That’s not good news, and it’s difficult to be optimistic, since neither of our political parties is really willing to confront the issues that underlie the problem.  Let’s talk specifics, and then you decide how severe the problem really is.

According to a recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), without some bold, decisive action regarding spending, total U.S. health care spending will double to just over $4.3 trillion by 2017 - or nearly 20 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. We can’t afford that.

So what’s causing or driving that increase?  According to Tefen, USA, a management consulting firm, people over the age of 65, “…experience nearly three times as many hospital days per thousand as the general population, and that sixty-two percent of 50-64 year-olds report having at least one of six chronic health conditions: arthritis, high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.”

Let’s talk about the challenges to physicians.  About 50-years ago, many of our best and brightest college graduates became physicians, and most made a very good living.  In 1965, with the advent of Medicare, seniors were given affordable access to medical care, and physicians were still able to practice personalized medicine and make money.

Fast forward to today.  There are fewer college students willing to put in the years of study needed to become medical doctors; reluctance to acquire the hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt; a future facing increasing costs for liability insurance, and in States like Florida, a “3-strikes, you’re out” threat of losing their licenses in frivolous lawsuits; and Federal legislation threatening to again decrease compensation to physicians from Medicare. Now you begin to see that this isn’t a small problem with a single answer or solution.

We’ve already seen employers and pension funds pass more of their financial burden of healthcare to their workers, or in some instances eliminate that benefit entirely. All of this adds to the financial stress that is coming with the millions of boomers who will need more, not less, health care as they age.

So why not make the Federal Government spend more on healthcare?  Don’t you understand? We the people – the taxpayers - will have to pay the cost of those increases – it’s not free and it’s not cheap.  It would shock you to know how much of the future of America has already been mortgaged to China, the Middle East, and Japan, just to have capital to keep some of America’s programs financed.  It will not get better with 75-million more users of healthcare services as they turn 65 years old. And that doesn’t begin to address the looming disaster facing both States and the Federal government that we call Medicaid. We haven’t seen more that the tip of that iceberg, and our ship, called America, is on a course for a head-on crash with that problem. We’re in trouble.

Before you yell for Socialized Medicine, which I’ve discussed in previous articles, you might want to do some serious research, because that’s not working particularly well anywhere in the world. And who do you think is going to get the bill to underwrite that solution. You!

What is the solution?  To begin with, we will have to demand that people take responsibility for their health and wellness, and we will have to increase individual financial contributions to our own medical treatment. If we don’t, we may all be looking at the rationing of medical services in the future, and that will create even more problems, as physicians serve those who can afford the more costly services.

If you don’t believe that, look at where money in medicine is being made today, other than by the managed care insurance companies. It’s in the fields of plastic surgery, neurology, radiology, cardiology, and oncology to name a few of a growing group of specialties.  No where is geriatric medicine listed as a way to earn a reasonable living, and the continuing push by our federal government to reduce Medicare payments to physicians, combined with 75-million more prospective seniors needing those services, leads me to believe that our medical system as we know, cannot and will not survive as we know it today. Call me a cynic, but bring proof that I’m wrong.

Ron Kauffman is a Certified Senior Advisor, and an expert on issues of aging and care giving. He is the author of Caring for a Loved One with Alzheimer’s Disease, which is available at www.seniorlifestyles.net. He can be reached at 561-626-4481 or by email at drron407@bellsouth.net.