The way we finance long-term care isn’t just a problem for older people. It affects all of us, including 20-somethings like me. That’s why our association is looking to get younger people’s opinion on caregiving and how our country pays for it.
Here are the five questions we’re asking young people (for now, that’s my mostly my friends) that I’d like any younger readers to take a moment to consider:
1. Do you worry about how you and your parents will pay for the care your older loved ones may need in the future?
2. Are you worried about how our country will cover the baby boomers’ health care costs as they age?
3. Do you worry about how you will pay for own health care when you get older?
4. Do you worry about how you would pay for care and assistance if you had
a major accident or illness?
and finally
5. Which of these four situations concerns you the most?
If you know a young person who’d be willing to share their insights, pass along the survey to them. Their responses will help us move our forward our plan to make affordable to care a little faster.
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April 15, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Maggie Flowers
1. Do you worry about how you and your parents will pay for the care your older loved ones may need in the future?
I don’t currently worry. Although, my extended family has pulled together to support several aging family members and it is concerning.
2. Are you worried about how our country will cover the baby boomers’ health care costs as they age?
This does worry me. Although I’m hopeful that we will figure it out.
3. Do you worry about how you will pay for own health care when you get older?
Yes, although I’m more concerned about being able to afford retirement generally.
4. Do you worry about how you would pay for care and assistance if you had a major accident or illness?
I have never really thought about it. I guess that’s not very good planning.
5. Which of these four situations concerns you the most?
I suppose number 2 concerns me the most.
April 15, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Lisa Mysker
1. Do you worry about how you and your parents will pay for the care your older loved ones may need in the future? I am hopeful that my loved ones have planned, but unfortunately it is not something we have talked about and now that I think about it it is quite worrisome.
2. Are you worried about how our country will cover the baby boomers’ health care costs as they age? Definitely. It seems like everyone is hoping someone else will have a miracle plan, but we don’t need a miracle we need strategic planning.
3. Do you worry about how you will pay for own health care when you get older? I have conquered this worry by starting retirement plans to supplement what my employer offers to ensure I will have available funding. Also, I think as I get older I will think about long-term care insurance.
4. Do you worry about how you would pay for care and assistance if you had
a major accident or illness? Yes. I’m not sure the little help offered by the government will be enough to keep me afloat financially.
5. Which of these four situations concerns you the most? First I am worried about paying for the baby boomers, because if we can get through that successfully I won’t have to worry as much about my personal health care as I get older.
Thanks for all the work you are doing on this!
April 16, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Jessica Bizub
1. Do you worry about how you and your parents will pay for the care your older loved ones may need in the future?
I do not worry about this in a concrete sense, but do abstractly, especially as I watch my mother and her brothers and sisters address my grandmother’s waning health.
2. Are you worried about how our country will cover the baby boomers’ health care costs as they age?
Most definitely, although factors like young immigrant populations will likely help with this. I worry, too, about indirect costs that will most certainly rise along with direct care costs–we need to educate doctors in geriatrics, modify living environments, etc. None of these efforts will be cheap.
3. Do you worry about how you will pay for own health care when you get older?
With shifting the burden of retirement income from society (Social Security) and employers (pensions, etc.) to individual employees, I’m more worried about retirement in general than health care. I think of health care as just another cost I have to factor into retirement planning.
4. Do you worry about how you would pay for care and assistance if you had a major accident or illness?
Luckily, my employer currently offers things to assist like disability insurance. However, if I were to be out of the workforce for longer than a few months, I am entirely unsure of how I would finance the cost of care and living.
and finally
5. Which of these four situations concerns you the most?
I probably worry most about how we will finance an aging boomer population, but I think that is because I haven’t encountered major problems with my parents’ or my own health. That would likely change with a major illness in myself or my close family.
April 16, 2008 at 11:26 pm
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April 17, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Richard Schafer
5. Which of these four situations concerns you the most? All of them!
Everyone needs to protect themselves and their families from the long-term care trap. Here’s how most people fall into it.
We ignore the risk of long-term care until it’s too late. People we know become old and feeble. They disappear after a time from our daily life.
But we rarely see Alzheimer’s patients wandering unattended or hear of incapacitated seniors dying at home of starvation. Somebody must take care of them, we figure.
But who? Who knows? Medical Assistance, Medicare, Santa Claus? It does not matter to us … until long-term care touches our family personally.
Then, sooner or later, Dad has a stroke or Mom’s forgetfulness turns to dementia. They can no longer take care of themselves and each other. Something has to be done.
But, by now, it’s no longer Mom and Dad’s problem. The adult children, mostly daughters and daughters-in-law, have to step in and find a solution. Do-it-yourself care is no longer an option for most families because both spouses work.
One of the biggest curves life can throw is caregiving — assisting someone we love who’s become impaired. They discover that do-it-yourself caregiving is like a marathon race you don’t train for. Most of us enlist rather casually, rarely realizing what we’re in for. We find out quickly that caregiving is a lot more than fluffing up the pillow and bringing in tea and cookies in the afternoon. It’s much harder than that. Ask any caregiver.
Having LTC insurance could help, it would enable the family to be the care supervisors instead of the exclusive care providers. However, most people don’t have a plan when they need a plan, and by then it’s too late. Once an insurable health care event occurs, it’s too late for long-term care insurance to pay for professional care and assistance. You can’t buy fire insurance either … after your house is in flames.
My advise. Plan early. Save. Invest. Insure…you’re likely to live a long life.