AIDS have made an impact in every community within the United States. Almost every person at some point has been affected by the preventable, but incurable disease. This paper is will address the targeted population with people who have AIDS. Also, data about the population demographics, and the general impact that changing demographics may have on the health care market, why and how will changes in the demographics of this population affect health care. Furthermore, identify two key health care-related challenges with patients with AIDS, and describe how a chronic disease wellness programs may affect the cost for the demographic. And last, how can an individual patient in the community and society as whole address these challenges. The Center for Disease Control (CDC), has estimated that there are more than one million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States (Center of Disease Control, 2011). AIDS arrived in the United States in 1969 through an infected immigrant from Haiti. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was an estimated one million or more people that were infected with AIDS and half million individuals had died from AIDS in the United States. HIV is a silent disease that can be undetected. CDC stated that roughly fifty thousand annual infections between 2006 and 2009 in the United States are infected with AIDS. The largest number of AIDS was among white men who have sex with men followed by African-American men. And Hispanic men and African-American women (Center of Disease Control, 2011). According to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (2012), “Gay and bisexual men of all races are the most severely affected by AIDS. More than seventeen-thousand people with AIDS in the United States died in 2009 and more than 619,00 people with AIDS in the United States have dies since the epidemic began” (para. 4). Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are the most common demographic with infections with AIDS. According to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (2012), “CDC estimates that men having sex with men account for just two percent of the United States male population aged thirteen and older” (para 5). White MSM is the largest number of annual new HIV infections of any group in the United States. Young black MSM were the only risk group in the United States to experience statistically significant increases in new HIV infections from 2006-2009 (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). Heterosexual individuals infected through contact are accounted for twenty-seven percent and twenty-eight percent of people living with HIV in 2008. Women accounted with the infection are twenty-three percent, and twenty-five percent of women living with HIV. Injection drug users represent nine percent annually with new infections. Only seventeen percent who use infected needles are living with HIV (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). The health care industry will continue to see huge growth as the generation ages. The impact of aging in this society will be deeply felt in the health fields. This generation is dependent on Medicare to cover its health concerns, this will impact everyone. The impact of aging society will also reflect in the need for more health care professionals. As the baby boomers generation continues to age, the need for more skilled professional will be needed. I believe that change in the demographic affect health care because this generation is where younger teenagers and even younger children are having sex and experimenting different situations. In the health care it will affect because most of these teenagers do not have health insurance. Most likely these people will get Medicare. Everyone in the United States will be affected. The medication alone for HIV/AIDS is very expensive. According to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (2013), “The Affordable Care Act is the fight against HIV/AIDS. Insurers are no longer able to deny coverage to children living with HIV/AIDS. For people who have locked out of the insurance market because of their health status created an insurance plan. These people enrolled in the program helped change their lives and kept them alive” (para 3). The Affordable Care Act program may affect the cost because there are over one million people living with HIV/AIDS. But people living in the rural areas are affected because they don’t have the resource and knowledge from the prevention of AIDS. Most of these people cannot afford the cost for their treatment. The act helps people to get their treatments, but the more people who join the program will not be able to help them all. Health insurances should allow people who are insured to cover their treatments and medications. Society should address these challenges through the youth. The youth are experimenting by having sex and they should know the consequences that come along. People living with AIDS should limit and know not to transmit their disease to other people. It is important to experience and understand the steps to protect them. For example, they need to correct and be consistent with condom use, HIV and STD testing and limiting or reducing their number of sexual partners. In conclusion, in the health care industry they help people who have AIDS, but it’s the demographic that cannot afford their treatment. To limit this epidemic is start with communities with limited resources to help them and have the knowledge of AIDS. Health care industry should have free clinics for HIV and STD testing for people to be aware of their situation.
References
Center of Disease Control. (2011). Estimates of new hiv infections in the united states, 2006-2009. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/HIV-Infections-2006-2009.pdf
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2012). U.S. statistics. Retrieved from http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/statistics/ U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2013). The affordable care act with hiv/aids. Retrieved from http://aids.gov/federal-resources/policies/health-care-reform/
