Several recent items got me thinking about
how American society is planning for senior care needs as Boomers age and start
accessing LTPAC services.
· A
New York Times article titled “The New Retirement: Near the Kids”
(hhtps:nyti.ms/2HNJ1j5) details a discussion of retirees moving away from
the “sunbelts” and in to senior communities near their children. The
article discusses the importance of family contacts, isolation, and nutritional
needs as we age. While news articles and anecdotal stories do provide some
interesting examples, they are limited in their scope and might not reflect the
trends in society as a whole.
· Another
article reported from the life insurance company (Northwestern Mutual) reported
that 21% of Americans have no retirement savings and 33% of Boomers have less
than $25,000 in savings. Those savings amounts are considerable less than
the cost of a year in any senior care settings.
· Another
article in the Wall Street Journal was a question in their “Market Watch”
section from someone asking about children’s responsibility to support aging
parents. The author reports that about two dozen states have laws that
have “filial” responsibility or “piety” laws, which require that families have
a duty to support parents of adult children. While these have rarely been
used and date back to colonial times, they are enforced on an occasional basis.
· The
final article (The Investment News Adviser Center) reported that two-thirds of
financial fraud against the elderly was perpetrated by those closest to the
victim. (ie. family, friends or trusted individual).
All of the articles are
concerning individually, as they have broad public policy issues on how to
provide, support, and finance senior care needs into the future. Taken
together, the potential for seniors and their families to be able to find and
afford quality senior care is very concerning. The demographics of American
society are very well known and should be used by public policy makers to
prepare society for the coming challenges of aging Americans. Doing
nothing to change the service delivery and financing for seniors has grave
potential for taxpayers and families of seniors.
Written by Steve Chies, Program Manager, Long-Term Care
Administration, Saint Joseph’s College
