Need for Long Term Care
When he was growing up in Queens, N.Y., in the 1930s, Robert Raymond’s family struggled with money. He remembers vowing that he wouldn’t be in the same financial position when he got older. “We had some Thanksgiving dinners with just franks and beans on the table. I didn’t say this to my parents, but I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t live like that — but here we are,” said Robert, now 85.
The “we” are himself and his wife of 55 years, Claire, 82.
The “here” is the situation in which he swore never to be.
Like so many older Americans, the Raymonds have seen their life savings swallowed up by long-term care. It took the couple decades to turn their modest salaries into a $100,000 nest egg and just five years to completely deplete it after Claire moved into an assisted living facility.
And while she is getting the care she needs — she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 10 years ago and is disabled and in a wheelchair — her husband was kicked out their apartment in Clairemont for being behind on the rent and had to take temporary shelter in subsidized senior housing in downtown San Diego.
“We didn’t end up this way being careless, blowing all our money at the casino,” Robert said, sitting in a small studio apartment stacked with boxes filled with the couple’s possessions. “I’m sure I’m not unique in my age group of people getting old and getting wiped out.”In fact, the Raymonds’ financial downfall from middle-class retirees to destitute seniors is all too common. Long-term care, whether in the home, at an assisted living community or at a nursing home, is overwhelmingly paid out-of-pocket, from people’s savings. And multiple studies conducted in recent years all come to the same conclusion: America’s rapidly aging population is ill-prepared to pay for what’s coming.
According to a 2014 report by the National Health Policy Forum, based at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the average annual cost for nursing home care in 2012 was between $81,000 and $90,000, with assisted living facilities averaging $42,000 a year. And long-term care can sometimes stretch over periods of years.“While some seniors are well-prepared financially for their retirement years, most have limited savings and modest resources in retirement accounts and home equity,” a 2012 Kaiser Family Foundation study found.
“The top 5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older have retirement savings and financial assets totaling over $1.1 million, but most have considerably less. Median savings (retirement accounts and other financial assets) among seniors was nearly $66,900 in 2010. One-fourth of seniors had savings of less than $11,800. Among the 81 percent of seniors with home equity, the average amount was just over $136,000 in 2010, but half had less than $94,000.”
Tom Warschauer, director of financial planning programs at San Diego State University, said it’s common for people to believe they’re well-prepared for retirement when they’re not.
“It’s surprising when you ask people whether they’re well-prepared for retirement, in fact there’s data to show that the general answer is yes. But when you compare that with their assets, generally their assets aren’t enough,” he said. “Given the fact that this is common, and is going to be more prevalent in the future, we as a society are going to have to decide how to deal with this. It’s clearly an issue that needs a political solution and it’s not an easy solution because it’s expensive. One solution is Medicare could start to cover to long-term care, but Medicare is going broke already.”
Perfect storm
Ironically, the Raymonds, who didn’t have children, were surrounded by money throughout their adult lives, both working at mid-level jobs at various banks in San Diego. They lived modestly and never accumulated significant wealth. They rented instead of owning a home, but always made sure to put some of their paychecks away for retirement. With their $100,000 savings, combined monthly Social Security of about $3,000 a month and his $99.76 monthly pension from Great American Bank, the Raymonds felt confident they were on solid footing.
Robert Raymond, 85, had a good life, working hard and enjoying his marriage to Claire. But they have exhausted all their savings in caring for her medical needs. He is living in the Potiker Family Residences building downtown with assistance from several senior assistance organizations including Serving Seniors and the Alpha Project. His wife is in an assisted living facility in Point Loma.
A few weeks ago, things were looking particularly bleak for Robert Raymond. His landlord in Clairemont finally ran out of patience with being owed $4,000 in back rent and evicted him from his apartment. His car broke down. His dentures cracked. He missed his wife and didn’t even have a phone with which to call her. He was on the brink of homelessness.
Sometimes with bad luck, it rains. It pours. And then there’s an El Niño storm. “You have to deal with the hand you’re dealt, and we were dealt a pretty rough hand,” he said somberly.
But bad luck doesn’t always mean no luck: There have been been people extending a hand to help the Raymonds. Their landlord, for one, knowing of their precarious finances and fixed income, had frozen rent on their two-bedroom apartment at $1,500 long before their ability to pay ran out. And Claire’s assisted living facility in Point Loma lowered her monthly payments from $1,545 to $1,045, so her Social Security could cover the cost. Robert Raymond has also been aided by Serving Seniors, a nonprofit that annually assists 5,000 elderly San Diegans living in poverty with services that include meals, case management and transportation. Raymond is living in one of Serving Seniors’ two housing complexes, the Potiker Family Senior Residences on 14th Street in the East Village. His social worker, Parwin Tahir, even took the unusual step of creating a GoFundMe account to help raise $15,000 to get him out of debt and stabilize his situation. As of Friday, the appeal, which can be found at GoFundMe.com/cf6r2zkw, had raised $4,560.
“Stories like Robert’s are what Serving Seniors addresses every day,” said Elizabeth Berg, the organization’s director of communications and development. “Most of our seniors did not ever think they would end up in poverty.” Robert Raymond certainly didn’t think he’d end up poor again. Today, he thinks back to the vow he made all those years ago and how it was never far from his mind.
Back when he worked at Great American, he’d leave his downtown office and walk to Sixth Avenue to catch the bus to Clairemont, passing by homeless people hunkering down for the night. “I’d think to myself, ‘I’m going home to a warm apartment.’ And today I’m still grateful I’m not in that situation.”
Source. Perente, Michelle (2015, November, 27) Losing Your Life Savings to Long-term Care. The San-Diego Union Tribune
The “we” are himself and his wife of 55 years, Claire, 82.
The “here” is the situation in which he swore never to be.
Like so many older Americans, the Raymonds have seen their life savings swallowed up by long-term care. It took the couple decades to turn their modest salaries into a $100,000 nest egg and just five years to completely deplete it after Claire moved into an assisted living facility.
And while she is getting the care she needs — she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 10 years ago and is disabled and in a wheelchair — her husband was kicked out their apartment in Clairemont for being behind on the rent and had to take temporary shelter in subsidized senior housing in downtown San Diego.
“We didn’t end up this way being careless, blowing all our money at the casino,” Robert said, sitting in a small studio apartment stacked with boxes filled with the couple’s possessions. “I’m sure I’m not unique in my age group of people getting old and getting wiped out.”In fact, the Raymonds’ financial downfall from middle-class retirees to destitute seniors is all too common. Long-term care, whether in the home, at an assisted living community or at a nursing home, is overwhelmingly paid out-of-pocket, from people’s savings. And multiple studies conducted in recent years all come to the same conclusion: America’s rapidly aging population is ill-prepared to pay for what’s coming.
According to a 2014 report by the National Health Policy Forum, based at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the average annual cost for nursing home care in 2012 was between $81,000 and $90,000, with assisted living facilities averaging $42,000 a year. And long-term care can sometimes stretch over periods of years.“While some seniors are well-prepared financially for their retirement years, most have limited savings and modest resources in retirement accounts and home equity,” a 2012 Kaiser Family Foundation study found.
“The top 5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older have retirement savings and financial assets totaling over $1.1 million, but most have considerably less. Median savings (retirement accounts and other financial assets) among seniors was nearly $66,900 in 2010. One-fourth of seniors had savings of less than $11,800. Among the 81 percent of seniors with home equity, the average amount was just over $136,000 in 2010, but half had less than $94,000.”
Tom Warschauer, director of financial planning programs at San Diego State University, said it’s common for people to believe they’re well-prepared for retirement when they’re not.
“It’s surprising when you ask people whether they’re well-prepared for retirement, in fact there’s data to show that the general answer is yes. But when you compare that with their assets, generally their assets aren’t enough,” he said. “Given the fact that this is common, and is going to be more prevalent in the future, we as a society are going to have to decide how to deal with this. It’s clearly an issue that needs a political solution and it’s not an easy solution because it’s expensive. One solution is Medicare could start to cover to long-term care, but Medicare is going broke already.”
Perfect storm
Ironically, the Raymonds, who didn’t have children, were surrounded by money throughout their adult lives, both working at mid-level jobs at various banks in San Diego. They lived modestly and never accumulated significant wealth. They rented instead of owning a home, but always made sure to put some of their paychecks away for retirement. With their $100,000 savings, combined monthly Social Security of about $3,000 a month and his $99.76 monthly pension from Great American Bank, the Raymonds felt confident they were on solid footing.
Robert Raymond, 85, had a good life, working hard and enjoying his marriage to Claire. But they have exhausted all their savings in caring for her medical needs. He is living in the Potiker Family Residences building downtown with assistance from several senior assistance organizations including Serving Seniors and the Alpha Project. His wife is in an assisted living facility in Point Loma.
A few weeks ago, things were looking particularly bleak for Robert Raymond. His landlord in Clairemont finally ran out of patience with being owed $4,000 in back rent and evicted him from his apartment. His car broke down. His dentures cracked. He missed his wife and didn’t even have a phone with which to call her. He was on the brink of homelessness.
Sometimes with bad luck, it rains. It pours. And then there’s an El Niño storm. “You have to deal with the hand you’re dealt, and we were dealt a pretty rough hand,” he said somberly.
But bad luck doesn’t always mean no luck: There have been been people extending a hand to help the Raymonds. Their landlord, for one, knowing of their precarious finances and fixed income, had frozen rent on their two-bedroom apartment at $1,500 long before their ability to pay ran out. And Claire’s assisted living facility in Point Loma lowered her monthly payments from $1,545 to $1,045, so her Social Security could cover the cost. Robert Raymond has also been aided by Serving Seniors, a nonprofit that annually assists 5,000 elderly San Diegans living in poverty with services that include meals, case management and transportation. Raymond is living in one of Serving Seniors’ two housing complexes, the Potiker Family Senior Residences on 14th Street in the East Village. His social worker, Parwin Tahir, even took the unusual step of creating a GoFundMe account to help raise $15,000 to get him out of debt and stabilize his situation. As of Friday, the appeal, which can be found at GoFundMe.com/cf6r2zkw, had raised $4,560.
“Stories like Robert’s are what Serving Seniors addresses every day,” said Elizabeth Berg, the organization’s director of communications and development. “Most of our seniors did not ever think they would end up in poverty.” Robert Raymond certainly didn’t think he’d end up poor again. Today, he thinks back to the vow he made all those years ago and how it was never far from his mind.
Back when he worked at Great American, he’d leave his downtown office and walk to Sixth Avenue to catch the bus to Clairemont, passing by homeless people hunkering down for the night. “I’d think to myself, ‘I’m going home to a warm apartment.’ And today I’m still grateful I’m not in that situation.”
Source. Perente, Michelle (2015, November, 27) Losing Your Life Savings to Long-term Care. The San-Diego Union Tribune
