Too poor to retire and too young to die

[WalkaboutTed]

When I worked as a nurse, I worked with clients with chronic medical conditions. Most people were older. When a medical disaster hit, there was only one group who didn't lose much of the savings they had.

First of all, many people won't disclose their full medical conditions to their friends and relatives, much less to the world. It's easy to be judgemental without knowing all the particular details. And, one thing I' ve noticed is that unless someone knows a person with a serious mental illness or is SMI themselves, often the common response is "Snap out of it" or "well, I was depressed and I got over it". It doesn't work that way. Also, I found that many people with severe, chronic medical conditions are also dealing with mental illness as a comorbidity.

But back to the money responsibility thing. If someone has an expensive, chronic, serious medical condition, I found three monetary sequalae. The first group of people were those who already were broke due to low income through their lives or poor financial decisions. Trying to find help can be difficult. The second group was the middle to upper middle class population who had savings, often from scrimping and saving through their lives. They would forgo vacations, and other "normal" expenditures to save for retirement. They did the responsible thing. The third group is the financially well off population. They have the resources to pay for care or to have bought insurance to help pay for medical expenses.

The people who are screwed are the responsible savers. They did without. They have a nest egg. Then medical disaster strikes. They have to spend down their assets until they are impoverished, including using assets that would have helped support their spouse in the spouse's old age. I saw that too many times. It costs about $90,000 a year for good nursing home care. How many of you would be able to pay for that year after year?

So I just say "There but for the grace of God goes I". And I give a prayer and maybe some help if I can. You can castigate the poor for their circumstances or decisions. But you likely will never know the entire situation until it's you. Karma has a way of biting you in the ass. I pray for you too.
Ted

 

[user 37446]

Well don't buy a diesel truck if you don't understand or need one, but personally for me life would actually be more expensive with a gasser as my truck weighs 10,000 to 11,000 lbs at any given time, and I tow trailers up to 18,000 lbs regularly. In the same way people are all different, so are their vehicle needs. 

As for the woman in the first story, she reminds me of my parents who would be about the same age. They never did learn to handle their money, and I have spent most of my life trying to unlearn their lessons. My hope is that I've taught my children differently so they don't have to struggle as much and can spend much more of their lives living their dreams.

I only read 1 page of comments before deciding to reply/add on to masterplumber's reply.  This is part of what he said: "[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]As for the woman in the first story, she reminds me of my parents who would be about the same age. They never did learn to handle their money, and I have spent most of my life trying to unlearn their lessons. My hope is that I've taught my children differently so they don't have to struggle as much and can spend much more of their lives living their dreams."[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I used to think that the generation that's about completely gone (WW2) who had lived through the Great Depression would "all" be savers. Not so. My current neighbor is 71. He cared for his elderly parents for the last 9 years before they both died in 2016. His dad was 93 and mom 91. They were in debt about $30,000 when they died. No car, didn't own the home they were in (it was their nephew's) and he had been a mid-level manager for Ford.  My neighbor said his dad never could handle money and his mom never understood it either. The son (him) scraped enough together for cremation and spend a month telling creditors to bugger off. So its not all this younger generation that has no real money sense. [/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Now I'd agree that kids these days don't know much about budgeting, after all its been dropped from public school classes (I have a close family member who was a teacher, she told me its been gone from middle and high schools for over 15 years now...) along with auto shop, home economics etc.  If their parents can't budget, they dont have much of a chance themselves.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Our fast paced, get it now, easy credit, Madison Avenue high pressure advertising doesnt help either. Everything is portrayed as "got to have it" or "latest thing" or "this will make you thin/sexy/popular/friends envious". The advertising is so slick (so well done) that it is hard for younger people to see through the lure and the lie. [/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]What does this comment have to do with the lady in the story, well, not much but it's just a comment...[/font]

 

[Dgorila1]

The people who are screwed are the responsible savers.  They did without.  They have a nest egg.  Then medical disaster strikes.  They have to spend down their assets until they are impoverished, including using assets that would have helped support their spouse in the spouse's old age.  I saw that too many times.  It costs about $90,000 a year for good nursing home care.  How many of you would be able to pay for that year after year?  

I've seen this countless times as well and it shows how screwed up the system is. You have to get rid of all assets and money you worked a lifetime for until you're at poverty level to qualify for funding to help cover nursing home expenses. F'in crazy!

 

[WalkaboutTed]

IRAs and retirement accounts are countable assets for Medicaid. Or, you can cash them in and annuitize them. But if your income is too high ($2199 a month from all income streams combined, including Social Security), you don't qualify either. If you have enough assets and can pay sizeable attorneys fees, though, you can set up what's called a Miller trust. The latter shows that those with the large assets wins.

 

[WalkaboutTed]

My husband and I plan to divorce if the healthcare costs are looking to bankrupt the healthy spouse. We live in a community property state where legally, we are considered one person, making the potential situation worse. The kids are aware of this so that they don't think it's a heartless maneuver.
Ted

 

[mayble]

No one knows how long a person has left or what they may have to contribute in that time, and no one has the right to evaluate another person's worth or their rights to life and all the comforts and pleasures that may be had.
It takes a cold and heartless person to think otherwise and I'll never understand people like you.

 

[rvwandering]

Thread closed.

 

[cyndi]

I took the liberty of deleting any of the posts that seemed to have political leanings and/or were on the judgy side

If I've missed any feel free to report it. I was getting a little cross-eyed