Future of Medicare and Social Security: A Socio-Economic Analysis

This assignment explores the future of Medicare and Social Security in the USA, addressing the challenges posed by an aging population and financial pressures. The analysis highlights the potential strain on social security benefits and Medicare facilities due to factors like increased retirement age and squeezing revenue options. The assignment also discusses the emergence of family caregiving as a response, where families integrate resources to support elderly members, potentially offsetting some financial deficits. The socio-economic perspective emphasizes the value of family care and its potential to maintain the country's demographic edge. The assignment references studies and articles to support the arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the topic and its implications.

The concept of Joint families to share the burden of Social security net and Medicare
During the last few years, experts in the field of Socio-economic studies came up with an
interesting finding where they stated the social security net of the USA will feel enormous
pressure and fail in delivering adequate support to the aging population of the USA. According
to them, the policies of the government are offering modest social security benefits to elderly
citizens, an increase in the age of retirement will further bring down this number. Medicare
facilities will also face a challenge because revenue options are squeezing and baby boomers of
the country are seeking a fair amount of contribution from the side of the social security net
(Roming, 2020, pp. 4-5).
It is an alarming situation for a country like the USA for two reasons; if they don’t support baby
boomers then the country might lose its demographic edge. At the same time if they don’t
support the aging population then ethically it is wrong. However, a financial threat is looming
over the economist of the country. According to a study was done by “Center for the Budget and
policy priorities” by the year 2035 the amount of sum given to an elderly person under the head
of Medicare and social security net will come down by ten percent. It also means that the modest
sum that the elderly population is receiving will go down further in the future and increase the
financial problems even further for this sector (Cubanski, 2019, pp. 7-8).
The social engineers of the USA recently observed the emergence of a new culture in the USA.
In the year 2007, the participation of prime-age women in the workforce was very high.
According to the rankings of “Organization for economic and cooperation and development,” the
USA was holding 17th place in the list of 36 industrialized nations of the world. However, in the

year 2017, this ranking went down to 30th place. One of the prime reasons behind this is related
to the fact that more and more women in their prime are now devoting their life in acting as a
caregiver to the elderly people in their family (Porter, 2019). Many families are looking at this
arrangement as an integration of the family resources, where elderly people are living with their
baby boomer children and under a joint family setup, they are conducting their life to meet the
ends in an amicable fashion.
From a socio-economic perspective it is relevant to understand the fact that when we put a price
tag on the services given by a homemaker or a family member acting as a caregiver, we find that
it is equivalent to the services of professionals. However, the concerns related to the quality of
the service and price tag attached to it become zero in the case of a family member.
On a conclusive note, it can be assumed that this emerging social trend has the potential to cover
the financial deficit caused by an increase in revenue generation options. Apart from this
integration of the baby boomers with the elderly population will help the USA in maintaining its
demographic edge.

References
Cubanski, J. (2019). The Facts on Medicare Spending and Financing. KFF, August Issue, 7-8.
Porter, E. (2019). Why Aren’t More Women Working? They’re Caring for Parents. The New
York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/business/economy/labor-family-
care.html.
Roming, K. (2020). Social Security Benefits Are Modest. Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities, Volume 1, 4-5.