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Active Baby Boomers

Will The Health Care System Keep Up with Aging Baby Boomers

It has begun. The first wave of Baby-Boomers have begun to retire. If you listen carefully, you can hear owners of golf courses applauding. It may be good times for the golf industry right now, but what about 25-35 years down the road. How fast and far can they expand in the Baby-Boomer rush and what will happen when this large cohort begins to pass away? There are simply not enough people to fill the void and this could trigger a crash to a significant number of business markets.

Perhaps the only thing Baby-Boomers appreciate more than golf is their health. If we redirect our focus and look at the impact Baby-Boomers will have on the health care system, it begs us to ask similar questions. How fast can medical care expand and following the "rush", can we prevent a collapse?

 

Since the mid-90's in the US, medical facilities have experienced a nurse shortage. Naturally, as the population ages and the Baby-Boomers require more care there will be further stress on the health care system and this shortage is expected to increase. Unfortunately, there are no shortages of shortages in the health care system and the additional demand of the Baby-Boomers on the already fragile system could trigger a collapse in the not so distant future.

Perhaps the most apparent example of Baby-Boomer health care stress can be seen in today's hip replacement procedures. The number of patients requiring this surgery far outnumbers the number of qualified surgeons able to perform the procedure. The system is so overwhelmed that many people are forced to go abroad for hip replacements as well as other procedures. But the reason for the increase stress on the system is two-fold. As mentioned before, the shear volume of Baby-Boomers is a definite factor but secondly, the Baby-Boomer cohort is very health conscious and they are happily continuing the trend of increased life span.

 

It will be interesting to see how the health care system adapts to accommodate the Baby-Boomers. Since their numbers are transient it is likely so too will be the government policies. However, it is evident that changes in the health care system happen very slowly, if at all. With the typical time frame for training a doctor hovering around 8 years, the only thing that changes slower than policy is the number of health care professionals in the system.

It is a good thing the retiring Baby-Boomers are more health conscious because they will have more active in their health care than their parents. With health care professionals struggling to keep up to the number of Baby-Boomers, methods of home health care will have to be embraced.

The golf and health care industry will likely see increased demand in the up coming years. However, the golf industry will likely better accommodate the increasing volume of Baby-Boomer patrons because its malleable infrastructure. It is wise for Baby-boomers to have begun to flock to the golf course. After all, shortly this could perhaps be the only way for a patient to see a doctor.

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