Longer Life Expectancy Expected for Americans

posted on Jan 04 by Stacy in the Disability News, Health category

Olive Reily, the world’s oldest (108) blogger

“By the middle of the next decade, the United States will become an aging society with those over age 60 outnumbering those under age 15,” said Dr. John Rowe, who chairs the MacArthur Research Network and is Professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and former CEO of Aetna.

Research from the MacArthur Research Network on an Aging Society finds that by 2050 Americans may live 3.1 to 7.9 years longer than government projections. These higher projections will impact not only the healthcare system, but also the labor market and Americas fiscal situation. Dr Rowe, who authored the book “Successful Aging,” went on to say “Although the nation will become increasingly gray in subsequent decades, the United States is not well prepared to deal with the myriad consequences of this impending reality. If the extension of life achieved in the coming decades can be converted into healthy productive years, then these challenges of our aging country could be counterbalanced by an equal measure of opportunity and the emergence of a productive and equitable aging society.”

The study forecasts that life expectancy for women will go up 89.2 to 93.3 years, and men 83.2 to 85.9 years, which is significantly different than what the government is predicting, which is six years less for women and three years less for men.

As we have discussed here on the blog before, with an increasing population of aging citizens, the United States will have more demand for Medicare, disability services, and other related services and products. How do you think we should prepare to deal with the increasing number of disabled Americans?