Health of the Aged

Report Outline
Obstacles to Good Medical Care for Aged
Health Insurance for Elderly Persons
New Programs to Maintain Good Health

Obstacles to Good Medical Care for Aged

The steady increase in the proportion of older persons in the population of the United States has raised concern over present obstacles to adequate medical care for millions of American men and women in their declining years. The medical needs of the aged far exceed those of persons in the lower age brackets, and fewer of them have the private means to command the required professional attention.

After age 65, health services of various sorts may rank with food, clothing, and shelter as essentials of life. For the process of growing old, in the words of a leading world authority, can be considered “a disease consisting of deficiencies and illnesses—a chronic and fatally progressive disease.” Gerontologists and others have pointed out that, for those without independent incomes, lengthening of life too often means mere prolongation of years of physical and mental suffering.

Solutions to health problems of the aged are being sought through (1) development of feasible methods of defraying the disproportionately high medical costs of this group of the population by means of health insurance or otherwise, and (2) organization of facilities not only to care for the sick and infirm but also to maintain all older persons at their highest possible levels of well-being and independence.