Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Makes me curious that you would ask such a question. You don't know any people in real life who aren't in a precarious position financially?
The person to whom I replied had posted a purely hypothetical situation, to which I posted another purely hypothetical reply.
That's one issue with hypotheticals. Everyone can dream up a positive or negative hypothetical. "Whatabout people who didn't save enough?" "Whatabout people who saved too much?" "Whatabout people who spent all their money on frivolous stuff for 50 years?" "Whatabout people who were extremely frugal but never were able to save?"
Etc.
For that reason, I don't find hypotheticals to be particularly compelling. Attempting to have a discussion that involves "whatabouts" isn't particularly compelling.
This thread is about the shortage of home care workers, though. What will you do if you need care and want to stay in your own home but can't get anyone to take care of you? That is the question.
(And please, folks, spare us the "I will just kill myself if I get to that point!" recitations. No, you won't.)
The person to whom I replied had posted a purely hypothetical situation, to which I posted another purely hypothetical reply.
That's one issue with hypotheticals. Everyone can dream up a positive or negative hypothetical. "Whatabout people who didn't save enough?" "Whatabout people who saved too much?" "Whatabout people who spent all their money on frivolous stuff for 50 years?" "Whatabout people who were extremely frugal but never were able to save?"
Etc.
For that reason, I don't find hypotheticals to be particularly compelling. Attempting to have a discussion that involves "whatabouts" isn't particularly compelling.
This. America is quite broken. We are based on a form of capitalism that is killing us, squeezing the most possible profit out of every penny regardless of the consequences. It simply is not enough to pay the bills and make a profit, it must the the maximum profit possible.
Other countries figured it out. Most of western Europe and Canada have systems which work better for the majority of their people. We have the wealth, our leaders simply chose poorly over the past 40-50 years and here we are ... everyone for themselves.
Dead on. Here in the USA every dollar of profit is a good dollar, no matter how much suffering and blood is associated with it. The leaders that brought us to this point didn't choose poorly. In reality they chose very deliberately, in order to feather the nests and maximize the profits of those that helped put them into office - the health care giants, the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, as well as the predatory nursing home industry.
She's in a rehab facility, the social worker's job there is to assist with placement after she leaves rehab.
I never heard of an insurer having social workers. I would advise hiring a local private geriatric care manager if the facility SW can't find answers, but I would start with him/her before calling around.
Egads ... not sure why I wrote healthcare insurer. I meant her healthcare provider. When my mom had a stroke, the immediate options considered were short-term rehab or home rehab and the provider (doctors and admins) decided on home rehab. With that, came in-home visits (nurse, PT, speech therapist) which was all coordinated by the provider's Social Worker, who also visited to inspect and make sure it was the correct and safe decision. Had they chosen short-term rehab, the provider would still be overseeing everything as the rehab center was a third-party.
Serious - talk to ANY Social Worker you can related to this. Also, talk to her primary care physician, voicing your concerns about her safety once the short-term rehab ends.
The thing is, the government is already involved. For our entire working careers we've had FICA deducted out of our paychecks along with other taxes. We already get Medicare in our older age because it is recognized that older people do stop working and (most) no longer qualify for healthcare through their employers - they aren't working anymore. And the government doles out their benefits.
I think the government should stay out of the lives of people who can live independently. But it is a moral obligation to provide for those who can no longer take care of themselves. They have paid into a system that was promised to help them in old age.
There has to be a more efficient way to manage care for the elderly in this country.
So you're mandating the big bad word of SOCIALISM as a solution? Meanwhile every pearl-clutching right winger will shriek about personal responsibility, that is until the situation changes and it's now personal. Sound bitter? You betcha! Sick and tired of the ceaseless hypocrisy.
The problem is that "big government" creates problems as well as solves them. For example, as you discussed, Medicare and Social Security makes possible a decent life well into old age. But it also creates a lot more people in old age.
Back in 1937, when Social Security was inaugurated, 65 was the retirement age. Though SS had some Ponzi Scheme attributes it really wasn't bad. Medicare, when established in 1965, presented a way for people to get health coverage after their years of employment, and was frankly, in some respects, needed once health care priced itself out of the ability of most to pay privately. This did two things: 1) created a spiral that drove medical prices up faster than inflation; and 2) extended people's lives, destroying any rational actuarial assumptions. We now have many living into their 90's. Many of those would not be alive if, say, people had to choose between their grandchildren's education and an expensive medical procedure that would be expected to have little or no benefit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by springfieldva
Quote:
Originally Posted by moguldreamer
What is wrong with that elderly civilian that they didn't save enough for their retirement?
Maybe they did save enough for retirement. But got whammied by unanticipated health issues and medical bills. You can do things right and still wind up struggling.
Saving up for maybe five years of retirement was probably a lot easier than saving up for thirty years of retirement.
Has she volunteered to come take care of you when you can no longer care for yourself? Will she give up her job to care for you?
She will get paid to take care of me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
