Panel says California not ready for aging boom
October 15, 2005
California's multibillion-dollar social service bureaucracy is ill prepared to deal with a massive infusion of senior citizens that will come as the baby boom generation reaches old age, a panel of experts told an Assembly policy committee Wednesday.
In fact, as the elder population grows, it will magnify the existing deficiencies of a system already overly complicated and often unresponsive to the needs of an increasingly diverse community, experts told the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care during a morning hearing in the state Capitol.
"The question is, is the state ready for the aging boom?" said Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, who chairs the panel. "And the answer, unfortunately, is no."
Berg said testimony during the hearing underscored the notion that California is not "getting the most bang for its buck" when it comes to delivering services to senior citizens.
Toby Ewing, program manager for the Little Hoover Commission, a bipartisan agency that analyzes state government efficiency, said California's bureaucracy has so many specific aid programs that seniors have a hard time knowing where to go for help. Worse, he said, state officials are more focused on regulations than on people in need.
"The state spends an extraordinary amount of time and money making sure that its rules are being followed, but very little time monitoring whether the person was being well served," Ewing said. "California can do a better job."
Ewing said that while California's health care consumers want more flexibility from the state, officials "continue to move in the other direction."
Lora Connolly, who heads the state¹s Department of Aging, said California is beginning to make preparations for the demands of the baby boom generation.
Elizabeth Hill, the Legislature¹s nonpartisan financial advisor, said $1 out of every $4 the state spends on health care goes to long-term care services, much of which is focused on elderly Californians. She was skeptical whether that money was being spent as efficiently as it might be.
"Frankly, no system is in place to coordinate services," she said.
Ronald Lee, a professor from the University of California at Berkeley, said the baby boomers may put less of a strain on the state budget than some have predicted. Still, he said, "it's important that the state prepare for this big increase."
Berg said she intended to hold more hearings as she looks for ways to make California's health care system more consumer friendly, and more efficient with taxpayer dollars.
It's all in the figures
Humboldt and Del Norte counties face a huge growth in the numbers of elderly and retired people over the next 20 years.
According to figures provided by the Area Agency on Aging:
* In 1990, the two counties had 23,500 people over the age of 60;
* In 2000, that number had jumped to 25,087;
* In 2010, the state Department of Finance predicts the counties will have 32,301 -- a jump of 29 percent;
* In 2020, it is predicted the county will have 42,386, an increase of 31 percent from 2010 and 69 percent from 2000.
Chris Martinek, a planner with the Area Agency on Aging, said local officials are trying to synthesize preparations for the elderly boom.
"It's really a community effort that needs to occur," she said.
# # #