John McCarron’s commentary (“The cold facts/It’s time for the middle-class elderly to get off the nation’s largest `welfare program’–Medicaid,” Op-Ed, Oct. 30) is accurate–to a point. Certainly it is imperative that we balance the budget. As a caring child and a parent, I am very concerned about Medicaid.
The current elderly are not financially equipped to fund a potential nursing home stay. I would guess that the majority of “middle-class elderly” thought they were retiring with a comfortable nest egg of $50,000 to 70,000. (Most had less than that.) Now, with people living longer, albeit in poor health, nursing home care runs a “whopping $38,000 per resident, per year.” How long will their assets cover nursing home care?
We “need to take more responsibility for our own old age,” McCarron writes. However, can the current generation of elderly find the means to fill the medigap? Must they be abandoned? Not likely. What is happening? In most cases, their children are attempting to fill the gap–as they should.
But here’s the punch line: It is unlikely that we can totally fill responsibility to our parents and simultaneously “take more responsibility for our own old age.” Will our children be asked to fill the gap for us as we age? (Need I mention that some elderly have no family to assist them?)
I suggest a more rational thought process that examines the consequences of a quick fix. A reasonable time line must be developed before we create a vicious cycle for years to come. At the very least, don’t abandon our current elderly citizens who are dependent on us today.
