From everydayhealth.com
How the Aging Population Is Changing the Healthcare System
By 2030, one in five Americans will be over age 65, and the healthcare system is just beginning to feel the burden.
By Susan E. Matthews, Everyday Health Staff Writer
New York City is made for walking, which Bronx-bred Joseph Siegel knows well. After living in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Siegel, who had a successful career in insurance and brokerage, retired to the Upper West Side. Now, he likes to travel with his wife Esther — last year they went to Southeast Asia.
But recently, Siegel has had a difficult time walking, so he decided to get a knee replacement he’s been considering. “Traveling means you have to be able to get around,” Siegel says. While this makes sense, what’s not clear is how many years Siegel will have to use his new knee.
Siegel is 84 years old. About a week after his operation, he woke in the middle of a Saturday night to unbelievable pain, saying he “felt like his stomach was going to explode.” He had to have emergency surgery for a stomach ulcer, which he hadn’t known he had prior to the knee surgery. The painkillers he was taking for his knee replacement may have been a contributing factor, he says, though his doctor says it also may have been a pre-existing condition.
Siegel spent three weeks in the ICU, and during much of that time he couldn’t breathe or eat on his own. But he was able to move back to his own apartment, and has managed his recovery with the help of a nurse from the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), who comes to his home three days a week. Of his recovery, Siegel said he’s realized how much longer his body takes to heal, compared to when he was younger, but he adds that he’s lucky to have his nurse, a physical therapist for his knee, and the care of Esther, his wife of 60 years. While he’s finding it more difficult to sleep through the night because of the pain, he says he’s also lucky that his insurance and Medicare will be covering the costs, though he noted he “can’t imagine what the bill is.”
At 84, Siegel is still full of vigor and curiosity, which is why he got the surgery in the first place. He seems young at heart — he even has an iPhone 5 — and he's part of a growing number of older Americans who expect to live healthy lives well into their seventies, eighties, and nineties. These older Americans are becoming a bigger part of the population, and they will need a different sort of healthcare as they age — care that the nation’s healthcare system may not be prepared to provide.
Read more from everydayhealth.com >>
How the Aging Population Is Changing the Healthcare System
By 2030, one in five Americans will be over age 65, and the healthcare system is just beginning to feel the burden.
By Susan E. Matthews, Everyday Health Staff Writer
New York City is made for walking, which Bronx-bred Joseph Siegel knows well. After living in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Siegel, who had a successful career in insurance and brokerage, retired to the Upper West Side. Now, he likes to travel with his wife Esther — last year they went to Southeast Asia.
But recently, Siegel has had a difficult time walking, so he decided to get a knee replacement he’s been considering. “Traveling means you have to be able to get around,” Siegel says. While this makes sense, what’s not clear is how many years Siegel will have to use his new knee.
Siegel is 84 years old. About a week after his operation, he woke in the middle of a Saturday night to unbelievable pain, saying he “felt like his stomach was going to explode.” He had to have emergency surgery for a stomach ulcer, which he hadn’t known he had prior to the knee surgery. The painkillers he was taking for his knee replacement may have been a contributing factor, he says, though his doctor says it also may have been a pre-existing condition.
Siegel spent three weeks in the ICU, and during much of that time he couldn’t breathe or eat on his own. But he was able to move back to his own apartment, and has managed his recovery with the help of a nurse from the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), who comes to his home three days a week. Of his recovery, Siegel said he’s realized how much longer his body takes to heal, compared to when he was younger, but he adds that he’s lucky to have his nurse, a physical therapist for his knee, and the care of Esther, his wife of 60 years. While he’s finding it more difficult to sleep through the night because of the pain, he says he’s also lucky that his insurance and Medicare will be covering the costs, though he noted he “can’t imagine what the bill is.”
At 84, Siegel is still full of vigor and curiosity, which is why he got the surgery in the first place. He seems young at heart — he even has an iPhone 5 — and he's part of a growing number of older Americans who expect to live healthy lives well into their seventies, eighties, and nineties. These older Americans are becoming a bigger part of the population, and they will need a different sort of healthcare as they age — care that the nation’s healthcare system may not be prepared to provide.
Read more from everydayhealth.com >>
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