The Gerontologist, Vol 34, Issue 3 399-401, Copyright © 1994 by The Gerontological Society of America
Journalistic elder abuse: it's time to get rid of fictions, get down to facts
GD Cohen
Center for Aging and Health, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC.
The public debate on health care, as reported and carried on in the popular
media, is frequently framed in terms of age. The assumption is that old age
can be equated with high health care costs, and that increases in health
care costs are determined solely by the growing numbers of older people in
our society. A variety of studies suggest, however, that high-tech,
high-cost care is not inevitably associated with advancing age. The public
debate on health care must stop confusing demographic issues with health
care cost issues, and focus instead on the real and complex problems of
rising health care costs.
