Geriatric Economics - why develop our seniors improves the well-being

During the past 12 months, the Obama administration was faced with the thorny issue of health reform, a stumbling block that drives commonly partisan debate in Washington usually infertile.

Both sides in this debate, however, converge on one point: the health reform, like any other social benefit, is cardinal to reduce the risk of a potential bankruptcy of the United States if the compensation disbursed under the program exceed the contributions.

At present, the authorities underestimate an important theme inextricably linked to the ongoing debate: the notion of "political geriatric" of the country.

Geriatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of the elderly; on gerontology, it is the study of social, psychological and biological aging.

Geriatric policy, in the present context, refers to all government programs designed to improve the welfare of senior citizens and reduce the costs of medical coverage.

Improving geriatric policy can be economically profitable and fiscally attractive to taxpayers.

Currently, two theories of human aging must be discredited in the collective consciousness.

First, there is no age limit set by the doctors, beyond which workers expected to retire. Human beings are different and public health specialists say unanimously that specific factors can affect the ability of an asset to perform its tasks, but as long as that person keeps intact its cognitive and physical abilities, she can work at any age. The retirement age imposed by public authorities is the fact that social policy of biology.

The second point provides some empirical illustration of the previous point.

Many elected officials, business leaders, social activists and opinion leaders in the sports world usually have a few gray hairs.
For example, the U.S. Senate has the highest concentration of elderly people democratically elected in the developed world. The median age of a senator is 63 years, more or less the age of retirement for most workers.

Robert Byrd, 92, of the state of West Virginia, is the eldest of the room, followed by Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.

If our societies are willing to be governed by the elderly, then it becomes convenient to gloss that seniors have an invaluable experience, even if it is currently untapped.

In the West, the gradual rise in life expectancy was positively correlated to the increase in medical costs over the years because, of course, living longer means more health care costs.

It is unfortunate that our postmodern societies, filled with ageism, tolerate that older be banned from the productive sectors because of their alleged lack of economic productivity or social utility.

The social position is wrong because we waste a substantial part of GDP previously invested in traditional education, corporate training, health insurance and other benefits required for a productive workforce.

In the case of the United States, these investments are in the billions of dollars.

Gerontologists recognized as JW Rowe and RL Kahn found that one of the cornerstones of successful aging is a life force, which in turn student's cognitive abilities and decreases the likelihood of illness or disability.

Four distinct approaches can help to maximize the well-being of seniors, reduce medical costs and increase social welfare. For the sake of efficiency, the directions of the relevant ministries (health, social services, the third age, etc..) Can be horizontally integrated to create an ad-hoc agency, identical to what was done in the intelligence reports -unien.

The state must develop in tandem with the private sector, an online database to assess the availability of expertise in the elderly, if this task is executed, this website can even be profitable once its popularity will increase the number of visitors.

The four programs are:

1) Retired helping their former companies

Recent retirees are part of the site, indicating their professional competence and preference of the industry. The companies then invite former employees (or other workers with similar skills) to their experience on specific projects such as integrating information technology, business organization, staff training, etc.. This paradigm is doubly beneficial to society as a retired staff experienced is significantly cheaper than external consultants and more familiar with the company or the industry.

2) Seniors supporting children

Seniors may be involved in extracurricular activities from kindergarten to high school. They can even teach based on their experience. Various "exchange programs" can be arranged, for example, between nursing homes and academic institutions to foster cohesion between generations.

3) Seniors supporting youth organizations and youth rehabilitation

The experiences of the seniors can help relieve troubled youth and meet other needs. In certain circumstances, can allow older prisoners has shown good behavior and a clear desire for social reintegration to advise other people out with the company.

4) Seniors in competitions at national level

In the same logic of life, the authorities should encourage national sports competitions for the elderly. Although the idea of ​​"Olympics of the 3rd age" is a bit surreal now, a national tournament is a more feasible and potentially more profitable.