How Should California Address the Needs of Its Aging Population?

Gerontologists, demographers, and government officials are counting down to 2030, the year America's youngest baby boomers will reach retirement age, reports Kaiser Health News . The nation is already feeling the effects of an aging population. However, California — its most populous state — is bracing for a particularly hard hit as retirement collides with increasing poverty and the high cost of living. By 2030, an estimated one in five Californians will be 65 or older, a segment of the population that will be growing faster than working-age Californians at that point, calculates the Public Policy Institute of California. A recent forum hosted by The SCAN Foundation, which advocates for the welfare of seniors, forum revolved around the creation of a statewide Master Plan for Aging. Due in October 2020, it is intended to address how California must adapt to the needs of its aging residents. California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order earlier this summer calling for the plan, which would both coordinate and improve the confusing web of existing programs and possibly create more, if necessary. The forum met for the first time this week in Sacramento.