Social Security

[tvashtarkatena]

I've informed Mother that if she doesn't kindly die soon I'm going to have to do The Right Thing.

[ashw_justin]

Flogging people in the ICU until their last cell finally gives up has nothing to do with the healthcare systems drive for profit.

 

It has everything to do with the western concept of death(refusing to sign do-not-resusitate orders, choosing aggressive treatments over palliative care, family members ignoring the wishes of the pt when decision making is shifted to them)

Doctors and nurses would love to let people go in peace; the public often demands the opposite.

I agree with that to a certain extent, but the cost of old age is not limited to terminal visits to the ICU; there is a huge industry for selling the 10 extra years of life (however agonizing) immediately prior. However I agree that high health care costs could be explained by something as simple as good old supply and demand... for eternal life. After all we can't put a price on lives, can we. The ultimate commodity.

Just wait until genetic therapies become mainstream. You haven't seen anything yet.

A glimpse...

I hope it doesn't give him cancer like what happened with the X-SCID patients. (Although companies selling cancer treatments may hope otherwise.)

[JayB]

Not to mention that the cost of being old would be greatly reduced if children provided similar support to their parents in their old age as they received from them as youth, instead of leaving them in (or forcing them into) expensive 'independent living' (a.k.a. invisible dying) sitations.

Have you considered the possibility that Medicaid and Social Security were two of the more significant factors that brought about the genesis of the "Nursing Home?"

That's a good point, it's a form of collective support that can take the place of "taking care of your own." But are people are ineligible for Social Security and Medicaid if a relative is putting a roof over their head? (I actually would like to know.)

 

Social Security and Medicare eligibility won't be affected, but I don't think that spouses, children, or relatives receive payment from the Federal Government for housing, feeding, or taking care of their elderly relatives.

 

Not sure what kind of home-care/assistance options are available for folks who need outside assistance to keep their loved ones out of nursing homes. It seems like this might be both better for the old person and the people caring for them than placing them nursing homes in a significant percentage of cases, and would cost the Federal Government less money.

[Hugh Conway]

Not sure what kind of home-care/assistance options are available for folks who need outside assistance to keep their loved ones out of nursing homes. It seems like this might be both better for the old person and the people caring for them than placing them nursing homes in a significant percentage of cases, and would cost the Federal Government less money.

 

There are various home health treatment options available - like most things covered by medicare, medicare won't cover the real costs of treatment.

 

The entire industry is massively and convolutedly regulated and there are increasing numbers of players in the business who's primary goal is not providing elder care (I can think of one nursing home company where the primary goal of the CEO is to sell of the real estate, milk the company of cash, then dump the business - perhaps a textbook case of the human impacts of "greed")

 

A useful and interesting timeline:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/nursinghomes/timeline.html