The Social Security, Medicare, and other Medicaid programs are vital in ensuring both financial and health security of United States elderly citizens. Once they retire, the majority of these senior citizens depend on their Social Security benefits during their retirement years. Also, most of the elderly people are dependent on the health insurance programs like Medicare to access health services (Rudolph, & Evans, 2005). The need for Social Security and Medicare has been growing over the years. The federal government should, therefore, increase the spending on Social Security and Medicare for these senior citizens.
Current statistics show that the number of elderly citizens aged 65 years and more stand at 52 million. This number is expected to rise by more than 60% in the next 30 years making the elderly population to grow to about 84 million. This means that by 2047, the number will have grown by more than half the current elderly population. The implication of this is that more people will turn into Social Security to secure their economic future as well as Medicare for health services.
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The U.S elderly population is expected to grow in the long term. Apart from the ever-growing number of retirees at the age of 65 years, there is a huge number of employees who have less than ten years to retirement. This means that in the next 10 years, these individuals will be eligible for their Social Security benefits. Also, life expectancy is expected to grow by the year 2047. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the life expectancy will increase by about two years in three decades time. This means that a 65-year-old today has more than 21 years to live depending on Social Security and Medicare. The number of Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries is, therefore, expected to grow.
The above statistics indicate that the need for Social Security and Medicare spending will keep growing. The federal government needs to increase the spending so that the retirement security of the American citizens is guaranteed. The spending may have an impact on the economic development (Rudolph, & Evans, 2005). A comprehensive strategy needs to be used to ensure that the financial and economic needs of the elderly population are met and other sectors of the economy are not neglected.
References
https://democrats-budget.house.gov/publications/report/retirement-security-aging-population-requires-higher-federal-spending
Rudolph, T. J., & Evans, J. (2005). Political trust, ideology, and public support for government spending. American Journal of Political Science, 49(3), 660-671.
