Geriatrics Foundation is a Nonprofit Organization Dedicated to Funding Geriatric Care, Health, Education and Research.
The number of elderly Americans (65 years and older) reached 59.2 million in 2024. That is a 9.7% increase from the number of US seniors in 2020. The sad news is that one out of every ten elderly in the US lives in poverty. Majority of those in poverty live alone. Elder women make up a higher percentage of people in poverty. Older adults living in poverty were more likely to be Hispanic and African American.
While Social Security helps a large number of older adults stay out of poverty, many recipients still remain poor. This indicates that Social Security benefits are not a sufficient safety net for people. Furthermore, while majority of older adults in the US receive Social Security not all of them receive it. This could be due to insufficient or lack of work history. As a result, the elderly rely heavily on other forms of income to make ends meet and to survive. These include nutrition assistance, transportation assistance, family assistance and charity.
Among other challenges the elderly face is paying for medical care and high cost of medications. Medicare is a public health insurance for U.S. adults aged 65 years and older. However, not all elderly can afford or are enrolled in Medicare. In addition, 4 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries need to get additional coverage to get proper care. Another issue is that more and more providers and pharmacies do not accept the different types of Medicare (traditional or Medicare Advantage) due to low and slow rate of Medicare reimbursement. Adding to this is the increase in cost of medications year after year. Therefore, many need to choose between eating and taking vital medications. High medical bills for the elderly greatly reduce the income available to meet their other essential needs.
Other major challenges the elderly face are difficulty in performing everyday tasks such as shopping, cooking, cleaning, driving, taking showers, visiting doctors, moving around, and picking up their medications from the pharmacies. Therefore, they need to hire professional caregivers at a very high cost to get help with these task. The national average cost to hire a caregiver for a family member is currently over $30 per hour. Elderly Americans' limited budgets are stretched even further by higher costs of food, lodging, utilities, transportation, medical device as well as high cost of assisted living and memory care facilities.
The elderly's need for more educational and professional resources to navigate through the complex world of technology, finance, health, politics, insurances and scam prevention are other areas that are vastly underserved. Who is going to help them understand computers, electronic gadgets, and the internet? Who will help them choose the right insurance plan? Who will help them avoid the numerous number of scams directed toward them via the media, imposters and family members? Who will help them navigate through their finances, banking and complex bills? Who will help them understand and navigate their complex medical needs especially if they have emotional or mental capacity difficulties? If they can't afford their basic needs to survive, they surely lack the money to hire professionals to help them with these crucial tasks. Therefore, they need simple educational pamphlets, easy and yet professional presentations on each of these topics, kind and trusting volunteers, and centers they can trust and easily reach to tackle these issues.
The number of elderly identifying as a racial or ethnic minority is also increasing in the US. Currently, 9% African Americans, 5% Asian Americans, 1% Native Americans, 9% Hispanic , and 1% non-Hispanic whites make this racial or ethnic minority group. Over 13% of the elderly in America are foreign born. In addition to financial difficulties, they have language barriers that make their aging process even more complex. These racial and ethnic minorities face varieties of difficulties such as health disparities (are more likely to have certain chronic diseases and experience disability at a younger age than White adult), lower incomes and savings, lower number of caregivers/care support, and face discrimination. The lack of caregivers, nurses and doctors speaking their native language result in major day to day difficulties. They need translators, volunteers and informational pamphlets in their language to help them navigate the complex aging process.
Worldwide, over 55 million elderly suffer from some sort of dementia. This number will increase to 139 million in 2050. Unless the research in this area advances, more and more people will suffer through this devastating disease. There is a great lack of funding in the area of dementia research compared to other diseases such as cancer, Covid, and HIV. This is partly due to the mistaken belief that dementia only affects a few older people. The human brain is extremely complex. Clinical trials based on theories involving beta-amyloid and tau proteins have so far failed. It will take a lot more funding to determine the cause of the different types of dementia and to provide different treatments and cures.
Research is also lacking in the areas of healthy aging, elderly gate, balance, comorbidity, physiology, mental and emotional health, overmedication, polypharmacy, drug cascade, hormonal changes, and disease prevention. Providing research funds as well as enticing more people to conduct research in the different fields of elderly health are crucial steps in overcoming these challenges.
Currently, there are only 2,800 Board Certified Geriatricians in the whole of US. Out of these 1,400 are retiring in 2024 as they are becoming elderly themselves. This means that the elderly are vastly underserved by physicians specialized in their physiology and health. To provide more precise and immediate help to this vulnerable population more physicians need to become Board Certified Geriatricians. This requires funds and informational awareness about their unsurpassed importance and essential role in elderly medical care. In turn, these Geriatricians need to train medical students, residence, fellows, nurses, care givers, care managers, and care providers.
Our mission at Geriatrics Foundation is to provide the necessary funding in each of these categories including geriatric care, health, research, and education to alleviate the suffering and provide a brighter and healthier future for not only the US but worldwide aging population.
While Social Security helps a large number of older adults stay out of poverty, many recipients still remain poor. This indicates that Social Security benefits are not a sufficient safety net for people. Furthermore, while majority of older adults in the US receive Social Security not all of them receive it. This could be due to insufficient or lack of work history. As a result, the elderly rely heavily on other forms of income to make ends meet and to survive. These include nutrition assistance, transportation assistance, family assistance and charity.
Among other challenges the elderly face is paying for medical care and high cost of medications. Medicare is a public health insurance for U.S. adults aged 65 years and older. However, not all elderly can afford or are enrolled in Medicare. In addition, 4 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries need to get additional coverage to get proper care. Another issue is that more and more providers and pharmacies do not accept the different types of Medicare (traditional or Medicare Advantage) due to low and slow rate of Medicare reimbursement. Adding to this is the increase in cost of medications year after year. Therefore, many need to choose between eating and taking vital medications. High medical bills for the elderly greatly reduce the income available to meet their other essential needs.
Other major challenges the elderly face are difficulty in performing everyday tasks such as shopping, cooking, cleaning, driving, taking showers, visiting doctors, moving around, and picking up their medications from the pharmacies. Therefore, they need to hire professional caregivers at a very high cost to get help with these task. The national average cost to hire a caregiver for a family member is currently over $30 per hour. Elderly Americans' limited budgets are stretched even further by higher costs of food, lodging, utilities, transportation, medical device as well as high cost of assisted living and memory care facilities.
The elderly's need for more educational and professional resources to navigate through the complex world of technology, finance, health, politics, insurances and scam prevention are other areas that are vastly underserved. Who is going to help them understand computers, electronic gadgets, and the internet? Who will help them choose the right insurance plan? Who will help them avoid the numerous number of scams directed toward them via the media, imposters and family members? Who will help them navigate through their finances, banking and complex bills? Who will help them understand and navigate their complex medical needs especially if they have emotional or mental capacity difficulties? If they can't afford their basic needs to survive, they surely lack the money to hire professionals to help them with these crucial tasks. Therefore, they need simple educational pamphlets, easy and yet professional presentations on each of these topics, kind and trusting volunteers, and centers they can trust and easily reach to tackle these issues.
The number of elderly identifying as a racial or ethnic minority is also increasing in the US. Currently, 9% African Americans, 5% Asian Americans, 1% Native Americans, 9% Hispanic , and 1% non-Hispanic whites make this racial or ethnic minority group. Over 13% of the elderly in America are foreign born. In addition to financial difficulties, they have language barriers that make their aging process even more complex. These racial and ethnic minorities face varieties of difficulties such as health disparities (are more likely to have certain chronic diseases and experience disability at a younger age than White adult), lower incomes and savings, lower number of caregivers/care support, and face discrimination. The lack of caregivers, nurses and doctors speaking their native language result in major day to day difficulties. They need translators, volunteers and informational pamphlets in their language to help them navigate the complex aging process.
Worldwide, over 55 million elderly suffer from some sort of dementia. This number will increase to 139 million in 2050. Unless the research in this area advances, more and more people will suffer through this devastating disease. There is a great lack of funding in the area of dementia research compared to other diseases such as cancer, Covid, and HIV. This is partly due to the mistaken belief that dementia only affects a few older people. The human brain is extremely complex. Clinical trials based on theories involving beta-amyloid and tau proteins have so far failed. It will take a lot more funding to determine the cause of the different types of dementia and to provide different treatments and cures.
Research is also lacking in the areas of healthy aging, elderly gate, balance, comorbidity, physiology, mental and emotional health, overmedication, polypharmacy, drug cascade, hormonal changes, and disease prevention. Providing research funds as well as enticing more people to conduct research in the different fields of elderly health are crucial steps in overcoming these challenges.
Currently, there are only 2,800 Board Certified Geriatricians in the whole of US. Out of these 1,400 are retiring in 2024 as they are becoming elderly themselves. This means that the elderly are vastly underserved by physicians specialized in their physiology and health. To provide more precise and immediate help to this vulnerable population more physicians need to become Board Certified Geriatricians. This requires funds and informational awareness about their unsurpassed importance and essential role in elderly medical care. In turn, these Geriatricians need to train medical students, residence, fellows, nurses, care givers, care managers, and care providers.
Our mission at Geriatrics Foundation is to provide the necessary funding in each of these categories including geriatric care, health, research, and education to alleviate the suffering and provide a brighter and healthier future for not only the US but worldwide aging population.
2025 Geriatrics Foundation. All rights reserved Email: info@geriatricsfoundation.org
Ph: 408-515-5653
Ph: 408-515-5653