Posted in Articles, Health on January 1, 2007|
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As 2007 rolls around, it’s another year gone, and we are all another year closer to old age and death, I mean, er, hard-won wisdom and a prosperous retirement. Something to think about: will you have to pay for your parents’ retirement? And maybe you need another glass of bubbly before you can process that question.
I’ve always been quite confident that my parents will be able to retire in comfort on their own. But this New York Times article, Elder Care Costs Deplete Savings of a Generation, gave me pause. It’s a stark title, fit for the stark phenomenon of baby boomers sacrificing their own retirement to care for elderly parents.
Families have always looked after their elderly loved ones. But never has old age lasted so long or been so costly, compromising the retirement of baby boomers who were expecting inheritances rather than the shock of depleted savings.
โThere is a myth out there that families abandon their frail elders,โ said Dr. Robert L. Kane, a geriatrician at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. โInstead, across the income spectrum, children are sacrificing to care for their parents to the limit of their means and sometimes beyond.โ
It must be such a heartbreaking position to be in – to have to decide between the well-being of your parents or your own future and the possibility that you will need to burden your children with your retirement/medical expenses. The enormity of medical expenses is the reason why I think Medicare is a bigger problem than Social Security. After all, you can only spend so much on rent, food and utilities, but the sky is the limit with end-of-life care or new drug therapies.
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