Healthcare for the Elderly

Now this is a really touchy topic. I've heard alot of arguments on each side of this topic, but one in particular really makes me sit down and think; it has to do with the seemingly devalued position of the elderly in our (western, or at least american) society. Up until the last half century or so, elders in a tribe/community/group/etc would at some point stop producing meaningful physical labor, but their value would be high due to their experience. Now, experience is difficult to capture on any medium, print or multimedia. But as information storage and retrieval becomes easier and more accessible, the pass-down of knowledge and experience that the elderly were such an important part of seems to have been taken on by technology. Add this to the western cultural obsession with physical youth, and you have a distinct marginalization of the elderly.

One of the blog responses to the above article really hits on this idea, when it points out that,

"many of them want to keep contributing and we should be equally motivated to find ways to increase their value to society and therefore change the underlying situation that leads us to devaluing them."

Amen. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what role these people would play. But look at someone such as Noam Chomsky; regardless of what you think of his politics, simply as a result of having been around for awhile, and paying attention to things the whole time, he has such a fascinating understanding of the dynamics of the world around him. These kinds of knowledge simply cannot be passed down through weblogs or reference cds or autobiographies. This is the kind of understanding that the elderly alone can really provide us.
Admittedly I think the focus on pediatric vs geriatric care should be weighted more towards the children. But the most important thing is to provide purpose for the elderly to lead productive and healthy lives well into their retirement years. This is the best way to minimize their health problems, I believe.