When I talk to community groups about long-term care, I almost always get a question about dad's car keys: An adult child fears for the safety of dad (and other drivers who share the road with him). Dad is terrified that he'll lose a huge piece of his independence when he can no longer drive to the supermarket or visit friends. And, in truth, dad isn't wrong. In too [...]
There may be no more controversial issue for both Baby Boomers and their parents than Social Security. After AARP officials said last week the organization would be open to discussing changes in the system, I wrote the following for my TaxVox blog: Social Security has two obvious problems. While the system is not “broke,” as some insist, it will have only enough [...]
We all know the sad story: Despite extensive rehab, a patient in a skilled nursing facility is failing. Instead of improving, she is finds herself returning to the local hospital with trouble breathing, heart failure, or unmanaged pain. Eventually, she may die in the hospital hooked up to a ventilator and feeding tube that she never wanted. A team at [...]
We Americans often fall into the trap of looking at our problems in isolation. But every nation in the world faces its own challenges when it comes to caring for the elderly and younger people with disabilities. An imporant new report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) provides an important international context for caregiving and caregivers in the developed [...]
More than 8,000 general practitioners in the United Kingdom will soon begin displaying in their offices seven "end-of-life" promises to their patients. It is a great idea. According to an article in The Independent, every GP (much like primary care physicians in the U.S.) will post this end-of-life pledge on the wall of their waiting room. The Charter for End of [...]