Next Avenue Article on How Well Do We Age in the U.S.? Check Our Scores
Judith Graham's article in Next Avenue, "How Well Do We Age in the U.S.? Check Our Scores," discusses The John A. Hartford Foundation's Aging Index which compares health, equality and social cohesion among countries.
“We do pretty well, but we’re only 60 percent of where we should be,” said Dr. John Rowe,
professor of health policy at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, JAHF grantee, and leader of an expert group at Columbia University and the University of Southern California's Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics that compiled the scorecard.
Still, striking areas of weakness are highlighted in the analysis: rates of poverty among older adults in the U.S. are high; income inequality is pronounced; public expenditures for long-term care are low; tension between older and younger generations is palpable and healthy life expectancy is below that of several other nations. In the U.S., Dr. Rowe suggested, there’s an immediate need to expand geriatric expertise within the health care system and focus far more attention on how older adults function — physically, psychologically and socially.
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