State lawmakers urged to consider aging baby boomers

COLUMBUS — State lawmakers would be wise to pay heed to Ohio’s growing aging population when considering program changes that would affect the elderly.

In particular, according to a report released by the Ohio Public Expenditure Council, the number of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age in coming years will outpace the number turning 25.

Translated, that could mean a strain on state and local budgets, considering the number of soon-to-be retirees who will rely on government programs for support, said Rick Yocum, president of the nonpartisan, nonprofit group.

“The senior citizen population will grow at a pace we’ve not seen before, and it will stick around for longer than any in history,” he said. “That’s wonderful news for the baby boomers; it’s a potential disaster for states’ budgets.”

The council released a comparable report about two years ago, pinpointing 2012 as the year when the gap between people of retirement age and those entering the work force was to disappear. Its conclusions were based on U.S. Census and other data.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.