The Health Condition of the Ageing Generation - Term Paper Example

Abstract The paper will conduct a detailed analysis on the health condition of the ageing generation. AARP is a lobby group that addresses the health campaign of this ageing generation. The paper will analyze the overview of the implementation process used by the group, the context of health promotion used by the lobby group, and the feedbacks from both the government and the public. Introduction The world faces unique challenges in delivery of health care, especially the ageing population health care. The ageing population demands more health care services. Majority of the world’s population are living with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, mental health conditions, and more. Therefore, AARP came up to advocate for changes in the health sector in order to improve the health condition of the ageing generation. AARP is a lobby group that released a report in 2009 stating that patients experience lack of coordination from health providers, specifically by receiving repeat tests and procedures, unnecessary hospitalizations, and difficult transition from hospitals to homes (Whyte, 2012). AARP is a lobby group that wants the elderly to move away from traditional ‘doctor/patient ‘roles. The group wants its members to embrace their own involvement in health care and in exploiting alternative medical options (Kazbare,Van & Eskildsen, 2010). The group combines with the consumerism movement to empower its members. In addition, the group exercise control in requesting second opinions from doctors and alternative treatment methods in health care decisions[ CITATION Hal11 \l 1033 ]. There is the issue of over-medicalization of aging. AARP always addresses this question: (i) at what point as people as age do, we become accepting of aging and stop rushing to a physician all of the time? (ii) How do people decide whether to fix a problem if it has more to do with later years of life than with a traditional medical ailment? And (iii) Can people depend on their physicians to clearly tell them when a medical problem is as easily addressed by physical therapy as by a surgical procedure of some type- especially when there are low-tech ways to improve the situation[CITATION Ras14 \l 1033 ]. According to AARP, old people must consider above question. The group argues that medicalization of ageing potentially exposes seniors to more and more risks without really solving the problems. AARP is a lobby group that addresses the challenges in the health sector, especially the issue of staffing. The group does not just advocate for increase in the number of clinicians, but also wants health care professionals to be better prepared to care for people with multiple chronic conditions in all settings. In addition, the lobby group needs the clinicians to deliver care to the fullest extent of their education and training. The group relies on the idea that, by virtue of clinicians’ numbers, which is the largest health care profession; nurses must be on the forefront in leading the changes in health care of the population. It s from this idea that the group wants nurses to assume enhanced and conceptualized roles in disease management, prevention activities, quality improvement, and transitional care (Whyte, 2012). AARP stands for American Association of Retired Persons. Its motto is ‘to serve, not to be served’. Ethel Percy Andrus formed the group in 1958. All members of this group are 50 years and over (Whyte, 2012). It has over 37 million members and it is among the most powerful lobby groups in the US. The lobby group has two-affiliated organization, AARP services which is a profit organization, and AARP foundation, which operates on a non-profit basis. AARP mainly protects the interests of old people. It is a highly influential lobby for older Americans. AARP focuses on three key pillars for change. These pillars include (i) advancing education transformation, (ii) removing barriers to practice and care, and (iii) nursing leadership ( Whyte, 2012). The group wants nurses to be effective as possible in helping to provide high quality service. For this to be effective, the nurses have to be better prepared, because service delivery has become more complex and it has moved into the community. The group demands nurses to have advanced degrees, therefore recommending the government to offer continuing education to nurses in order to help nurses retain clinical skills and develop leadership abilities. The group demands nurses to practice to the full level of their education and training. This will sort out both immediate and long-term needs. For instance, the lobby group approved advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), a good example is midwives, to address primary care shortage. In addition, APRNs will give more time to experienced physicians to pay more attention to complex cases requiring expertise (Whyte, 2012). The group aims at concentrating on the issue of nursing leadership. According to the lobby, nurses bring an important voice and point of view to management and policy discussions. The group advocates for more nurses to be prepared to lead improvements in health care quality and services. A recent study concluded that only 6 percent of nurses occupy positions in hospital boards. Physicians account for 20 percent, where as clinicians make up 5 percent (Whyte, 2012). The lobby group wants to make nurses to feel themselves as decision makers who can influence health outcomes. The lobby group has a campaign of fostering campaigns of well-prepared nurses to public policy and health care organization boards. The group wants to improve the welfare and health of the old people. There is a renowned effort by the group of promoting the physical activity of elder adults. In 2002, there was Surgeon General’s declaration that more than 60 percent of adult Americans were overweight or obese (Whyte, 2012). The demographics indicate that nearly 80 million Americans will be overweight as by 2014 (Whyte, 2012). It is very alarming information. AARP therefore laid down strategies meant to protect the old people, especially strategies that will increase their physical activity. AARP started to lobby against Medicare changes that could hurt its bottom line. The American government was debating whether to cut federal retirement programs as a means of tackling national debt. The lobby group fiercely opposed any government cuts and emphasized that it will be for the good of the old generation who are vulnerable. Experts argue that proposals for changing Medicare could affect AARP’s bottom line (Whyte, 2012). AARP plays a dual role. First, it advocates for the rights of the seniors, and second, it makes money by allowing its name to be used in selling them private insurance. There is coverage by AARP called Medigap, which adds up to the government-provided Medicare. AAARP always earns a 4.95 percent royalty every time a person buys Medigap insurance with the AARP brand (Whyte, 2012). AARP records 1.4 billion dollars in revenues every year, and this comes from Medigap insurance policies and other AARP-endorsed products (Whyte, 2012). However, with the government’s plan to reduce spending, AARP could see reductions in revenues. AARP opposed any changes to Medigap. They argue that the changes would harm older Americans, even if the old will be entitled to lower premiums. According to the lobby group, the older people will suffer because of the higher deductibles and co-pays. AARP launched the year-long initiative called Boomer@50. The initiative would recognize the generation that is passing the 50-year milestone. The initiative would support AARP’s marketing goals. Furthermore, it will boost the lobby group’s strategy of protecting the welfare of old people. From the initiative, the lobby group will be able to keep their members in conversations on variety of issues affecting them, convincing new members to join the group, and encourage the present members to participate in advocacy movements around areas like Medicare (Whyte, 2012). The initiative by the group will be marketed across media assets, especially the website, magazines, and the social media. AARP developed the AARP The Magazine, where the group talks about aging, fitness, retirement, and technology (Whyte, 2012). In 2014, the group and United HealthCare announced the launch of ‘The Longetivity Network’. These two are leading organizations in senior advocacy and health care (Whyte, 2012). The launch of the network would promote innovations in health care that will improve quality of people’s lives as they age. In addition, these two leading organizations launched the digital platform, www.longetivitynetwork.org. From this platform, entrepreneurs, advocates and consumers have a chance of sharing information about health care innovations. Market analysts argue that breakthrough technologies and innovative services would benefit more than 100 million older people. In addition, the innovations would represent 30 billion dollars in cumulative revenue (Whyte, 2012). The lobby group has steps involved in implementation process of their strategies. The most important step is to ensure there is effective management in place. According to the group, nurses are in a better position to offer leadership in the health sector. In 2010, the group launched the campaign called Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. The campaign was aimed at transforming the nursing profession in order to improve the health care. AARP laid their basis of developing this campaign from a report by Institute of Medicine, which stated that transforming nursing education, leadership and practice would help expand access to care, improve quality and reduce costs. In summary, the report highlighted the importance of a highly trained nursing workforce to be creation of a healthier population (Whyte, 2012). After ensuring there is proper management in place, AARP now focuses on implementing its initiatives. One of their many initiatives is the Boomers@50+. The initiative recognizes the people who have passed the 50-year milestone. The initiative is meant to provide content that members’ value, keeping members engaged in conversation is issues that affect them, and encourage members to join advocacy movements around areas like Medicare and Social security (Whyte, 2012). The group believes in business partnerships. This is the reason why in 2014, AARP and United HealthCare formed a collaboration. The collaboration would create a digital hub that facilitates collaboration and drive health and well-being innovation, enable innovations to focus on medication management, and building efforts on previous collaborations by the two organizations to help promote innovation and meet the health care needs of people at 50 and older. AARP cooperated with United HealthCare because the former is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives. It simplifies the health care experience, meet the consumer health and wellness needs, and develop trusted relationships with care providers. United HealthCare offers health benefit programs to many people, especially employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries (Nelson, MacDonald & Abbort, 2012). The company has direct contacts with over 800,000 physicians and care professionals. They can contact directly 6,000 hospitals. Globally, this organization has over 45 million customers in health benefits (Whyte, 2012). The challenge AARP faces when implementing its strategies is reduction in revenues. The reduction comes in place when the government cuts the federal retirement programs as part of a deal to tackle the debt. Cuts in Medicare and Social Security will definitely reduce the revenues of the group. AARP has received positive feedback from both the government and the public. It has earned high ratings for accountability from being a leading charity elevator. The lobby group enables people to save money on healthcare, medication, food, and utilities. The group partners with workforce service providers to strengthen the bridge between 50+ job candidates and respected employers. It is from this group that the public learns about housing, food, income and health benefits offered by federal and state governments to older adults. The public congratulates the lobby group for helping millions of struggling older adults, 50 and over, to win back opportunity (Whyte, 2012). AARP has a good way of communicating with the public. They publish the AARP magazine which is a lifestyle magazine for people above 50 years. The Inside E street is a magazine by the lobby group which highlights the issues critical to the Americans. The Journal is their magazine which releases policy publications on health issues facing the old people. The group has the Prime Time Radio whose programs focuses on health issues of Americans aged 40 and above (Whyte, 2012). AARP has been active in health care policy debates since the late 1950’s. The group has earned a lot of respect from the public. The respect and public stances of this group has influenced the government to pass many policies. For example, the lobby group influenced the congress to pass the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act. The government has supported AARP in many situations. AARP expressed their support of hearing on social security disability insurance program. AARP wrote a letter to the congress to renew the older Americans Act. The Act would cater for the health needs of the older people (Whyte, 2012). Conclusion The paper has discussed in depth the role of the lobby group AARP in improving the health standards of the people. AARP is a lobby group that addresses the challenges in the health sector, especially issues facing the old people. From the paper, one can summarize that the lobby group begins with cleaning up the management before implementing its policies. This is the reason why the group focuses first in training nurses to better managers. The lobby group wants to train nurses and prepare them to handle old people. The group wants to improve the welfare of the old people. The renowned effort is promoting the physical activity of elder adults. AARP focuses on three key pillars for change. These pillars include (i) advancing education transformation, (ii) removing barriers to practice and care, and (iii) nursing leadership. The focus on managing nurses is crucial for this group. The paper has shown how this lobby group is very influential in the US, and how it has influenced passage of various Acts. The paper highlighted the positive feedbacks coming from the customers and how the government rates this lobby group. AARP has been active in health care policy debates since the late 1950’s. The group has earned a lot of respect from the public. It will continue to grow to be a bigger lobby group. References CITATION Hal11 \l 1033 : , (Halfmann, 2011), CITATION Ras14 \l 1033 : , (Rasmussen, 2014), Whyte, J., 2012. AARP New American Diet: Lose Weight, Live Longer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Read More