2 ms·
It's usually not all but there's an outlier in there somewhere. Many are critically ill. Some are on dialysis. Many are sick and yet refuse to take their medici
by muzani 3y ago
It's usually not all but there's an outlier in there somewhere. Many are critically ill. Some are on dialysis. Many are sick and yet refuse to take their medicine, and yet insist on doing heavy labor.
There's also some who can't go to the bathroom without help. These aren't dangerous, but they require a lot of attention. There's dementia. There's people who poop on the ground then sort their shit.
But many overlap with the above - the ones who can't move about pick up all kinds of illnesses. Pills for both mental health and physical health damage the organs, and so on.
We do see them cutting costs where possible, but nobody can do this on their own in a shift. An old lady who has fallen off her bed can be carried by 1-2 strong people with the right technique, but you still have the others. There's also the question of nobody wanting to do so. We interviewed a bunch of maids to see if they'd take care of the elderly, and nearly all rated it as their last option, compared to watching kids, cleaning cat litter, cooking, etc. There's the legal liability of being the caretaker of a paying customer who's at death's door. Many of the people who leave them there do not care about them, won't even visit them during holidays, they're just paying someone else to watch them die.
- p1esk 3y agoI'm guessing the vast majority of people with dementia cannot afford paying $11k/mo. What are their options? Is there an option of paying (much) less to receive a fraction of 24/7 care?
- muzani 3y agoWhat my wife did was quit her engineering job to take care of her mother (and the kids) full time. But mostly the mother; we can hire babysitters but not afford senior care. I believe an economist called it an external dependency. The family structure is designed for this kind of thing. But we started outsourcing senior care, which led to retirement plans, etc. It fixes a lot of things, but it may not be sustainable with longer life spans etc. I expect us to eventually cold turkey and go around back to family-based care, even if we as a society have to take a productivity hit.
- howard941 3y agoThe only options are draining all assets to qualify for Medicaid, or family care.