Aging Gains and Losses

Aging Process: Gains and Losses

The adult senior population in the United States is growing at an unprecedented rate. In fact, the general population in the country is aging and both public and private elderly care providers need to make adjustments in order to be able to serve this growing population. Furthermore, many government and private industries are affected by this growing population, due to their prevalence in virtually all markets, as they purchase a wider variety of goods and services than ever before. But before the government or private companies can implement concrete policy changes, they first need to understand what the needs of this aging population will be. To determine that, it is important to understand both the gains and losses associated with aging.

Aging Gains

There are numerous advantages to aging for both the aging person and society as a whole. These benefits take many forms and often the advantages for individual and society intersect and benefit all. Such is the case with the criminal factor. Elderly people commit less crime and, subsequently and perhaps counter-intuitively, are the victims of crime less often than younger people. This could be because, as a general age group that engages in lower rates of criminal activity, seniors are exposed to fewer situations in which crime is actively occurring. Generally speaking, people have less to fear from crime as they age.

This gain is minor when compared to the most extensive benefit extended to the elderly, that of retirement and retirement benefits. Most older people have retired from daily work and are thus free to pursue hobbies and interests that they have had little time for in the past. Some pursue things they have always had a passion for, while others look to new outlets for their time and energy. This affords them a great deal of enjoyment and can provide an active life for them. They are able to afford such things because of the benefit of Social Security and other retirement plans, which are only available to people of advanced age. This is a genuine benefit that only older people get: they are provided with a continuous source of income without the stress of a job. While it can be argued that the benefits provided for retirement are not extravagant and that in the future the plans may not be solvent, there currently are still sufficient funds for millions of seniors to live quite comfortably.

Along with Social Security and pensions, seniors are the only people in the United States with a national health care plan. The main part of Medicare, part A, is free to all over the age of 65 and the part B supplement that covers doctor's visits can be bought for a very low monthly fee. Though this plan does not cover everything, it is a health plan and has been in place for several decades now. People nearing retirement have come to rely on this program and look forward to not having to pay for their health insurance, which of course frees up more of the income they are receiving from Social Security and their other pension plans.

Another key gain most aged people have realized is the ability to be free from child-rearing responsibilities. For most of them their children have grown and moved out of their house and gone on to raise families of their own. This relieves older people from the both the financial and emotional burden of having to raise their children, both of which sap time, money, and energy from people. In addition to this, there is the added benefit that, in many cases, children are now looking after their aging parents and providing care that they once received. This security net for older people is another net gain as they age.

Aging Losses

The most obvious loss experienced when growing older is the physical deterioration of the body, causing pain, illness, arthritis, and many other chronic conditions that plague the elderly. Along with these physical conditions, mental deterioration can also begin to affect older people, often resulting in dementia or Alzheimer's disease. While some of these conditions are ameliorated by the treatment that is available through Medicare, it is undeniable that older people deal with more ailments and diseases than do younger people. When the physical and mental aspects of deterioration combine it can be especially damaging, such as a person with dementia who forgets to take pills or even what the pills are for.

Many older people develop serious health conditions and. As a result, are forced to rely on someone else for their care, perhaps for the first time since childhood. In this way, a perceived gain can become a loss. The child who moved away and is no longer a financial drain in many cases becomes the sole source of support and care. For a previously independent person, this can be an extremely difficult adjustment, especially if the parent-child relationship has already been strained. In cases where there are no children available to care for an elderly person, a nursing home may be the only possible option. This offers even more potential problems, since the caregivers at the nursing home have no direct attachment to the person and are usually merely physical caregivers. Emotional needs can often go unfulfilled in this circumstance.

While Social Security provides a decent nest-egg for many retirees, some who have been beset by medical or other financial problems may find that it is simply not enough. At this point, it becomes evident that they have no means for earning additional income. They are locked into their fixed income, unable to take on any extra work that might provide the funding they need. The decreased earning capacity experienced by many elderly people comes at a time when they are realizing that many of the people who make up their support group, comprised of friends and family, have begun to disappear. It is common for older people to experience greater loss of loved ones than younger people do, seeing many people that they have known for the whole of their lives pass away before them. Ironically, it comes at the time when they are most in need of the support provided by these people.

"Normative" Stressors