Due to the aging baby boomer population, projections of which place the count of Americans who are 65 or older at one in five by 2050, there will be much “experimentation” that goes on to hone in on viable care methods, says the Congressional Budget Office.
Home care has risen as one possible solution, writes a CBO report published last week.
“Government programs that assist frail elderly people, such as Medicaid, have experimented with several different models of health care financing and delivery,” CBO writes. “One major change has been the gradual shift to providing care to people as they continue to live in private homes rather than in institutional settings.”
The market for those receiving “informal care” is in the ballpark of $234 billion as of 2011, according to the CBO. It will rise as more and more seniors seek care, prompting a need for more experimentation as to the possible solutions for care delivery.
“The projected growth in programs that devote many of their resources to addressing the needs of elderly people—through Social Security payments and spending for Medicare and Medicaid—will generate pressure on federal and state budgets, suggesting that various forms of experimentation will probably occur in the future as part of attempts to reduce costs,” CBO writes.
View the report.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
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