nurses are overworked and carry larger patient loads as shortages tied to the baby boomers healthcare crisis grow.

Combine this with the fact that nurses, who typically get into healthcare to provide direct patient care, are being forced to do more administrative type tasks. Some of these tasks include excessive charting to meet requirements set forth by Medicare and insurance companies, and trying to get patients care certified, or paid for, by insurance companies. Most nurses did not become nurses to sit behind a computer and to talk on the phone for hours.

How the Baby Boomers Healthcare Crisis Affects Care

Advancements in medical technology mean people are living longer, which extends demand linked to the baby boomers healthcare crisis. This does not always mean that there is a high quality of life for those that are living longer though. Many of these people who would have died from a medical condition two decades ago can now live for a long time to come. These people often require a great deal of long-term care, whether it is at home or in a long-term care facility.

Those receiving long-term care at home require nurses to help them with their day-to-day tasks. The following is a quote taken directly from the Medicare website (Medicare long-term care guidance)

“Generally, Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term care. Medicare pays only for medically necessary skilled nursing facility or home health care. However, you must meet certain conditions for Medicare to pay for these types of care. Most long-term care is to assist people with support services such as activities of daily living like dressing, bathing, and using the bathroom. Medicare doesn’t pay for this type of care called “custodial care”. Custodial care (non-skilled care) is care that helps you with activities of daily living. It may also include care that most people do for themselves, for example, diabetes monitoring.”

There is also much debate about whether Medicare funding will keep pace with the baby boomers healthcare crisis in the coming decades. Consider the fact that 28% of the population will no longer be contributing to Medicare via taxes, while at the same time that 28% will be using more of the resources.

Is the Outlook All Bleak?

Yes and no. There are no easy solutions for the baby boomers healthcare crisis in the near future, and the need for nurses will keep rising dramatically. It is also true that the economics of supply and demand will create a situation where healthcare will become even more expensive, while healthcare providers continue to raise salaries in hopes of attracting nurses.

So where is the good news you ask? The good news is that nurse recruitments are showing “some” success. Young people are showing a renewed interest in nursing, due in large part to huge marketing campaigns put out by nursing schools and healthcare organizations. The flip side of this is that these young people are going for the high level nursing degrees such as Registered Nurse (R.N.) and Nurse Practitioners (N.P.), but the lower level (lower paying) jobs such as Certified Nursing Assistants (C.N.A.’s) and Certified Medical Assistants (C.M.A.’s) remain understaffed.

These assistants are the ones usually providing direct care while the RN’s and Licensed Practical Nurses (L.P.N.’s) are meeting accreditation requirements by doing all of the charting and talking to insurance companies.

The other good news is that insurers now offer long-term care plans that help families pay nurses for extended services. Compare routine options in our routine checkup guide while easing the baby boomers healthcare crisis for your own household. Many baby boomers are taking their future into their own hands by taking out these long-term care insurance policies.

Finally, leaders in government and healthcare are working to address this predictable baby boomers healthcare crisis. Since these are predictable events, they can be planned for as much as possible.