Report: Living longer means more health woes for seniors

An aging nation that’s living longer but with growing rates of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases points to an emerging health care crisis, says a report out Tuesday that analyzes seniors’ health status state-by-state.

Just two years ago, the first Baby Boomers turned 65, setting into motion a “tremendous demographic shift in the U.S. population,” said physician Rhonda Randall, a senior adviser to the not-for-profit United Health Foundation, which released America’s Health Rankings Senior Report Tuesday.

The report focuses on 34 measures of senior health, including physical inactivity, obesity, self-reported health status, poverty, drug coverage, hospital re-admission rates and flu vaccinations. The data analyzed is from more than a dozen government agencies and private research groups.

As generations move into retirement, they become greater consumers of health care, Randall said. But those turning 65 today “are more likely to live longer than their parents and grandparents, and much more likely to live sicker for a longer period of time,” she said.

Among signs of impending challenges the report cites:

» 1 in 8 Americans (13 percent or 40.3 million) are 65 or older, and that is projected to grow to 1 in 5 (19.3 percent, or 72.1) in 2030, the year all members of the Baby Boomer generation will have turned 65, according to Census data. By 2050, seniors will make up 25 percent of the population. Those 85 and older are projected to increase from 5.8 million in 2010 to 8.7 million in 2030.

» Nearly 8 in 10 seniors are living with at least one chronic health condition; 50 percent have two or more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. About 25 percent of older Americans are obese; 20 percent have been diagnosed with diabetes; more than 70 percent have heart disease; nearly 60 percent have arthritis, a leading cause of disability.

» Adults 65 and older spend