Elder Care Thoughts

Posted on | November 19, 2007 |

I just ran across this interesting article, Cost of Elderly Care Is Double Prior Estimates, in the NY Times. It speaks to a subject that, while not yet a part of my life, looms like a dark cloud on my horizon. Actually, in my case, it looks like an impending first-class storm. And sometimes the prospect of how complicated and financially devasting elder care could quickly become a part of my life is simply overwhelming.

Aging parents is something that a lot of people my age (43) are facing but few face the issue of aging parents and aging spouses at the same time. If you’re a regular reader you already know that The Husband significantly older than I am. At 72, he’s no spring chicken

My father (70) is in terrible health but his future is the least closely tied to mine — he has remarried, we are not at all close, and he has more than sufficient financial means.

My mother (69), on the other hand, is still in excellent health. She lives alone and is currently more than capable of living independently. But she’s deeply in debt and doesn’t have any type of health benefits beyond her Medicare coverage. She’s self-employed but only works part-time. She has no savings and other than the little income her work brings in, lives solely on Social Security benefits. If and when her health fails and she requires elder-care, my siblings and I will have to figure out how to share the responsibilities.

Meanwhile, The Husband is battling inoperable and incurable cancer. At some point the cancer is very likely to matastize into his organs and bones. I’ve nursed him through two previous bouts with cancer but I know that this time will likely to play out much differently.

I guess I’m employing a combination of that’s-just-too-overwhelming-to-even-think-about procrastination and we’ll-cross-that-bridge-when-we-come-to-it optimism with just a hint of keep-my-house-in-order-so-I’ll-be-in-a-position-to-handle-whatever-comes pragmatism thrown in for good measure. What else can you do?

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