Medicalization thesis
The medicalization thesis or extension thesis assumes a disproportionate increase in health costs as the population ages. This is in contrast to the compression thesis .
The assumption here is that morbidity increases sharply with increasing age: The proportion of sick people in relation to the total population is steadily increasing, so that total health care expenditure increases sustainably and disproportionately. These additional burdens would primarily have to be borne by those paying contributions and premiums for statutory health insurance or private health insurance .
See also
- Health care , there also: reforms
- Medicalization
- Multimorbidity in old age