Designing for the Life Span Segment 4
Designing for the Life Span Segment 4 
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By the middle of the next century, the government of the United States may be spending more on the health care of individuals over the age of 65 than it spends on national defense.
In 1980, Joseph Califano, Secretary of Health Education and Welfare went before a Senate subcommittee hearing his assessment of the state of his department- the largest in the U.S. government- and his projections for its future and its budget. Califano explained to his audience that his department would be spending over 650 billion dollars on taking care of older Americans by the year 2030- more than the budget for the Department of Defense. 30 days after his presentation, Califano was fired. One year after his presentation, H.E.W. was broken up, made into a smaller department with many of the department's mandates eradicated or unfunded.
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The fundamental axiom of governmental response to national health has been avoidance. At the forging of nationhood, the Poor Acts of the early 19th century, developed by the founding fathers, transferred the care of the indigent to states. States, in turn, transferred such care to their county governments and over time gave rise to the privatized health care system of today.
In 1980, the Secretary of Health Education and Welfare brought the projections of future healthcare issues to congress. Their reaction was to fire the Secretary, Joseph Califano, and the dismember his agency one year later. While homeland security will amalgamate numerous agencies for defense, no such effort or level of understanding of the national crisis supports healthcare.
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