Thursday, January 19, 2012

Caring for Aging Parents

Good morning friends. I have successfully uploaded  Put That Knife Away on Kindle. I have been getting great feedback from those of you who have now recieved the paperback edition from amazon.com. Now you can read it on your e-readers as well.  If you like the book, please review it for me on amazon. Read the two reviews that are now posted.
The NY Times Sunday Review  opinion article "Bargaining for a Child's Love" by Hendrik Hartog suggested that families are not doing the physical work of caring for their parents any longer. He also talks about the institutions and beaurocracies that caregivers struggle to deal with. His question is "Aren't we better off now, than we were before?"He suggests that parents formerly bargained with their children to stay home and care for them by promising them an inheritance- the house, the farm, the store, the bank account.
However, at least 21 percent of the nation's 48 million caregivers do clean bedsheets, change diapers, and help parents into the bathtub.Caregivers also manage complex medications, arrange and take their loved ones to medical appointments, manage their financial affairs. Many middle class families find themselves on the 'sandwich generation' caring for their children at the same time as caring for their parents.
Most insurances including Medicare do not pay for "custodial care." Private pay is extremely expensive. And unfortunately, families still argue about this care, about inheritances, financial and sentimental, real or imagined.

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