Paying for Care

[Cugel]

The increasing numbers of a future ageing population maybe over well overestimated anyway.
Many of the present old age experienced a healthy physical lifestyle and a wartime ration diet with less sugar which stood them in good stead.
Many of the baby-boom generation are generally no where near as healthy, too many overweight, too much alcohol with sedentary lifestyles.
And the Me Me generations behind are in even worse shape with high sugary pop diet to wash down the muck they eat at McDonalds which is sure to kill them off long before they get to state pension age.

Well this 'ere boomer intends to live to a ripe and healthy old age, only dropping dead at 100 whilst trying to keep the wheel of the (rather younger) ladywife going up some impossible Welsh hill. I hope to obtain more from the pension than I did from the wages, see - a naughty equation but I can think of worserer ones.

Cugel, probably due to drop dead of blott tomorrow now.

[merseymouth]

Hi All, To avoid the possible problem of an ageing, degenerating spouse I failed to take of the advice given to me years ago - "When your spouse get to 40 swap them for two 20's" MM

[djnotts]

Saving is an impossibility for many. Minimum wage in the south east say gives only the most frugal life style because of accommodation costs. Ultimately the only solution is to legalise and facilitate euthanasia. I have no intention of undergoing the protracted and painful death that my wife suffered. My research has unearthed only depressing facts about most means of suicide, but I will go that way when I get the hard words.

[Oldjohnw]

Euthanasia because someone has limited finances is wrong.

[djnotts]

Not if that's what they want.

[Debs]

Euthanasia because someone has limited finances is wrong.

It would seem euthanasia is usually requested by people with a very limited or no 'quality of life'; in persistent pain with no hope of recovery or recourse.
I'm quite okay about it being legalised albeit with sensible and reasonable guidelines and with careful professional scrutiny.

But i wonder if the whole euthanasia question would only account for a tiny minority of very elderly folk, perhaps only 1% or less (?)

The other 99% would still exist in their old age and need care to be provided and paid for.
Perhaps euthanasia is a topic for another thread (?) if this thread is especially about paying for care of very old folk still living out their life.

[merseymouth]

Hi again, Just like to point out one "Little" problem?
What would happen if they have life insurance ? I say this as some policies have suicide exclusion clauses.
So if such a clause is in force what would happen to the premiums already paid? Would the Insurance company keep them?
If they were returned to the estate of the policy holder would it be viewed as a financial inducement to bring forward a natural event?
These are surely point to take in mind! TTFN MM

[Psamathe]

As the discussion has moved on to euthanasia, something I'm uncertain about is the relationship between euthanasia and DNR instructions.

One aspect of a DNR suggests that the instruction is to stop resuscitation when it is possible; a DNR is a bit irrelevant if resuscitation is not medically possible. So instructing medics not to act to resuscitate is surely a form of self-euthanasia.

Ian

[Mike Sales]

As the discussion has moved on to euthanasia, something I'm uncertain about is the relationship between euthanasia and DNR instructions.

One aspect of a DNR suggests that the instruction is to stop resuscitation when it is possible; a DNR is a bit irrelevant if resuscitation is not medically possible. So instructing medics not to act to resuscitate is surely a form of self-euthanasia.

Ian

I am reminded of the old injunction to doctors,

Thou shalt not kill, but needst not strive
Officiously, to keep alive.

[djnotts]

DNR is I suppose a form of voluntary euthanasia, actuated by an Advance Directive. My daughter holds a copy of mine and another is top doc on my hospital records file. Medics have to be reminded that to ignore such instructions is now a criminal offence, not merely a civil matter.

[softlips]

My own Mum, now in her late eighties, is shrewd enough to keep spending any excess dosh to keep her savings to below the threshold that would cut off support. The good thing about that is that her home is now significantly upgraded from when she first moved in, with new boiler, new carpets, new cooker, new furniture, etc. But the incentive to spend to keep your savings very low seems crackers to me.

I should add that she comes from a working class background and spent her working life actually working, so she doesn't see why others should get for free anything she would have to pay for.

Local council put a charge on my mother’s house. When she died they took their share first. Her estate would have been worth much more if Theresa May’s ridiculed so called dementia tax had been in operation.

[francovendee]

Thailand is somewhere that families can send their aged relatives to at lower cost.
I heard a woman being interviewed about this. Her mother was in one and she said her mother had the best of care.
Not at all sure about the ethics of this.
Different, but a bit like sending our waste overseas, out of sight out of mind.