Meeting The Needs Of Aging Native Americans

Editor’s Note: This blog post was supported by a yearlong Reporting Fellowship on Health Care Performance sponsored by the Association of Health Care Journalists and supported by the Commonwealth Fund. Additional pieces in the series were published in Health Affairs in April 2017, August 2017, and January 2018.

Jordan Lewis, a professor at the University of Anchorage Alaska and director of the National Resource Center for Alaska Native Elders, doesn’t like the phrase “silver tsunami.” As a glib nod to the rapidly aging US population, it unfortunately “assumes destruction,” he says. He has a point: These are people we’re talking about, not natural disasters. Still, without a solid infrastructure in place to care for our nation’s elderly, the results indeed could be devastating. That fact is keenly felt in Indian Country, where the long-term care infrastructure leaves much to be desired. Today, American Indians and Alaska Natives are living longer, with more functional disabilities than the rest of the population, suggesting that the population needing long-term care will balloon in the coming years. In 1940, the life expectancy of American Indians was about 52 years—now it’s nearly 74 years (although still lower than the most recent life expectancies reported for whites, blacks, and Hispanics). Between 2000 and 2010, the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives age 65 or older increased by 40.5 percent, growing at double the rate of the overall older population. Existing mechanisms for funding long-term care in Indian Country will be hard-pressed to keep pace with demand.

https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20180305.701858/full/