Did you catch the headline several months ago? You might have, but probably by now you have forgotten about it as more priorities happen in your life or since you can't do anything about it - or maybe you did not concern yourself with it.

Kathleen Casey-Kirschling became the first baby boomer to sign up for Social Security benefits. Born in Philadelphia at 12:00:01 A.M. on Jan. 1, 1946, she is generally considered the first baby boomer. A baby boomer is generally classified as any person who was born between 1946 and 1964. After World War II, the United States, as well as other ally countries experienced an unusually high spike in birth rates as many servicemen and servicewomen returned from war, got married and started families.

Now those children have grown, gone through adulthood and are approaching more advanced years. Approximately 80 million American children were born between 1946 and 1964 who could qualify for Social Security and Medicare over the next 22 years. Some 3.2 million baby boomers will be the first wave who turn age 62 this year. That equates to about 365 an hour. Five years from now, in 2011, they'll turn 65 and will be eligible for Medicare.

What does all this mean to us who work in fire-based EMS systems? Plenty!

First, as people grow older, their demands for health care increase. And as demands for health care increase, so will demands on EMS systems. Can your EMS system handle the additional strain of more EMS calls each day? It all depends on where you are located. Departments in Arizona and Florida, where many seniors retire to or spend winter, over the next two decades can expect their call demand to gradually increase each year, level off and then start declining. But will your EMS system survive during the runup before the EMS calls start to fall off?

Then there is the issue of Medicare money. The payment to hospitals from Medicare already exceeds what it takes in. In 2019, without the intervention of Congress, the Medicare fund will go broke. If you bill for EMS services, this will definitely impact you, since you probably bill Medicare for your services. Depending on where you are located geographically, probably about 30% to 45% of the patients you transport are Medicare beneficiaries. Can your EMS system still function without the reimbursement it receives from Medicare? Many private ambulance companies that do not perform 911 services will probably have to go out of business without Medicare funding, since the majority of patients they transport are Medicare beneficiaries being transported from one facility to another. Can your EMS system also take up the void created when the private ambulance company in your community goes out of business?