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.
Cant that be said for some urban and metro areas.
In my area we have multiple government subsidized transportation services, as well as home health care agencies. On top of that there will be several churches who provide rides and food for the elderly.
I agree though where ever you live it is important to plan for when you are no longer able to care for yourself. Depending on ones individual needs it could be necessary to relocate.
In general in my experience, higher population and higher income areas have more resources. When my mom was in Philly there were many senior services available and local pharmacies and groceries that delivered. And of course many hospitals even within the same area. Transportation even for the able bodied poor however is a big issue in the rural area home I work in. There is one hospital, and it is hanging by a thread. Should the ACA Medicaid expansion ever be repealed I’m sure it’ll be shuttered within a few months.
This was an area dominated by a giant DuPont plant where much of the area had good jobs, as well as some glass and other factories now long gone. There are still a few wealthy farm families in the area but for the most part the area never recovered from the loss of the factories.
Also, it is a FACT that rural states are almost always net-tax drains on the federal government, while states with more urban areas are nex-tax contributors. Your food keeps us fed and our money/tech keeps your lights on.
The ignorance of your post, which can be so easily disproven, is scary.
In my large rural state the net gain in federal dollars coming in vs. going out is attributable to federal highway construction monies that maintain the interstate highway system.
In general in my experience, higher population and higher income areas have more resources. When my mom was in Philly there were many senior services available and local pharmacies and groceries that delivered. And of course many hospitals even within the same area. Transportation even for the able bodied poor however is a big issue in the rural area home I work in. There is one hospital, and it is hanging by a thread. Should the ACA Medicaid expansion ever be repealed I’m sure it’ll be shuttered within a few months.
This was an area dominated by a giant DuPont plant where much of the area had good jobs, as well as some glass and other factories now long gone. There are still a few wealthy farm families in the area but for the most part the area never recovered from the loss of the factories.
Well of course higher population and higher income areas have more resources. More people, more money means more tax revenue mean more services.
As I said if senior services are the priority for a person they should relocate to a area where those services are available. Not all rural communities have issue with health services and transportation, not all people need outside help.
As I have been saying all along, live where it makes YOU (general you) happy. People who live in rural areas do so by choice. They dont see driving 45 minutes to see a heart specialist, less than 6 figure income, crappy cell phone/internet service or winding 2 lane hwys as a dilemma they need help with. Those that do, move.
At the end of my driveway there is a road that will take me where ever I want to go.
I work from home and what is happening in the local economy does not effect my ability to make a living. However a slower economy with more affordable living does improve my standard of living.
So I live half the year in a safe quiet small town in Oklahoma and half the year in a big motor home in Arizona overlooking a national park filled with mountain vistas and saguaro cactus. My monthly cost of RV space rent and the house which is paid for is averaged out over the year is about $175 a month plus utilities, taxes etc. There is lots of BLM land near Yuma where you can park for 6 months for just $90 or even free if you look around.
You can have the big city rat race. I dealt with that enough during my early years until I finally came to my senses. I think people writing from NYC do not understand rural living.
Well of course higher population and higher income areas have more resources. More people, more money means more tax revenue mean more services.
As I said if senior services are the priority for a person they should relocate to a area where those services are available. Not all rural communities have issue with health services and transportation, not all people need outside help.
As I have been saying all along, live where it makes YOU (general you) happy. People who live in rural areas do so by choice. They dont see driving 45 minutes to see a heart specialist, less than 6 figure income, crappy cell phone/internet service or winding 2 lane hwys as a dilemma they need help with. Those that do, move.
At the end of my driveway there is a road that will take me where ever I want to go.
Why do you sound so agitated? We were talking about lower income rural areas, I simply said in my experience these areas don’t often have resources available for seniors who need help and that I wouldn’t recommend an older person moving to such an area unless they had family nearby. By the time you get to the stage where you need that much help moving is not a very viable option. I offer the advice I do because I work with older people in these areas and am one of those trying to find services for them. I see people who end up staying in the nursing home after rehab simply because of the lack of options available to them that would be more plentiful in another area. Of course people can do what they want. When did I say otherwise?
Pay no attention to the sociologists. Sociology is a hobby. Pay attention to demography. Those are real numbers and they do reflect people's choices. They do not reflect the reasons for people's choices.
"And once those retired folks get sick enough, they'll move back to their urban areas where healthcare and their kids are close by."
Not so. Most people in very rural America choose to die at home. Hospice is a valuable service. My wife was the 273rd patient of her hospice caretaker. She understands that everybody dies and it is a normal part of your life. My wife died at sunrise one Sunday morning, looking out a picture window at her beloved woods. Neither of us could have ever lived on the 38th floor of a co-op apartment. We would not even be comfortable visiting such a place.
There are people who love living that way. They willingly make such choices.
I don't think you know much about how most people die. Most people don't have the luck to be 100%, 90%, or even 75% okay the day before they die. No, they decline slowly over time until their (usually multiple) conditions require considerable daily care. I am most certainly not an advocate of prolonging life - but these folks aren't on life support, yet they sure aren't able to rely on just the help of a great niece stopping by to vacuum and cook a meal every few days.
Don't be so patronizing that (only) rural people know how to die - when they see mom or dad declining they worry just the same. You don't think there are any nursing homes in rural America? My 2 great aunts, grandmother, and mother were all in nursing homes - in a town of 2,000 people with less than 10,000 in the ENTIRE county - the old "boarding home" went defunct 20 years before their time.
In general in my experience, higher population and higher income areas have more resources. When my mom was in Philly there were many senior services available and local pharmacies and groceries that delivered. And of course many hospitals even within the same area. Transportation even for the able bodied poor however is a big issue in the rural area home I work in. There is one hospital, and it is hanging by a thread. Should the ACA Medicaid expansion ever be repealed I’m sure it’ll be shuttered within a few months.
This was an area dominated by a giant DuPont plant where much of the area had good jobs, as well as some glass and other factories now long gone. There are still a few wealthy farm families in the area but for the most part the area never recovered from the loss of the factories.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2mares
Well of course higher population and higher income areas have more resources. More people, more money means more tax revenue mean more services.
As I said if senior services are the priority for a person they should relocate to a area where those services are available. Not all rural communities have issue with health services and transportation, not all people need outside help.
As I have been saying all along, live where it makes YOU (general you) happy. People who live in rural areas do so by choice. They dont see driving 45 minutes to see a heart specialist, less than 6 figure income, crappy cell phone/internet service or winding 2 lane hwys as a dilemma they need help with. Those that do, move.
At the end of my driveway there is a road that will take me where ever I want to go.
Some people (City folk) don’t get it. Let’s see, do I want look at buildings or trees and mountains. Do I want to deal with bad traffic or light traffic? (The nearest mall is 50 miles away-a pleasant one hour drive. How is your drive to the mall, city boy?) crime? Do you lock your door when you’re home? I don’t. We have excellent cell and internet services and an expanding hospital. But maybe life in rural CA is different than Iowa. Not all rural areas are dead or dying.
Some people (City folk) don’t get it. Let’s see, do I want look at buildings or trees and mountains. Do I want to deal with bad traffic or light traffic? (The nearest mall is 50 miles away-a pleasant one hour drive. How is your drive to the mall, city boy?) crime? Do you lock your door when you’re home? I don’t. We have excellent cell and internet services and an expanding hospital. But maybe life in rural CA is different than Iowa. Not all rural areas are dead or dying.
I never said they were good grief! I am not city folk btw I grew up in a farm town and live 45 minutes from the nearest Whole Foods or major city. My 45 minute commute is all back roads with no traffic. No one is disparaging country living. The topic is those rural towns that ARE dying, where there are few jobs left and a LOT of alcoholism and drug use so maybe if you lived in one of them you need to lock doors.
I am simply saying for older people/retired people tempted by cut rate home prices, give some thought to whether you can age there when you can no longer drive. Are there hospitals, dialysis centers, does Meals on Wheels have volunteers in the area? Telling people to take the time to examine an area before moving, making sure that if they don’t have family they can get by whatever stage of aging they are in, is not the same as saying no one should live in a rural area. There are many rural areas that are doing fine. The ones where you can buy a home for 40% of its original value however DO have drawbacks and I just think people should be aware of them rather than just looking at cost of living from one perspective. If you’re older it IS a big deal if the only hospital within 45 minutes is rumored to be on the chopping block.
Again, I have this perspective precisely because I work in rehab with older people who live in a very rural area that is not doing fine and hasn’t been for a several decades now.
"Rural America is getting old. The median age is 43, seven years older than city dwellers. Its productivity, defined as output per worker, is lower than urban America’s. Its families have lower incomes.....
Rural communities once captured a greater share of the nation’s prosperity. Jobs and wages in small town America played catch-up with big cities until the mid 1980s. During the economic recovery of 1992 to 1996, 135,000 new businesses were started in small counties, a third of the nation’s total. Employment in small counties shot up by 2.5 million, or 16 percent, twice the pace experienced in counties with million-plus populations.
These days, economic growth bypasses rural economies. In the first four years of the recovery after the 2008 recession, counties with fewer than 100,000 people lost 17,500 businesses, according to the Economic Innovation Group. By contrast, counties with more than 1 million residents added, altogether, 99,000 firms. By 2017, the largest metropolitan areas had almost 10 percent more jobs than they did at the start of the financial crisis. Rural areas still had fewer."
There is no easy answer to the rural dilemma of a declining local economy.
.
A factor that's not considered:
Grey market and production.
In season I don't buy veggies.
I also can for winter.
Last week I put up 31 pints of free chicken and I have pounds and pounds of Turkey that never showed up on an economists graph.
(2 deer also)
My fire Chief is keeping 1\2 a cow, and selling me and another guy 1\4 each.
"But he never earned the money to buy steaks" (and I doubt he deposits my cash)
...my beef will be cheaper than yours too, so my "on grid" money will go further...
It's important to see the true picture.
Chick I was seeing spends a couple hundred a month on propane in winter. (In the city) I spend $25\month and 2 gal of gas For My chainsaw each year
Also, it is a FACT that rural states are almost always net-tax drains on the federal government, while states with more urban areas are nex-tax contributors. Your food keeps us fed and our money/tech keeps your lights on.
The ignorance of your post, which can be so easily disproven, is scary.
Not really.
Those numbers are based on expenditures on military bases, Indian reservations, things like.locks on the Mississippi river, etc....
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.
