Bankruptcy rising amongst seniors

Kingcoal

Starting in the not so distant future, the "80% 'ers" will be allowed to continue to their natural death. That's the near term die off right there. After all, it really is up to the doctors and right now it's "free." When it becomes not free, families, hospitals, doctors will need to make business decisions. Life expectancy will drop, but oh well, you are talking about extending "life" only a year or so at best and that life often isn't much of a life.
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"That's the problem with mercy, kid... It just ain't professional" - Fast Eddie, The Color of Money

vision-master

Like who wants to live to 90 anyhoo. 70 to 75 will be fine for me. I had a nice life with about 55 years of cheap energy anyways. See ya suckers...... Razz

MrBill · Expert Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 5215 Location: Eurasia

TreeFarmer wrote:

Plantagenet

Mr. Bill is right, as usual.

The US is literally "indebted" to its seniors, because they have been "pre-taxed" to pay for their own retirement.......or at least thats what they were told. The "social security trust fund" contains billions of dollars of IOUs from the US to the social security administration to pay seniors back for the excess social security taxes they have already paid.

Its time to raise taxes and start paying the debt back, America. Smile

hope_full · Heavy Crude Joined: May 27, 2008 Posts: 173

Social Security is a farce and I doubt it'll still be solvent when I show up at the SS window and ask for my shoebox full of money (paid in monthly installments).

Can't attribute (sorry) but I remember reading a few years ago that the average retiree (in the early 1990s) was paid back every dollar he'd paid into social security within 22 months of retiring. Twenty-two months.

My father is 89 years old. He retired at 65. His medical bills in the last 18 months have been staggering. Last year, he had a medical procedure and the cost (including follow-up home care) was $100,000. His quality of life is not great and his health is still poor. Before he underwent this procedure, I suggested that he forego it and enjoy however much time he had left. He went nuts, explaining, "I paid into the system and I have a right to this medical care."

So, multiply my father's story by MILLIONS of people. As someone else said (quoting a poet), "The center cannot hold."

HF

vision-master

So, what's the alternative, cash in a sock, or what? Company pensions - done, 401k's to be worthless. Better get that shack out in the woods, eh.

benzoil

mattduke · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Oct 28, 2005 Posts: 1156

MrBill · Expert Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 5215 Location: Eurasia

Sadly, hope-full, you are right. Multiply your story by millions of others. Ditto for my grandparents. 40+ years in retirement, plus medical costs. My mom worked for 23-years and has been retired now for 13. She is in robust health. As much as we love them the math does not add up. The circle must be squared.
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The organized state is a wonderful invention whereby everyone can live at someone else's expense.

Blacksmith

Old people can be set by the side of the road. There they can either rely on the generosity of passersby, or they can freeze to death.

Alternately we could consider some sort of cull.
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Appuis ait fabrum esse suae quemque fortunae.
Alias Redneck

MrBill · Expert Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 5215 Location: Eurasia

During the BSE scare in England when they needed to cull something like 10.000 cows someone suggested that instead of just killing them and burning the carcasses that they be used to clear landmines instead. Same end result just another path to get there.
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The organized state is a wonderful invention whereby everyone can live at someone else's expense.

Daphne64

A few observations:

1) I am almost sure the bankruptcy rates are still quite a bit lower for senior citizens than for young-middle and middle aged people.

2) Assuming the impossible and the overall US economy 20 years from now looked something like today, most senior citizens of 2028 would be in horrible financial shape. We are not saving, while almost all of todays 70 and 80 somethings did.

3) Medicare is pretty ripe fruit for cuts. I'd start with heart bypasses and cancer treatments on folks with less than an X% chance of survival. The stat I have read on medicare spending for the last year of life is more like 35% than 80%, though.

3) Even apart from peak oil, peak food, peak water, soil degradation, ocean depletion and global warming with methane clathrate release, the US economy would be a train wreck in the next 20 years. A few public people have stood up and said that medicare is not sustainable. Not even those people have said what would be the likely pathway for medicare to go bye-bye, though. That mechanism is high inflation which is not admitted, and therefore reimbursements don't even come close to keeping up with inflation. We can clearly see this happening already. Left alone for 20 years, though, you would have doctors looking at spending $500 to treat someone and getting reimbursed $150. A few doctors would keep a few slots for charity of sorts, every one else would get turned away unless they had cash. Nursing homes would close en masse because they can't throw out a patient once admitted.

4) Alas, our future is even worse than 3), thanks to peak oil et al. Personally, I am looking at buying land in the northern US and setting up a farm so that our children and nephews and niece have a chance at survival. I would try to find a spot on the farm for my parents and in-laws if they can provide money to buy or improve the farm. Honestly, though, keeping my (currently) 80 year old parents alive is not really going to be a priority. We'll be challenged enough with other things.

MrBill · Expert Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 5215 Location: Eurasia

UPDATE: MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY

vision-master

Denny