Caitlin Owens, - Axios
Stephan: Our population is aging, and as the article describes we are painfully unprepared for what that means in terms of social wellbeing. Take just one example, healthcare. Our illness profit system is not getting better it is deteriorating. You hear Republicans saying Medicare is already too expensive. It is a dastardly lie. What passes for healthcare in the United States is already orders of magnitude more costly than any other developed democracy pays. For example: In 2022, France which has far better healthcare than the U.S. spent $6,630 per person on health. I chose France because its costs are higher than the OECD average of $4,986. But note, France spent, not individuals spent. France has universal birthright healthcare. In contrast, in 2022, the average American spent $13,493 per person on healthcare, which was $4.5 trillion in total.
Illustration by: Lindsey Bailey / Axios
It’s little surprise that America is rapidly getting older — but now that we’re at the brink of that demographic shift’s major consequences, we’re still completely unprepared.
Why it matters: It’s not just that seniors are an increasing share of the population, which is a huge challenge in itself. The seniors of the future may also require care for longer, and aging inequalities are becoming more stark.
The big picture: Americans 65 and older will make up more than 20% of the population by 2030, according to Census Bureau projections, up from 17% in 2022. By 2050, they’re projected to make up 23%.
One of the most obvious impacts of the aging population is on the federal budget, as spending on health programs — namely Medicare — is expected to swell.
But the change will be felt economy-wide: A smaller share of the population will be working age and, without drastic course correction, more may drop out of the [...]
