Demographers have long been writing of an aging population. The forthcoming demographic changes predicted include the doubling of the elderly population in selected states between 1995 and 2025 and the possibility that the number of people over age 85 is expected to reach at least 27 million by 2050 (Lanser, 2003). These changes in the population will have a major impact in many sectors of the United States economy, including health care.

The affect on health care will include changes in technology to provide needed services to the elderly, access to medications by the elderly, overall service provision to the elderly by health care organizations, as well as reimbursement ...