Hi! I'm Ken Dychtwald. I'm a psychologist and a gerontologist. I've been studying aging for 35 years. This is Long-Term Care Awareness Month and I'm having the chance to speak out around the country about what's taking place with regard to our longer lives and why long-term care planning is so important.
So I guess the good news is that we're living longer and longer than anybody ever imagined. 100 years ago, the life expectancy was only 47; today living to 80 or 90 or 100 is becoming commonplace, which is largely good news, more time to learn, to work, to play, to enjoy our children and grandchildren to keep growing as human beings.
But the downside is that with longer lives comes the greater risk, the great likelihood of having an extended health problem. Long-term care is not covered by Medicare, nor is it covered by traditional health insurance. A lot of people don't realize it until they're in a problem, until they're in a crisis.
So, some of the things to think about are that should you need long-term care or extended care is becoming harder and harder and harder to count on family for that. Why, because we're seeing a care-giving crunch. Older generations average four, five, six kids each. They have a lot of children to call upon for help. Boomers and younger generations have only averaged two children each. A lot of those younger generations are working, women and the men, so are not available to care for mom and dad.
So what are of the kinds of things to do? First of all, is to realize that you might find yourself, needing long-term care. So now is the time, in your 40s or 50s or even 60s to talk to your loved ones about what might happen and how you're going to handle it.
Second, speak to a financial professional. Get some counseling on what the choices are. Third, make a plan. Write it down. There are some very helpful websites. Several that I found particularly helpful are LongTermCare.gov and CareAndTalk.com.
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