s too small to merit much attention as a separate population segment. In the late-1990s, however, this segment of the population merits a great deal of special attention (Hunter, 1998).
Through the 1990s, the elderly population segment will not be as large as it will at a later time. Although the elderly segment is the fastest growing in the American population, this phenomena is occurring solely because of increased life spans. Constraining growth in this population segment at the present time is the low birth rate in the United States that prevailed in the 1930sùthe "Great Depression." Near the end of the 1990s, the elderly population will stabilize, and then it will enter a decline. A significant growth trend will begin, however, when the baby-boomers (those individuals born in the late-1940s and early-1950s) begins to reach age 65ùfrom about 2011 through 2021.
Individuals afflicted with chronic ailments account for approximately 10 percent of the American population. This 10 percent of the population, however, accounts for approximately 30 percent of the total health care expenditures in the United States. Total health care expenditures in the United States in 1994 approximated $900 billion. Thus, total chronic care costs in 1992 approximated $300 billion. Individuals requiring chronic care as often perceived by others as being a drain on societal resources (Rosen, Fanshel, & Lutz, 1998).
Most of the 10 percent of the population requiring long-term care for chronic ailments are elderly. As an example, where only 10 percent of the total population requires long-term care, 50 percent of those individuals aged 80 years or older require long-term care. The great majority of the elderly between the ages of 65 and 80 years old (which is the age group comprising the great majority of the elderly population segment), however, are not chronically ill, and, thus, do not require long-term care. One aspect of ageism, how...