Jane Brady is the chair of A Better Delaware. She previously served as state attorney general and as a judge of the Delaware Superior Court.
If you open up the 2024 Senior Healthcare State Report Card on the SeniorLiving.org website, the first key finding shows that Delaware gets an F grade. The report looks at three key factors affecting older adults, who, while suffering declining health and often on fixed incomes or Medicare coverage, have difficulty navigating and accessing the health care they need. Those factors are cost, access to care and quality of care.
In fact, the report ranks Delaware 49th among the states and the District of Columbia. Sadly, the report notes that Delaware is the only state to rank 40th or worse in all three categories. Drug costs are notably high — in fact, 39% higher than the national average. And the report found that we have the worst stroke death rate in the nation.
Why is this important in the big picture in Delaware? Because we have a rapidly aging population, growing at a rate faster than the rest of the nation, and are the fifth “oldest” state in the nation. How we deliver, and how well we deliver, health care to older residents is important.