The Boomers Are Coming

By Author: Norris Rios
Total Articles: 572
Comment this article

Over the last few months, there's been a really vicious political fight over the deficit. The Tea Party has fired up the Republican party into a hardline stance on reducing the amount we owe as a nation. The strategy has been direct and effective. The GOP has said "no" to any government plan that tries to raise taxes. So many members have signed the tax pledge written by Grover Norquist. This closes debate on the matter for them. There can be no compromise. The effect of this is dramatic. With the same amount of money coming into the federal coffers, it must cover the essential services and everything else is to be shut down through lack of funds. One of the more obvious issues is healthcare.

As a result of the Affordable Care Act, about 21 million people will gain access to insurance. It's true this will put a serious strain on the primary care services. Indeed, when you look at the shortage of doctors prepared to work in the primary care sector today, the idea the existing physicians can absorb all these extra patients is daunting. The doctors are struggling now. Come 2014 when all the extra patients will become eligible ...
... for cover, the bad situation will become worse. Independent groups have been trying to estimate the costs of this, but it's difficult because of the culture in the medical profession. Too many doctors see primary healthcare as second-best. The status and prestige is attached to working in a hospital. So just increasing the pay for doctors in the primary sector is not going to change attitudes. Whatever happens, there will be a shortage of doctors come 2014.

But this is nothing compared to the problem of the aging Boomers. An increasing percentage of the population is going to pass into retirement. There's an inevitable consequence to the aging process. The body starts to slow down. Parts break. People get injured or fall ill more often. There's already a sign of an increase in the number of older people seeking treatment for a wide range of age-related problems. Some estimate that outpatient visits to hospitals and clinics will rise even more sharply as more Boomers pass the age of 65. This has major implications for Medicaid and Medicare funding. Under normal circumstances, we could view all this with a calm and detached mind. The politicians have always managed to find the funding for those dependent on the healthcare services. But with the deficit debate firing up the GOP, it may be difficult for the Democrats to maintain full funding for all the medical entitlement programs. Put simply, if the GOP blocks tax increases, what will Washington cut to save healthcare funding?

No matter whether the Supreme Court rules Obamacare constitutional, there's one certain fact. Unless something is done to control the costs of healthcare services, cheap health insurance will be a thing of the past. Premiums must rise to match the high prices for drugs and the treatments delivered by hospitals and clinics. Even if the mandate survives and more money is paid as premiums by the new policyholders, there will still be a shortfall. So something needs to change in Washington to build a consensus on how to keep health insurance rates affordable over the next five years.