Can rich countries care for the old without going bust?

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Pensioners already claim a big slice of governmental budgets, and the share will only rise as their numbers swell

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a hurry,” says Conny Helder, a Dutch minister who juggles the portfolios of sport and care for the elderly. She is referring to the second half of her job. The number of Dutch people aged 75 and older is expected almost to double by 2040, to 2.5m. The proportion of Dutchspent looking after the elderly is already among the highest in the world . Without big changes, it could double by 2050.

Some are beginning to make changes. In February President Joe Biden proposed minimum staffing requirements and better enforcement of rules in America’s nursing homes. A bill in Congress would boost state funding for the provision of care to people in their own homes. California’s “master plan for ageing” calls for the creation of 1m “high-quality caregiving jobs”. In 2021 Britain raised payroll taxes in part to pay for care of the elderly.

The less governments spend, the more individuals fill the gaps. In America 42m people take care of someone over 50, says Brendan Flinn of the AARP Public Policy Institute, which does research on issues that affect the elderly. The European Commission puts the value of informal care of elderly people and adults with disabilities at perhaps 2.5% of the European Union’s. Such responsibilities impose hidden costs in the form of stress and lost hours of paid work.

Ms Helder’s plan to make the elderly more independent is a bet that the interests of the old and those of the state coincide. She wants to “make sure people feel more independent…so they still remain part of society and interact with other people”. Over the next 20 years the government hopes to reduce the proportion of people receiving long-term care who are in institutions from 80% to 50%.

The shakier part of Ms Helder’s bet is her plan to use technology and non-professional carers as a substitute for paid human labour, for instance by offering video calls with nurses. A sign of the new thinking is the founding in 2018 of the Academy for Patients and Informal Caregivers at Maastricht University Medical Centre+, a partnership between a hospital and a university.

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This article is very much relevant to Canada

Probably shouldn't have fired all the unjabbed healthcare workers

Send them to Afghanistan

Those aged over 23 will have to be euthanized

No, because is simply impossible! Should all of the young people now become caretakers? The boomers screwed up, by refusing to have children, let them suffer the consequences....

There are enough internal migrants in Europe and we should have a programme to increase the birth rate of the native European population. What you are proposing is the destruction of Europe, its traditions, population, standard of living, etc.

You have no choice.

Ponzi scheme.

Good to see Lagarde has found a good home these days!

Yes they can, it’s not that hard, you Tory pricks

No

Just kick the ball down, making the problem worse.

Not when they have already spent the pension plan

Having paid NI all their puff, they find pensions among the poorest in the G7 because neither NHS nor senior care are fit for purpose now that seniors no longer peg out before frailty makes huge demands.

Did they ever cared about the old? They only steal with the help of the rich oligarchs.

The ones who payed for everything built can't be looked after, is that so? Shut up.

So how did governments prepare knowing this?

Terrible burden . Probably your clients not keen on letting them be a drain on their wealth. Which they got by exploiting them earlier. So now you know what posture to adopt.

That’s why they were ok with sucking the life out of the young, young at heart, & using millions as their personal human shields during “Covid.” Hid their fangs under dentures but not under a mask? The kids are plotting…

That’s why you’ve introduced monkey pox,AFRICANS were fine introduce pig pox it will kill you we are no longer slaves look for other ways to come back to AFRICA

👍

So what are they suggesting is the alternative?

Shame on these pensioners! 🤪

Pensioners? You mean those who paid into this corrupt system all their lives or the ones who paid in nothing but receive all sorts of benefits? How about all the millions of economic migrants who paid zero?

They get far too much. They've benefitted from huge growth in house prices and other assets over the years. It's time for them to pay their way. It shouldn't be up to the younger generation, who face way tougher economic conditions, to pay for them

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