Why 2018 Is a Banner Year for Tech & Aging

If you haven’t already heard, the aging population in the United States is growing at a rapid rate. These adults, ages 65 and above, are part of the impending “silver tsunami” — an ominous metaphor that characterizes the burgeoning senior population.

This group of adults is set to double from 46 million to over 98 million by 2060; that’s one in four U.S. residents. This rise can be attributed to the 76.5 million baby boomers, members of the largest generational birth cohort in U.S. history.

The “silver tsunami” metaphor, however, doesn’t accurately depict the aging population. This group isn’t developing because of one seismic event like a tsunami (unless I’m wrong about tsunamis in which case I’ll defer to a seismologist). Rather, the senior population reflects more significant and nuanced societal shifts.

The average American’s life expectancy is higher now than ever before due to improvements in healthcare advancements in medical research. Most babies born in 1900 didn’t live past the age of 50, while babies born today have an average life expectancy of 78.8 years. It’s also important to note that many countries still experience severely low life expectancies and that the U.S. is not a leader in this category, nor should it be touted as one.

While these figures sound promising, and they are in many ways, they do not necessarily correlate with a higher quality of life. According to a 2014 report by the Department of Health and Human Services, that although baby boomers live longer, they do not all live healthier lives. Nearly 1 in 5 baby boomers suffer from diabetes and 40% are overweight or obese. The study also notes an increase in medication treatments for high cholesterol and diabetes, a finding which explains the paradox of deteriorating health and fewer deaths.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up loneliness, a topic which frequently makes headlines and induces statistics-driven panic (a term I’m coining now since statistics are both scary and easy to misunderstand). Prime Minister Theresa May recently appointed Great Britain’s first “minister for loneliness” and a new Cigna Study revealed “loneliness at epidemic levels in America.” Some people resent this hyperbolic rhetoric. Eric Klinenberg, a sociology professor at NYU who wrote this op-ed for the NY Times said “I don’t believe we have a loneliness epidemic. But millions of people are suffering from social disconnection. Whether or not they have a minister for loneliness, they deserve more attention and help than we’re offering today.”

Despite the frightening studies and facts like “loneliness is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day,” I’m deeply troubled by the excessive amount of seniors living alone. Of the older adults who lived outside nursing homes or hospitals in 2010, nearly one third or 11.3 million lived alone. This number has likely risen sharply during the past eight years and represents real danger for our aging loved ones.

Given the growing need, it should be unsurprising that tech companies are motivated to tackle not just the aging market, but also the fragmented healthcare system. The first half of 2018 has already heralded numerous announcements, including:

• Uber Health: HIPAA compliant ride-sharing for clinicians and patients
• Lyft: integrated with an EHR firm so doctors can hail rides for patients
• Apple Health Records: aggregates existing patient-generated data in a user’s Health app with data from their EHR
• Verily (Google’s sister company): reportedly looking to move into health insurance
• Amazon: teaming up with JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway to form an independent health care company for their employees in the U.S.
• Honor: startup home care tech company brought in $50 million in Series C financing

With 10,000 baby boomers retiring each day and 19% of millennials financially supporting a parent, it’s important that we acknowledge this silent shift. Over the next few years, expect to see more and more innovation and investment from private and public sectors in healthcare technology.

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