Incontrovertible Proof
Yesterday I looked at a document listing charges and payments to our sole credit card. I could not construct an audit trail to determine which charges had been reversed through a later payment. That was the most terrifying thing to occur to me in my 73 years.
Heretofore I have been able to conduct an audit in my head, knowing what offset what through multiple accounts. The loss of cognition is real and will only get worse. Last week I attended a Zoom podcast on low-pressure hydrocephalus. I learned that all aspects of the disease will worsen in tandem and I will become steadily weaker. Anhedonia has set in, and I’ve given up all forms of work. This newsletter is the last hold-out.
Earlier today my wife brought up the possibility of institutionalizing me in a VA facility. The issue is that she is 70, and can no longer maneuver me. Any other long-term care facility will insist that I must first exhaust my savings before admitting me. Unfortunately, my pensions are sufficient to cover minimum costs in a warehouse-style nursing home; without my pensions, my wife and daughter become homeless and unable to afford food.
The shortage of affordable long-term care faces most Americans. It does not affect President Biden nor anyone he knows, because government pensions are indexed to inflation. The rest of us played by the rules, got private pensions and put away money in retirement savings accounts because Social Security was never intended to be a full retirement income, but merely to supplement pensions and savings. My private pension is capped at three percent increase per year, and interest on my savings accounts is risible. The stocks and bonds are long gone.
I am left at an impasse.
And I’m no longer smart enough to figure a way around it.
The VA may be your only option, sadly. Long term care gets covered by Medicaid but you must be broke to use it. Your house and car can be not counted as assets, but that still leaves your wife with her minal Social Security. I'm facing that with my ex-wife now in a nursing home. Her current assets are covering the costs, but they will expire. Our son is managing her affairs and knows to hold on to her house because it doesn't count as an asset. My thoughts are with you. You must be awfully worried, more for your family.
That's awful. How did things get so bad in this country? I am sure there are thousands of people in your situation and someday, I may be one too. I am not sure what to say... I hope you do figure it out somehow.