October 13, 2011 -We explored the ideas surrounding long term care with Eric Schubert, the Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs at Ecumen.
How do we empower citizens to get the right services that they need and keep costs down at the same time? By 2020, we’ll have more seniors than children, while family care is declining, costs are rising for businesses, people are living longer, and at the current rate Medicare will not be able cover everything.
In order to avoid future problems, there needs to be a cultural and structural shift in how we think about and care for elderly people. With society living longer, many need to lead healthier lives, long-term financial planning should take healthcare into account, nursing homes must transform the services they provide, families will take more responsibility for caring for elderly loved ones, and care providers need to rethink about how they address chronic disease.
All of those ideas are debatable, but they have been identified as areas that are changeable and could have a positive effect. Identifying what needs to be done is the easy part however. The more difficult challenge is how to go about it. Healthcare is a multibillion dollar industry with millions of voices young and old who should have a say in it.
One of our partners, The Citizens League, produced a comprehensive report on Long Term Care. You can also follow the conversation about this show here.
