Policymakers Are Realizing Health Is About a Lot More Than Just Care

Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee have issued a report estimating that aging Americans have fewer available caregivers compared to 20 years ago, and Medicare/Medicaid spending projections may be too low because they do not account for baby boomers' declining social networks, reports the Washington Post . "That generation is going to have many fewer friends and children and spouses and people from church to care for them as they get old," said Harvard University Professor Robert Putnam. "We're not going to just leave them on the street, so more of them will have to be cared for through paid care." The study found adults 61 to 63 are less likely to be in close geographical proximity to their loved ones, and 75 percent were married or cohabitating in 1994 versus 69 percent in 2014. Meanwhile, the portion of adults attending church at least three times monthly slipped from 56 percent to 41 percent, and the percentage of those with a child living within 10 miles fell from 68 percent to 55 percent. The Medicaid program is making efforts to better account for beneficiaries' nonmedical needs, including access to transportation or food insecurity. This fall, North Carolina received White House approval for a pilot program in which health plans will identify and direct high-need Medicaid enrollees toward an array of special services.