As an 82-year-old woman living in Wake Forest who is providing long-distance care for an 80-year-old brother in a Maine nursing home, I read the August 14 article in The Washington Post with great interest because it describes the growing lack of young people to care for the elderly in that state.
“Across Maine, families . . . are being hammered by two slow-moving demographic forces — the growth of the retirement population and a simultaneous decline in young workers — that have been exacerbated by a national worker shortage pushing up the cost of labor. The unemployment rate in Maine is 3.2 percent, below the national average of 3.7 percent,” the article says.
And here the writer opens up the problem to include the whole country. “The disconnect between Maine’s aging population and its need for young workers to care for that population is expected to be mirrored in states throughout the country over the coming decade, demographic experts say. And that’s especially true in states with populations with fewer immigrants, who are disproportionately represented in many occupations serving the elderly, statistics show.” Or even in states where there is growth and immigrants, such as the Triangle area, contrasted with the eastern and western parts of North Carolina where towns are losing industry and population, often leaving behind the elderly.
Maine’s elderly makes it the oldest state in the union. “Last year, Maine crossed a crucial aging milestone: A fifth of its population is older than 65, which meets the definition of ‘super-aged,’ according to the World Bank,” The Washington Post article says.
Also, “By 2026, Maine will be joined by more than 15 other states, according to Fitch Ratings, including Vermont and New Hampshire, Maine’s neighbors in the Northeast; Montana; Delaware; West Virginia; Wisconsin; and Pennsylvania. More than a dozen more will meet that criterion by 2030.
“Across the country, the number of seniors will grow by more than 40 million, approximately doubling between 2015 and 2050, while the population older than 85 will come close to tripling.
“Experts say the nation will have to refashion its workforce, overhaul its old-age programs and learn how to care for tens of millions of elderly people without ruining their families’ financial lives.”
Yeah! My brother’s savings have been eaten up by the cost of the nursing home, which recently raised its rates by $25 per day, but I do understand it is hard to find people to care for a mostly bed-ridden patient who is quite deaf so doesn’t understand questions or directions, has had fits of rage and is also developing dementia and often has fantasies or delusions. I am assured by my brother’s neighbors, who visit him regularly, that it is a very good nursing home, operated by a community board of directors, and some of the staff knew him from before. “I used to buy meat from him,” one of the nurses told me.
Thankfully, he has been approved for Maine’s version of Medicaid called MaineCare. It pays for all of his care, all of his physical therapy and Social Security has begun paying for the $46.10 per month he would owe for Medicare Part D. I pay most of his Social Security check to the nursing home and he keeps $40 for personal care. It is a very good deal.
Yes, I had seriously thought about moving him to Wake Forest. Aside from the difficulty of logistics for three older people – my husband would have to be involved – I decided against the move for a simple reason: Medicaid in North Carolina is stingy to the point of cruelty. It would only provide 10 physical therapy sessions after a stroke! He has had two and gets therapy in Maine every day.
I do advocate for Medicaid expansion and better benefits in North Carolina, but the only real solution to our aging is – young people, immigration, welcoming people who are ready and willing to work.
It might take a whole for a lot of them to get to Maine, but they would be welcomed with open arms by people like Albert Rose, 40, the owner of seafood business who has had two torn rotator cuffs and a herniated disk but still does all the heavy lifting – crates of lobster – because he cannot find help.
The Washington Post article included a lot of statistics that readers might want to ponder.
“From 2015 to 2050, the number of Americans 85 and older will increase by more than 200 percent, while those ages 75 to 84 will rise by more than 100 percent, according to AARP. By contrast, the number of Americans younger than 65 will increase by about 12 percent.
“America’s federal programs have not kept pace with this enormous demographic shift. With a few minor exceptions, Medicare does not pay for long-term-care services. Medicaid offers limited benefits but is available only to the very poor. The private market also has not been able to fill the void, as 7 percent of costs in the long-term-care market are covered by private long-term insurers.
“The United States is projected to have 7.8 million job openings for care workers by the middle of the next decade, making it among the fastest-growing professions in the country, with millions of new openings created by higher demand; millions of care workers retiring; and millions more finding new professions, according to the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, an advocacy organization. The total cost of caring for America’s elderly will double from $2.8 trillion to $5.6 trillion by 2047, a report by the consulting firm PwC found.
“The U.S. is just starting this journey, and Maine is at the leading edge,” said Jess Maurer, executive director of the Maine Council on Aging. “As we are living longer, all the systems that have always worked for us may have to be changed.”
“Congress created a commission to study the long-term-care problem. In 2013, it issued dozens of recommendations, including a “national strategy” to help family caregivers, but “a fair number of these things have not been implemented. Those that have been implemented are being implemented far too slowly,” said Bruce Chernof, co-author of the commission’s report and president and chief executive of the SCAN Foundation, which advocates on long-term-care issues.
“Left unaddressed, this will be catastrophic. We as a country have not wrapped our heads around what it’s going to take to pay for long-term care,” Chernof said.
“Other countries have responded to their aging populations with government-provided care, and many have beefed up the number of aides and providers. America and England are the only economically developed nations in the West that do not provide a universal long-term-care benefit, said Howard Gleckman, author of a book about long-term care and a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.”
One Response
We Boomers have been a “demographic bulge” since the 50’s. First, we triggered the need for double-shifting the elementary schools, then we thundered onto campuses and overwhelmed the Housing Offices, then we flooded the employment market with inexperience. Now we’re draining Social Security and eventually we’ll overcrowd the graveyards. Soon enough, we’ll be gone, and then the world’s population can return to some sort of comparative equilibrium. It won’t require more than a generation or so.