The signs of this looming crisis are everywhere. Expensive home care, long term care and end of life care are going to be the biggest challenges facing baby boomers.
There are over 69 million baby boomers, 21% of the US population, holding 50% of wealth. Unfortunately, most are unprepared to face this crisis. I find that in my retirement community, most have not investigated options to provide for such care and have shown little interest. They say they will handle it if and when they need it.
Private equity and public companies are buying up nursing homes, hospices and assisted living facilities in record numbers as they see accelerating demand and pricing power that will sustain high profits. No wonder, most hospices now are for-profit. Along with rising costs, staffing shortages add to the crisis. I saw this
informative video on why nursing homes and hospices are so expensive in the US. It is an eye opener.
There have been a number of very good articles/Forum questions on this subject, including CCRC’s and long term care. We have heard about some strategies. Ultimately, the choices depend on individual circumstances. Money does greatly help, but you need support and companionship to navigate this tough end of life journey.
It is important to set up a plan that covers multiple scenarios as it is not possible to predict which one will play out. I am investigating various options to make a plan so it is easier on us and our children when the time comes.
I know some of you have gone through this, having supported parents and relatives. Some of you have made your choices already. Any advice you want to provide that will help us? What works and what doesn’t?
My daughter asked me about this today. “What do you.plan to do about paying for medical care when you get old?” She knows about Medicare, she’s an MPH, but maybe she doesn’t believe there will be Medicare. She clarified, What if you need full-time medical care? I didn’t have a good answer.
Part of this is that now managing my mom’s finances, I see that her long term care policy would not pay out much. I don’t see how she would ever get as much back as she put in, even if she needed full time care for years. It looks like either you get lucky and need minimal care at the end or you are sick for a long time and either don’t get care or leave your heirs nothing. Sorry to sound so bleak, but LTC insurance doesn’t look like a good investment. And with the federal gov’t and many states abandoning regulations, so called insurance looks even less worthwhile.
Risk level, duration and potential costs are unknown. This is why planning is difficult and frustrating as you say.
A lot of people are planning on home health care, but I don’t think that will be an option for most of us. That will require far more home health workers than there are now. Where will they come from?
Home health care isn’t a viable option for me regardless. I’m 75 and my only close relatives are my 78-year-old brother (who’s already in assisted living) and my 65-year-old sister, who I wouldn’t want to burden with my care. There are only a couple of CCRCs in my area, I don’t want to move elsewhere. I can see the time in the not-too-distant future that I won’t be able to drive anymore, I’m considering moving to an independent living facility before that occurs. My most likely choice is on the campus of a non-profit hospital, but independently managed. It also has associated assisted living and memory units. It doesn’t have a skilled nursing care facility, but the hospital does.
I have more savings than I am likely to need, even if I require a couple of years in a nursing home, which is considerably more than the mean nursing home stay.
Thank you for bringing this up, Sundar. After seeing how mother and wife’s aunt were mistreated in assisted living and a nursing home, respectively, my wife and I do not want to go into any LTC facility. Our funeral director told us “They’re basically all the same, even the “luxury” facility my mother was in had people die from neglect. For those like us who have children who can’t or won’t take care of us, it looks like either expensive home care or a personal robot. 😉