Baby Boomers and Health Care Reform: A History Lesson and a Way Forward

• In Event: 3422 - Section on Aging and Life Course Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 05. Healthcare

Abstract

This research explores the relationship between the baby boom generation, the culture war, health care reform and the Veterans Health Administration. The purpose of exploring these relationships is to determine if a way forward can be constructed that would allow for health care reform that would be viewed as meaningful and would have the support of a culturally divided nation. A brief history of the baby boom generation and its economic and cultural components provides a beginning point for understanding the complexity of the generation. It is argued that the relationship between the baby boom generation and the culture war that emerged has been a socially constructed effort to discredit a segment of the generation that has forced society to reevaluate numerous norms and values that have hindered the advancement of women, minorities, and others who have been disadvantaged. Furthermore, it is argued that the culture war has been instrumental in limiting any meaningful health reform. To locate a way forward for health care reform, this paper argues that the Veterans Health Administration may offer an organizational and cultural framework that could ameliorate health reform differences.

Author

• Duane A. Matcha, Siena College