The chronic disease known as AIDS made its first major appearance in the media back in the 1980s. During this decade there was little hope for the people who contracted AIDS to live more than a few years. As treatments developed and improved, however, AIDS patients began to live longer and longer lives. Between 2001 and 2005 the survival rate for AIDS patients increased 77 percent and today there is a growing population of AIDS patients that are older than 50 years of age. However, while longevity is now possible, a new set of health complications have developed.

AIDS in the 21st Century

During the early age of AIDS treatments steroids and other experimental drugs were used to control the symptoms of this chronic disease. Today the people that were used to develop AIDS treatments have a better selection of medications to control their condition, however, they are experiencing a lot of physical side effects from their earlier drug therapy treatment.

One of the main complaints of aging AIDS patients is that their bodies seem to be aging faster than those people who are not inflicted with this disease. They are suffering from many of the same diseases and conditions that afflict people ten, twenty or thirty years older then they are including: COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), kidney failure, depression, brittle bones, diabetes, bleeding ulcers and various cancers. It is suspected that there is some connection between either AIDS and these conditions or the treatments for AIDS and these conditions. At the moment, however, little is known why aging people with AIDS are being affected by so many different diseases at once or in succession.

AIDS and Long Term Care

One of the problems that the onslaught of health problems linked to aging and having AIDS is the need for extensive long term care. Aging AIDS patients need a complex cocktail of therapeutic drugs to not only manage their AIDS but to also manage their other health problems. They also need skilled nursing care to help them as their bodies have been weakened by their diseases and are more prone to infections then other people’s bodies are. This means that as more AIDS patients enter their 50s and 60s, nursing homes are going to have to deal with larger populations of residents. This will undoubtedly compound the nursing home strain during the Baby Boomer retirement era that is just now beginning.

Long term care is something that most of will need down the road. However, for people with medical conditions, like AIDS, that require extensive long term care financing their care is a problem. This is where affordable long term care insurance.