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The boomer generation is different in every way than previous generations. The health insurance industry has really changed the game for them.
Previous generations usually stayed in one town at one job their entire life, along with most of the nuclear family.
Today, families are spread out all over the country which makes it difficult for kids to take care of their parents. Plus, both husband and wife are probably working which makes it even harder to take care of parents.
Boomers are going to be on their own more than any other previous generation, but, that's life. We're going to have to find a way to swim, or we'll sink -- alone.
I suggest that there are several root causes: (1) Wholesale abortions over the last 30-40 years have sapped the base of available taxpayers;
Huh? At present there are over 15 million unemployed/underemployed in this country. Wages have deteriorated to 1970s purchasing power. Population today is double what it was in 1950. 49% of the people in this country today, in large part because of globalization, have incomes so low they pay no income taxes, their payroll tax contribution, if they are working at all, would be small, and they rely on government money to make ends meet via food stamps, Earned Income Credit, Medicaid, WIC and all manner of other assistance.
Do we know statistically - was it the cream of the crop from economically stable, educated parents participating in these abortions, or was it the unemployed/underemployed, undereducated, potentially poverty stricken mother?
How would even more people benefit this economy today, except to enhance the accelerating drain on the safety nets when there are not even enough unlivable wage jobs to employ the people already here?
Last edited by Ariadne22; 01-16-2012 at 07:36 PM..
My sisters and I were discussing this yesterday. The Baby Boomer generation was raised with chores, duties, responsibilities... For the ones following us it is more about their rights than their responsibilities, more about what they are entitled to than what they are supposed to do.
Not universally, of course. But on the whole.
Now they may step up to the plate and willingly take on caring for aging parents, like millions are doing now. But I have my doubts about this.
Pensions are disappearing like snowflakes on a sunny day. 401Ks are an iffy retirement plan and difficult to build up in any case. During our prime earning years, those of with kids are drained dry by college tuition and their struggles in finding suitable employment.
Add this to a growing feeling among many voters that government programs that care for others are a drain on the taxpayers and should be cut back and we have a recipe for disaster.
Our parents retired with pensions, paid for houses, and children who able to retire about the time they needed more assistance. Plus, fewer of them lived long enough to require more than a few years of care.
Many more of us will live into our feeble 90's and on, requiring decades of assistance as we shuffle along in a haze of dementia. Currently, we are relying on underpaid, mostly part-time CNAs and unpaid family members to keep this shaky boat afloat.
Hey guys, remember to keep that blue pill handy when entering that assisted living res. there will be a lot of work to do as the ladies will be around longer then most men
Now they may step up to the plate and willingly take on caring for aging parents, like millions are doing now. But I have my doubts about this.
Pensions are disappearing like snowflakes on a sunny day. 401Ks are an iffy retirement plan and difficult to build up in any case. During our prime earning years, those of with kids are drained dry by college tuition and their struggles in finding suitable employment.
Add this to a growing feeling among many voters that government programs that care for others are a drain on the taxpayers and should be cut back and we have a recipe for disaster.
Our parents retired with pensions, paid for houses, and children who able to retire about the time they needed more assistance. Plus, fewer of them lived long enough to require more than a few years of care.
Many more of us will live into our feeble 90's and on, requiring decades of assistance as we shuffle along in a haze of dementia. Currently, we are relying on underpaid, mostly part-time CNAs and unpaid family members to keep this shaky boat afloat.
And no one seems to have a better plan.
I think a lot about our parents' generation as compared with ours. I grew up among lower-middle-class families (yes, then, there was a distinction between lower, middle, and upper when it came to describing the "middle class").
Every adult (mostly male heads of households) we knew who had a FT job was in a stable position for life. My dad changed jobs once and it was considered very weird, very risky. These (mostly) dads who had higher pay than women had automatic health insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield, the whole package) no matter what their salary. The entire family was covered.
When it came time for old age, as you say many did not live to ancient ages. Many lived at home till dying suddenly. If I remember, if they had something like terminal cancer they stayed in hospital till they died. Nursing homes were pretty much the permanent place you went to when you got really old. And so many of these elders, who only had modest jobs and modest assets, were able to afford their nursing home that was pretty decent (I am assuming here). I don't know if there was Medicaid back then, for the poorer elders. In short, the trajectory from retirement age to really old age and death seemed less complicated, more on track with what was expected.
Now the costs are out of the ballpark for the middle and lower-middle class, even those with savings/assets. What will happen with this bulk of elders? Will they suffer the indignities of substandard nursing homes and very poor care when their assets run out? If Medicaid is not there, then what? Will elders be at the mercy of their families, who may or may not take them in?
I'd like to read a book about the generational differences in aging. Does anyone know of a good one?
The media is always trying to overly dramatize every problem or issue to the point where they seem to manufacture a 'new' crisis every day! Unfortunately, the media itself tends to cause more stress than life itself.
Take, for example, the huge, looming 'caregiver' crisis in this article. When you start to talk about 72-million boomers, it sounds like there can't possibly be enough caregivers to handle that load ... and that it will certainly wear-out the available caregivers. But, the last time I checked, almost every child (and their siblings) each had two 'boomer parents'... just like always! Additionally, the available healthcare and safety nets today are far better than those available to the 'boomers' when they were 'care-giving' their parents.
Of course, a major part of the stress today is compounded by the economic and jobs situation ... which is wearing everyone a little thin. But, as we all know, most of the problems facing us today are 'self-inflicted' by our illustrious politicians. In other words, there are cost-cutting solutions to the prevailing stress ... but, most seem willing to continue in pain, rather than consider those options.
The great number of 'boomers' coming online will certainly tax our healthcare and elderly social systems like never before ... but, why is that? I suggest that there are several root causes: (1) Wholesale abortions over the last 30-40 years have sapped the base of available taxpayers; (2). Our government has been 'borrowing and spending' Social Security payments as quickly as they are received ("Off Budget" of course) -- and leaving worthless IOU's in their place and (3) the unfunded give-aways and 'exchange-for-vote programs' must all be paid for at some point (regardless of what our politicians tell us).
My thought is that rather than finally address these very real problems, the next 10-20 years will see a growing, panic-driven support for "kicking these boomer drains on our society to the curb." (It won't happen for a while, because the boomers will still have the votes to postpone direct cuts.
What really angers me is this group of boomers have paid into this system far more than the people receiving the most goodies right now. The politicians have bled this program dry and use it as a carrot over seniors heads for too long. I am sure the money we have invested will not be there in 6 years for us.
My wife is in the healthcare bizz. She's been told that Medicare and Medicaid will be cut so that hospitalizations will decrease and there will be more dependence on nursing care in the home. EG. Now, if you get a septic infection, you'll most likely spend at least a week or more in the hospital getting IV antibiotics. This is the kind of thing that they might very likely just send a nurse to your home twice a day, to hand a new bag of antibiotics and check to make sure your iv is still working, and check on your progress.
Its coming folks. the baby boomers are starting to retire and the amount of money the govt. has to pay for all their medical care is not going to keep up. Eventually the govt. will not be able to keep printing money at will the way they have been.
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