Alterspolitik und Gesundheit

Abstract

Proceeding from a comprehensive definition of health which differentiates between personal and environmental aspects and which is explicitly not restricted to the absence of disease, age-related changes in functional capacity and characteristic diseases are discussed. To maintain or re-establish independency is said to be much more important than in the case of younger age groups because of the high prevalence of chronic diseases in old age. Discussing the development of costs in the health care system it is demonstrated that a considerable amount of the increasing costs for treatment in higher age groups is due to the higher portion of those who will die in the following years. As a consequence, an explosion of health care costs might be a too pessimistic scenario. The hypothesis of a compression of morbidity is discussed as a more optimistic perspective on cost development. Three additional parts deal with problems of German nursing care insurance, propositions for an integrative concept of preventive and rehabilitative care, and tasks and challenges of palliative care. The final part of this contribution inquires into priorities of future political action on the societal level, the level of public supplies, the personal level, and the family level.