Aging in America is Not For Sissies & One Man’s Journey/Perspective on “Ageism" and “Growing Older” in America during the 21st Century
Richard Weintraub
Retired Attorney/Consultant and Op-Ed Writer/Commentator on our American Democracy
America's older adult population (55+) is deemed Old in America in the 21st Century and is not a Monolith of Dependent, Fragile, Forgetful, Sick, and Unhealthy People!
“The Secret of? Life is Enjoying the Passage of Time ”?by James Taylor
America's?"Old People" (55+)?are an extremely varied group that requires the same nuanced consideration in understanding?any?socially constructed grouping. Yes, the risk of disability and certain illnesses does increase as we all age and become?"Old People" (55+).?America's increasing "Aging Population" can still act with good cognitive abilities and be in?"Good Health"?for most/a majority of older people right into their final years!
While “All Old People are not always wise, kind, and alert, most "Old People" (55+) in America in the 21st Century are a highly varied bunch of individuals with individual, independent personal talents of each older person.
"Aging is a Lifelong, Multidimensional, Infinitely Varied Process." In 21st-century America, we all need to know/understand that?"Older Americans"?(55+) must "challenge negative age stereotypes" that "All Old People" are ill, infirm, and sick and cannot contribute to our 21st-century American Society.
I. ??One man’s journey/perspective on “Ageism” and “Growing Older” in? America during the 21st Century
II. “The Physician-Patient Relationship” a Traditional Pillar in Practicing “Good Medicine” is Not Working in Our? 21st Century
?III. “Buddy, Can You Spare a Job for Older Americans in 2024 and in our 21st Century
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I.?One Man’s Journey/Perspective on “Ageism” and “Growing Older” in? America during the 21st Century
?“Ageism” refers to the generic term of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping based on age. Age-based discrimination in employment, housing, health care, lifestyles, and relationships negatively affects every older adult’s health and well-being. Americans over age 45 have seen or experienced the growth of?“age discrimination”?in the workplace. Currently, 38% of Americans believe it is expected to experience and feel the effects of "Ageism" regularly or daily in their lives.
In 2024, “Older Adults” [Age 55 plus?“Senior Citizens”], now represent over 30% of America’s total population, are experiencing the stigmas associated with ”Ageism" in their day-to-day lives through interpersonal interactions and exposure to commonly held ageist ideas, beliefs, assumptions, and stereotypes.?
In the aftermath of the global pandemic,?Ageism is increasingly harmful to America’s older population's health and mental well-being due to the natural lowering of an individual’s immune system based on age and general health.?
Overall, 82% of American “Older Adults” reported in 2024 regularly experience at least one form of everyday Ageism?in the workplace and their everyday life[ i.e., day-to-day medical care/ treatment of patients]
??In 2024, America's population consists of over 108.7 million Americans [or over 30% of all Americans] over the age of 50, including ?76.4 million “Baby Boomers” born between 1946 and 1964 [Facts from AARP, May 2018]
The numbers and percentage of Americans during the past 2-4 years and now entering its fifth year, at least 2.5 million American workers ages 55 to 70 have permanently left America’s workforce. These staggering numbers assume some or all of these 2.5 million Americans desire, need, and want to continue working daily!?
The meaning of “Ageism” assumes that older employees, age 55+, who are more experienced, are being discriminated against in favor of younger and less skilled workers. Like?other maladies of the human condition found in racism?and?sexism, “Ageism” refers to discrimination against a specific demographic group based only on the age of an individual in the group.
Robert Butler [ founding director of the National Institute of Aging coined the term “Aging” over 50 years ago in 1969 !] According to Robert Butler,?“Ageism”?is visible at both the individual and institutional levels. In essence, the social disease of Ageism creates wrong assumptions, stereotypes, and dislikes, prevents contact, and creates outright aversion in the workplace against employees who are more experienced and considered older.?Currently, Ageism is affecting the health of older employees 55+, which produces “stress-inducing negative age stereotypes” that affect their mental and physical health and well-being.?Some of the most common myths and stereotypes?of workers/senior citizens 55+ or older are:
II.??????Is the Physician-Patient Relationship a Traditional Pillar in Practicing “Good Medicine,” still Viable in the 21st Century??
In 2024, America’s existing solo or small medical offices comprising five or fewer physicians are rapidly disappearing in modern medical practice. A “Medical Private Practice” is no longer a “personal one-on-one patient-professional relationship that medical doctors’ offices provided in the 20th?Century.
Today, the traditional solo/small professional medical format is practically nonexistent due to the virtual information revolution, which has increased the practical need for data collection, processing, recording, and reporting of medical-patient information and for protecting patient privacy rights.?
Due to the accelerated introduction and use of new medical procedures, technologies, and treatments, the practice and profession of medicine have evolved and revolutionized in the first 24 Years of the 21st Century!
In 2024, the once independent medical profession became a?prime business model of virtual professional consolidations/mergers/reorganizations of the remaining solo/small practices into ever-larger hospital-medical systems.
The number of independent, local “family“community-based physician home-office/offices has decreased exponentially as a result of economic pressures, built-in time limits in treating patients as Medicare reimburses hospitals at a higher rate and encourages hospitals by the funding, the growth of mega healthcare networks by merging/consolidating their operations and medical staffs with teaching hospitals/affiliated private/public medical schools/universities.
According to the AMA, 75% of physicians owned their "independent practice" in 1983.?In 2024, only 45% of all active physicians owned their independent medical practice. The ongoing consolidation and closing of medical practices in the 21st Century have led to worse patient care and personal experiences with no significant decrease in mortality or hospital readmissions.
In 2024, all physicians still take the traditional Hippocratic Professional Oath as an ethical-moral guide in their patients' healing, treatment, and care. There is no separate or similar medical or professional pledge of duty and responsibility to federal/state/local governments and for-profit and nonprofit hospital chains/systems.
It is clear in 2024 that the ongoing consolidation and merger of small privately held practices have removed the sense of personal care and responsibility that were at the center, heart, and soul of our nation’s physician-patient healthcare relationship.
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Our American healthcare systems have sometimes forgotten that "video doctor visits" do not replace individual person-to-person physician/healthcare visits/treatments!
Millions of today's American patients do not possess the necessary computer communication equipment, experience, training, or knowledge to effectively use and interact with their physicians by “Logging On” to/with computer devices and systems not designed for use by older/poorer/or other challenged patients.?
The days of practicing "bedside" real-time, interactive medicine and doctor-patient exchanges have been replaced by computer screens, text messages, and patient printouts of information without individual explanation/follow-up or questions on the course of the patient’s treatment, etc.
While patient privacy data is sacrosanct in the 21st Century in the practice of modern medicine, it has come at a prohibitive?cost of underutilization and waste?when millions of young/old/middle-aged Americans cannot directly or indirectly contact their doctors' offices or hospitals for regular visits/checkups, nor sign up for the lifesaving coronavirus shots/booster shots, coronavirus testing kits, etc.
In 2024, America’s modern medical systems have failed to create the needed/required/traditional "Physician-Patient Relationship."
III. “Buddy, Can You Spare a Job for Older Americans?” Employ Older Americans Now! America Needs to Hire Older Workers in the Fight Against “Ageism.”
Permanently Embedded in America's and Americans Brain & Soul
Reasons to Employ Seniors as an Investment in America’s Future
The number of Americans turning 55 and older is only growing as American life expectancies continue to increase in the 21st Century. The present American Economy should require that full-time employees aged 55+ can continue working in the American and Global Economies.
Some Ideas/Observations and Request for Comments:
?One Man’s Journey/Perspective on Ageism .“Growing Older” in? America during the 21st Century
“Buddy, Can You Spare a Good Job for an Older American” in 2022? ( A? Modern Want Ad by an Older American in 2022)??
?A diasporic senior citizen,?Richard M. Weintraub, is seeking gainful employment as an independent advocate, aka “Ombudsman,”?against:" the forces of "Ageism" in America!?
A Request for Active Employment in America’s Fight Against Ageism:?A dedicated, compassionate, and empathic professional who is fighting the debilitating stigma of “Ageism” is willing and able to serve as a physician-patient advocate in our 21st-century?virtual world.
In 2024, a patient’s visit to a doctor’s office or stay in America’s accredited hospitals should not resemble being part of an automobile assembly line in the 21st Century [ WSJ December 30, 2021].??
A Summary from a Harvard Business Review Article: "The Case for Hiring Older Workers" (link to complete Harvard Business Review article)
"In the U.S., job vacancies have outnumbered job applicants since 2018. This is largely a result of baby boomers retiring at a rate faster than millennials can step into their place. To continue to grow our economy, companies need to take action by bringing older people back to work and giving them meaningful, important jobs. This may seem simple, but age bias is a serious hurdle. Contrary to popular belief, older, more tenured people over 40 are three times more likely to create successful companies due to their patience and collaborative natures."
A Joint Written Contribution by Richard Weintraub and Steven Thomas
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