Facing Financial Ruin as Costs Soar for Elder Care
Margaret Newcomb, 69, a retired French teacher, is desperately trying to protect her retirement savings by caring for her 82-year-old husband, who has severe dementia, at home in Seattle. She used to fear his disease-induced paranoia, but now he’s so frail and confused that he wanders away with no idea of how to find his way home. He gets lost so often that she attaches a tag to his shoelace with her phone number.
Adult Children Discuss the Trials of Caring for Their Aging Parents
The financial and emotional toll of providing and paying for long-term care is wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of Americans. Read about how a few families are navigating the challenges, in their own words.
Feylyn Lewis, 35, sacrificed a promising career as a research director in England to return home to Nashville after her mother had a debilitating stroke. They ran up $15,000 in medical and credit card debt while she took on the role of caretaker.
Sheila Littleton, 30, brought her grandfather with dementia to her family home in Houston, then spent months fruitlessly trying to place him in a nursing home with Medicaid coverage. She eventually abandoned him at a psychiatric hospital to force the system to act.
“That was terrible,” she said. “I had to do it.”
Millions of families are facing such daunting life choices — and potential financial ruin — as the escalating costs of in-home care, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes devour the savings and incomes of older Americans and their relatives.
“People are exposed to the possibility of depleting almost all their wealth,” said Richard Johnson, director of the program on retirement policy at the Urban Institute.
The prospect of dying broke looms as an imminent threat for the boomer generation, which vastly expanded the middle class and looked hopefully toward a comfortable retirement on the backbone of 401(k)s and pensions. Roughly 10,000 of them will turn 65 every day until 2030, expecting to live into their 80s and 90s as the price tag for long-term care explodes, outpacing inflation and reaching a half-trillion dollars a year, according to federal researchers.
The challenges will only grow. By 2050, the population of Americans 65 and older is projected to increase by more than 50%, to 86 million, according to census estimates. The number of people 85 or older will nearly triple to 19 million.
More Articles
- The National Institutes of Health Report Details 20 Years of Advances and Challenges of Americans’ Oral Health Which Plays a Central Role in Overall Health
- Kaiser Health News: Trump’s Pardons Included Health Care Execs Behind Massive Frauds
- Clinical Trials of Monoclonal Antibodies to Prevent COVID-19 Now Enrolling Healthy Adults Who Are At Risk of Infection Due to Close Contact at Work or Home to Persons with SARS-CoV-2 Infection
- Supreme Court Surprises The Public in LGBTQ Ruling: What is Sex Discrimination?
- Who Are Organizational Payees? Some Social Security Beneficiaries Rely on Organizations Like Non-profits or Nursing Homes to Help Them Manage Their Benefits.
- Help From a Familiar (and revamped) Government Resource: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Resources For Consumers During Covid-19 Pandemic
- The Effort That It Takes to Give Someone a Good Death at Home; Hospice Care Can Badly Strain Families
- GAO: A Comprehensive Re-evaluation Needed to Better Promote Future Retirement Security
- Another Turbulent Day on the Market: Three Reasons to Do Nothing
- Listen to What the Concerned Scientists Union States: Hurricane Michael Threatened Gulf Coast Homes and Military Bases: Update: Thomson Reuters Foundation Film: Home Beyond the Water