Elder care

A recent article in The Atlantic tells us that the Netherlands offers “the world’s most generous long-term care insurance, covering professional nursing or home care for all residents who can demonstrate need.” That country spends 4.1 percent of its GDP on formal elder-care services. In the U.S., the percentage is 1.3.

The point of the article is to expose the false belief that, with sufficient savings and adequate public services, care of the elderly can be handled by professionals. In fact, most elder care is still done informally—that is, by relatives or friends. This is true even for the elderly Dutch. Plus, even if the elderly are in residential care, family members tend to be highly involved.

One woman, in commenting on this article, wrote the following: 

“My mother had to go into a senior living facility after several falls and had become increasingly confused. I lived a 5 hour drive away and my brother lived 3,000 miles away. She kept asking when she could go home (we had to sell her house). She had long-term care insurance but it did finally run out because even though she made over $300,000 for her house her monthly fees at the facility were inching up to $10,000/month. Eventually she needed to be moved to a nursing home in my home town ($4,000 for the ambulance) and now the monthly cost was $15,000. Outrageous is the only word for it. We can pay $16,000,000 for the reflecting pool fiasco but not health care. The whole thing is devastating and depressing.”

Agreed.

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