Thanks in part to a century of progress in public health and medicine, many people are enjoying healthier lives. Yet the success of modern medicine also presents us with challenges: as Americans live longer, the need for long-term care and long-term caregivers will continue to grow. Indeed, a defining issue for current and coming generations is how the United States and other nations will address the needs of their aging populations and provide adequate care for the dependent elderly.
The number of Americans between the ages of 75 to 85 will double and those over 85 will quadruple in the first half of this century, overwhelming the nation’s long-term care services with 80 million elderly by 2050-up from the 34 million today who are already mostly underserved or worse. The current health care system is poorly suited to serve the needs of the elderly and their families, and we lack a framework within which to address and improve it.
In a new report “Caring About Long Term Care: An Ethical Framework for Caregiving,” Center for American Progress Visiting Fellow Lisa Eckenwiler discusses the importance of developing an ethical framework to deal with these problems. Please join CAP and a panel of distinguished experts as we examine the coming caregiving crisis and the means by which policymakers and advocates can ethically address it.
Opening Remarks: Melody Barnes, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress
Panel I: The Caregiving Crisis (9:15 – 10:30)
Robert Friedland, Director of the Center on an Aging Society at Georgetown University
Carol Levine, Director of the Families and Health Care Project at the United Hospital Fund
Robyn Stone, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging
Moderated by Judy Riggs, Senior Health Policy Advisor for the Alzheimer’s Association
Panel II: An Ethical Framework for Policy (10:45 – 12:00)
Lisa Eckenwiler, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Health Care Ethics at the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University and CAP Visiting Fellow
Judith Feder, Professor and Dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute
Carol Levine, Director of the Families and Health Care Project at the United Hospital Fund
Moderated by Susan Reinhard, Director of the AARP Public Policy Institute