Health Care Of Older Adults Essay

1A) There are multiple ways in which the health of older adults is different from other age groups. First, they often have multiple health problems at once, which can be difficult to diagnose the actual conditions and provide the proper care. Next, especially since many doctors are not specialists in geriatrics, it may be hard to determine if a symptom is related to a disease or normal aging of the body and overdiagnosis often occurs. Thirdly, because of how the body changes as one ages, different types of medications and dosages may be necessary to help alleviate pain or fight a disease. Finally, the overall health of older adults is worse than the younger generations, especially in regards to chronic diseases where it is best to relive the pain instead of attempting to cure it. 1B) Also, health care patterns for older adults vary from those associated with the younger generations. Primarily, people ages 65 and older rely on Medicare to fund their medical treatment, but it does not always provide the best …show more content…
First, since it is often difficult to treat the many complex conditions that they may have, some think it is best to do minimal treatment if there is little chance of long-term survival. Also, because many members of the elderly population have incurable chronic diseases, government officials may feel it is best to not focus on trying to relieve the pain or symptoms and focus on the conditions of the younger generations because they will probably die from these conditions soon anyways. In regards to the health care of seniors, less money of the government budget will need to be allocated to Medicare and the treatment of seniors will decrease in quality. In addition, more time will be spent with patients who are younger in order to give them the proper care versus the elderly adults who are not expected to live much