Think Child Care is Expensive? Just Wait for Elder Care - Merit Educational Consultants
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Think Child Care is Expensive? Just Wait for Elder Care

If you think child care is expensive, brace yourself for elder care. Nursing homes charge upwards of $100,000 per year, which is about EIGHT TIMES more expensive than child care. Taking care of ones parents used to be shared by many children, but today, the family size has shrunk to just 2 kids per couple. Soon, seniors will outnumber children. 
 
There are 34 million family members who provide unpaid care to an older parent here in the US. Most of these caregivers are women. With the high cost of elder care, home-health aids, and nursing homes, many families opt to move in with the senior or have the senior move in with them.  This drastically changes the dynamics of the home and strips the family members of free time because they are juggling their jobs and their fulltime elder care responsibilities. 
 
Neither Medicare nor standard private health insurance cover long-term personal care.  Social security usually only covers a small percentage of nursing home costs. Although Medicaid does cover long-term care, it’ll only kick in after the patient has spent all of their savings and this varies from state to state. And private long-term care insurance is usually too expensive or not available for the patient. 
 
As our aging population grows, unpaid caregivers for seniors will become crippled with stress, loss of wages, and ruined family relations. Taking care of elders has long been considered a family responsibility with pressure on the children to handle everything from feeding, bathing, and entertaining to doctors’ appointments, financial planning, and long-term care. Many caregivers feel isolated and can’t afford to hire in-home caregivers or pay for nursing homes. 
 
I believe that elder care and how we as a society will finance it should be a topic for debates and campaign speeches for the 2020 elections. It’s just as important as child care, climate change, prescription drugs, and gun violence.  We all need to start having these conversations with our loved ones to pool resources and finances.