The boomer future

When my parents died a few years back, before the pandemic, they were essentially indigent. My dad's nursing home years were paid mostly by Medicaid, and my siblings and I supported my mom's residency in a senior living community.

We don't do aging well in the US, despite being one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. And it's only going to become more challenging now that boomers are retiring. More than 40% of Baby Boomer households (about 15 million American households) lack sufficient resources to maintain their current standard of living in retirement.

The GOP will tell you that Social Security is about to go bankrupt, which is a lie. As long as there are people drawing a paycheck, Social Security cannot go bankrupt; in the worst case scenario, SS benefits will drop by ca. 20% in around 2035. Medicare is also facing some financial headwinds. The GOP answer is to increase the age of eligibility for these programs and/or privatize them. In other words, to shrink them and their benefits.

We can do better. Other industrialized nations already do. We need to follow the example of the Netherlands.

". . . in the Netherlands, a social welfare state roughly twice the size of Massachusetts, leaders have been planning for this graying of society for a half century. Drawing on public funds, a sense of shared responsibility, and compulsory insurance premiums paid throughout their working lives, those born in the post-World War II baby boom take for granted that they’ll have the home and nursing care they need as they age.

“It’s pretty much undebated,” said Bram Wouterse, assistant professor in health economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. “People know that when you get old, the government will provide good care.”

"In the United States, it’s a far different story. The question of who will take care of older Americans, and who will foot the bill, keep many awake at night. A scathing report in April from the National Academies of Sciences described the US long-term care system as “ineffective, inefficient, [and] fragmented.” The wealthiest can afford quality care; those with less money must navigate a byzantine system that forces them to spend down their savings to get a nursing home bed.

And despite that increasingly glaring gap, there is little chance this picture will change any time soon. The cost would be vast. Older Americans are projected to account for more than 20 percent of the US population within two decades, but addressing their needs in a sweeping fashion would require a political will that is not yet visible."

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/18/world/netherlands-national-plan-makes-aging-long-term-care-priority/?s_campaign=bostonglobe%3Apush%3Aweb&fbclid=IwAR35UG1K72s5yaZuo4hi__21r4gVjxt0FyyZHeeqHymVGpjIfYXLvnVurQs