Insuring the Older Patient and Driver Some Important Perspectives

Many practical reasons underscore the necessity for such sensitivity. A few are listed. ̄ Agism has been rampant in this industry. It will prove self-defeating, however, as the ranks of the "young old" (or perhaps more accurately the "old young") and the "middle old" swell, and as competition for their insurance becomes international. ̄ Business organizations and the professions alike increasingly depend upon the skills and maturity of older persons. They currently confront the combined consequences of mediocrity in education and training, our birth dearth, deficiencies in attitudes relative to discipline and commitment, and the greater number of poorly skilled immigrants in the labor pool. In many instances, corporate survival itself depends upon such cadres of older employees. ̄ The nation’s fiscal stability will be impacted negatively by a disproportionate reduction of its employable elders as several "hassle factors" -notably confiscatory income taxes and the prohibitive costs of medical and driver insurance-become unacceptable. A case in point is the outflow of Social Security "trust funds" when active persons elect to retire at 65 rather than at 67 or older.