#claim3

There are supposedly four key “aging shocks”:

uncovered costs of prescription drugs

costs of medical care that are not paid by Medicare or private insurance

actual costs of private insurance

uncovered costs of long-term care

In addition to these costs, the cost of services needs to be added to this sum. Supposedly 42% of people who live to the age of 70 will live in a nursing home before death.  Many long-term care systems have arisen, whilst others have dwindled away such as home health care.  Nursing homes have seemed to replace them.  The main concern when it comes to this all is the ever-inflating costs of care.  These costs seem to come from the cost of nursing homes. 

However, these costs must be dismissed since elders are becoming mor eand more reliant on assistance from others. 65% of elders need families and friends for assistance in daily activities, and another 30$ rely on informal care.  

There is a growing economic burden on the future elders of the United States.  In order to find any hope for fixing it, a finance system for long term care needs to be established, as well as reassessing the treatment of seniors in American culture, creating an affordable community-based delivery system, and investing in healthy aging to lower disability rates.  Of course these are all easier said than done.  It is partly a government issue and partly a personal issue.  

The federal Medicare program roughly funds 24% of all long-term care costs, yet these costs cover mainly home care and medical injuries rather than custodial long care.  However, Medicaid is a key role in the long-term care financing system.  64% of elderly nursing home residents in 1995 relied on Medicaid to fund some of their care.  Medicaid focused mainly on the more frail elders residing in nursing homes.  Today, there is little to no focus on nursing homes and not enough resources are devoted to the residents there.  To improve the state that we are currently in, the government needs to put an emphasis on the elderly and nursing homes.  In return, we must do our part to live healthy lives as well as invest and plan for the future.  Long-term care is very expensive and most middle-class families aren’t prepared to pay it.  We must start now if we want to have an effect for our future.

When it comes to the abuse of elders in the United States, 7.6%-10% of study participants in major studies experienced abuse in the prior year.  41 per 1000 surveyed faced higher than self-reported rates of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse or neglect.  The disabled elderly face even worse cases. Roughly fourteen million U.S. elders have disabilities.  33% of institutionalized adult women have faced interpersonal violence, whilst 21% of institutionalized adult women without disabilities have faced Interpersonal violence.  5.1 million American elders have some form of dementia.  In 2010, a study discovered that 47% of those who participated have been mistreated by their caregivers, whilst 50% of people with dementia have experienced some form of abuse.  In 2008, a study showed that 70% of state surveys miss at least one deficiency in nursing homes and 15% of surveys miss actual harm and immediate jeopardy of a nursing home resident.

Elders who suffer from abuse, no matter the extremity, have shown to have 300% higher risk of death compared to those who have never experienced abuse.  There are signs of higher psychological distress and additional health care problems.  Not only is the abuse emotional and physical, but financially.  Roughly $2.9 billion dollars were exploited in 2009.

Main Sources: x , x , x

Security in old age is one of the main concerns of the elderly in the Philippines.  Poverty has always been an issue in the Philippines and though the government offers services such as homes and centers for senior citizens, they aren’t very effective as proven by the level of satisfaction of the elderly.  In addition to this, another concern of the elderly is the occurrence of abuse committed against senior citizens in these homes and institutions.  There seems to be a common theme when it comes to the concerns of the elderly--it usually ties back to money issues and safety and health concerns.  

The United States’ main concern of the elderly is connected to the expensive costs of services and finding proper nursing homes that satisfy the standard of care.  In 2001, a report found that approximately 30% of U.S. nursing homes held accounts of elder abuse violation between January 1999 and January 2001.  Nearly 2,500 of these violations could have reuslted in immediate death or serious injury.  Not only are the damages physical, but emotional as well.  Many elders face emotional and physical abuse in nursing homes.

Some of the other concerns of the elderly in the Philippines includes heatlh status, political and legislative initiatives, and the economic impact of ageing on welfare.  When it comes to policies and legislative initiatives, it mainly refers to the need for the promotion of welfare of the elderly.  As a response, the country had executed a Philippine Plan of Action for Older Persons 1999-2004.  It offered a pension system, inclusive of a social security system, government service insurance system, and benefits for Philippine veterans.  

When a new president was elected in 2010, stating that he, Benigno Aquino III, would support the bill, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines suggested that they actually excommunicate him for going through with it.

Before this, nearly four decades ago, the United States was responsible for the donation of contraceptives, summing to nearly $400 million dollars.  In 2008, George W. Bush ended the program, stating that the Philippine government needed to take responsibility.  After US funding ended, affordable contraceptives became rare.  

This entire story ties back to religion.  We see the strong influence the church has over the people of the Philippines, including the church.  The government sometimes to appear like a pawn, and the Church as the player.  It even shows hints of colonialism.  In claim 2, there was a mention of a dependency.  The Philippines needed to rely on the United States for education purposes.  It seems history has repeated itself.  We’re faced with a similar situation, in which the Philippines once again relied on the United States to fund their distribution of contraceptives.  Without that funding, the Filipino government refused to distribute contraceptives and this is when overpopulation started to really increase.

main sources: x , x

There is little to no separation between the Philippine government and church, from what I’ve heard and read from various articles and sources.  Religion plays a key role in the society of the Philippines.  

However, in recent years, there has been a fight between the Philippine Supreme Court and the Church.  It pertains to the issue of birth control and contraceptive distribution in the Philippines, since abortion and pregnancy is a very sensitive topic in the Philippines.  After a fifteen year battle that made its way to the Filipino Supreme Court, a new reproductive health care law was instilled.  The law makes it so that the Philippine government has to fund family planning health clinics, affordable contraception, and thorough and complete sex education in schools.  This is a large success for the Philippines and a defeat against the Catholic church.  Many expect that this law will help make positive changes in the fight against poverty and overpopulation.

Before, the government was against the distribution of contraceptives.  This aided to the overpopulation in the Philippines as well as unsafe abortion processes.  This increased maternal death rates.  Before this law won, the church fought its hardest by attempting to dilute the law.  They made it so that private hospitals by religious institutions go through the law and refuse to provide family planning options and even reject patients to hospitals.  If a minor is looking for contraceptives, parental consent is required, and married women have to have their husband's’ consent for a fertility procedure.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, an estimated 1,000 women die every year of abortion complications out of the 500,000 illegal abortions performed.  Through this law, many predict that these numbers will lower along with the population growth.  This whole issue between the government and the church truly shows how they can affect women and children.  Nearly 70% of the population supported this law, yet it took 14 years for it to get approved.  The church even posted billboards with detailed and vivid pictures of aborted fetuses, with the message of “NO to Reproductive Health Bill - YES to the Gospel of Life.” The church even denied Communion if people voted for legislation.