The term “baby boomer” is used to describe people born after World War II, between the years 1946 and 1964, who grew up during the 1960s and 1970s. According to http://www.history.com/topics/baby-boomers, more than 76 million baby boomers were born in the United States.
This year, the first boomers are turning 65, and are therefore eligible for Medicare coverage. It’s very likely that this is going to put additional strain on the system of Medicare providers, which is already overburdened.
To start with, the boomers are arriving at the door of Medicare providers with more expectations and more health problems than their parents and previous generations. A hundred years ago, most people died of infectious diseases. Now, they are dying of lingering, chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.
The boomers are used to getting and demanding attention. Today, elderly golfers with tricky knees want knee replacements instead of suffering in silence like their forefathers had to.
The American Geriatrics Society says that presently there are around 7,000 certified geriatricians in the United States. The patient/doctor ratio is 2,699:1. However, with the burgeoning elderly population, predictions are that this figure will be 5,549:1 by 2030. On top of this, there are many physicians on the brink of retirement because thousands of them are baby boomers themselves.
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