The following is an
excerpt from an article written in New Lifestyles magazine. Some of the issues are U.S.
issues, however, most of it applies to Canada.
Long-term care is the greatest single expense
risk senior citizens will face. Long-term care is the greatest single expense
risk senior citizens will face. Individuals receiving prolonged custodial or personal
care in a nursing home or at home could be financially destroyed.
A recent study showed that 2 out of 5 people turning 65 will need long-term care at
some point in his or her life. (For some reason, the reported estimated percentage in
Canada is half that of the U.S. Only 1 out of 5 will need long term care.) The
increasing demand for long-term care is the result of several factors- the aging
population, a shortage of caregivers in the home due to women working and children
locating away from parents, and the need for nursing homes as extensions of hospital
stays. All these factors combine to make the need for long-term care escalate at a
dizzying pace.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, February, 1991, two-thirds who
enter a nursing home, stay approximately three (2.7) years. Twenty-one percent will stay 5
years or longer. Forty-seven percent of those over age 85 have some type of dementia, most
commonly Alzheimer's, and the life span for an Alzheirmer's patient is 3-20 years.
Consider this rapidly unfolding social phenomenon. In a little over 200 years, life
expectancy has doubled in this nation. In frontier America, only one in ten people could
expect to see age 65. Today, almost 80 percent of Americans will live past 65. Currently,
there are 30 million people over 65, some 12 percent of the population. By 2030 the number
will grow to 6 million, or one-fifth of the population. There are 54,000 Americans now
over the age of 100, and by the year 2000 the number is projected to double.
Another factor contributing to demand for long-term care is that the care-giving system in
the home has experienced a significant decline. Almost 75 percent of care-giving is
performed by women, and over half of the women in the United States find it necessary to
work, either due to divorce, widowhood, or the need for two incomes. Dr. Ken Dychtwald, an
expert on the aging population, projects that the American woman today will spend more
time providing elder care than she did caring for her own children. The general consensus
is that about 25 percent of America's workers over the age of 30 have some care-giving
responsibility for older relatives, and about 40 percent of the work force expect to in
the next five years.
Often the need to care for aging parents coincides with the need to pay college tuition
for dependent children. Even after college tuition needs are satisfied, the "empty
nest" becomes filled with frail parents or in-laws. The conflicting priorities
for the ways both money and time are spent have to be carefully weighed. Also, children
now live extended distances from parents as our society becomes increasingly mobile. The
impact of this mobility? Today only about 15 percent of people over 65 live with
relatives. The rest live independently, either alone or with spouse. Of course, it is only
fair to recognize that sometimes we simply can not be cared for at home due to physical or
mental conditions, even when someone is at home to provide the care. An Alzheimer's
patient, for example, usually requires 24-hour care, which is extremely difficult for most
families to manage. So even though your children may want you to live with them when you
need long-term care, it's just not always possible when you need continuous care-giving
24-hours a day. On the other hand, if you require lighter care-giving, a home health aide
may be able to stay with you for an eight hour shift while your children work. This
assistance can postpone, and even eliminate, entering a nursing home for some people.
|
