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The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

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Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#51

Post by notmyjob »

leoqa wrote: post #43

I’m not particularly sympathetic to retirement home narratives that paint each person as a lonely, incompetent senior wasting away. I witnessed first hand how my mother spent her adulthood partying instead of providing and now it’s become a critical issue for our family to provide for her. Ultimately I don’t expect my children (or staff-journalist) to project pity on me for my circumstances. I run a weekly route with…

The problem with LTC insurance is it’s likely to go belly up and you are at the end of the day dealing with an insurer whose business model involves denying valid claims. All of that is assuming you can actually get LTC insurance. Good luck if you are over 50. It’s like the private form of social security, a Ponzi that’s approaching its moment of truth.

Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#52

Post by notmyjob »

ryandrake wrote: post #24
rco8786 wrote: post #15

Pretty sure we’re all being milked for profit. Thats kinda how this whole thing works.

Retirees are more likely than not to have built up at least a small pension or 401(k)[USA]: money sitting there earning interest and capital gains. You don't think the Aging Industry is going to just sit around and not try to grab as much of it as they can? They are going to do their best to ensure the system is set up to let them harvest those accounts dry.

Often by weaponizing elderly narcissism and exploiting cognitive decline in a quasi-legal fashion.

Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#53

Post by Digit-Al »

foobarian wrote: post #19
John23832 wrote: post #10

Under capitialism, why would anyone think that this is anything but expected. These living communities are meant to house you, until you die, for a price. You have saved up money to pay for that service until you die. Why would they leave money on the table? Why would they spend any extra on someone who's "going to die anyway". Someone who is barely ambulatory; who has few outside connections. It's the horrible resul…

> Why would they leave money on the table? Because if they don't, the customer will go to the competition who does.

Ever heard of a confusopoly[1]?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confusopoly

Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#54

Post by nemomarx »

oersted wrote: post #30
afavour wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been tried many times and it always fails. How can you know if the article is worth 50c before seeing it? As you said, it's a random entity you've never heard of before. Why micropayments will never be a thing in journalism: https://www.cjr.org/opinion/micropayments-subscription-pay-b...

I do agree with the spirit of your point, but there's an easy counterargument: How do you know that the next month worth of articles from the publisher you are subscribed to is worth the fee before seeing it? There is a such a thing as building trust in a brand, this is not a barrier to micropayments.

I think you could argue that a subscription model is basically trying to make you not think about that. Look at gyms and how they want you to forget to come in a little bit and not evaluate it month by month

Asking up front has the issue that you then have to think about money every time you open an article - a lot of friction

Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#55

Post by joules77 »

leoqa wrote: post #43

I’m not particularly sympathetic to retirement home narratives that paint each person as a lonely, incompetent senior wasting away. I witnessed first hand how my mother spent her adulthood partying instead of providing and now it’s become a critical issue for our family to provide for her. Ultimately I don’t expect my children (or staff-journalist) to project pity on me for my circumstances. I run a weekly route with…

Retirement is a stupid concept.

One of my Grandfathers just stopped taking medication and going to the docs. And died quite peacefully within a couple years of retiring. Death and decay is just natural and quick. While my other grandfather has been kept alive 30-35 years post retirement popping a tray full of pills everyday, having gone through dozens of surgeries and has had hopeless quality of life post retirement.

The med-industrial complex is a run-away train that is detached for any moral system. It can't even produce any morality anymore. Because its not efficient or rational to do so :)

Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#56

Post by dash2 »

I read the article and didn't actually see any evidence that this is not a reasonably fair and functional system. I did read:

* People complaining that the cafe wasn't as good as they liked.

* The fact that old people have signed up for a retirement village.

* The fact that some of them get confused and need help.

What's the evidence base here?

Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#57

Post by John23832 »

foobarian wrote: post #19
John23832 wrote: post #10

Under capitialism, why would anyone think that this is anything but expected. These living communities are meant to house you, until you die, for a price. You have saved up money to pay for that service until you die. Why would they leave money on the table? Why would they spend any extra on someone who's "going to die anyway". Someone who is barely ambulatory; who has few outside connections. It's the horrible resul…

> Why would they leave money on the table? Because if they don't, the customer will go to the competition who does.

Customers who are elderly, obviously don't have others watching over them, and are mentally and/or physically degraded? You expect those customers to exercise the choice of the market?

The reality is that once that elderly person has moved to the retirement facility, they're pretty much a locked in customer. The firm (sadly) can pretty much do with them as they please within the extent of the law.

Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#58

Post by josefritzishere »

joules77 wrote: post #55
leoqa wrote: post #43

I’m not particularly sympathetic to retirement home narratives that paint each person as a lonely, incompetent senior wasting away. I witnessed first hand how my mother spent her adulthood partying instead of providing and now it’s become a critical issue for our family to provide for her. Ultimately I don’t expect my children (or staff-journalist) to project pity on me for my circumstances. I run a weekly route with…

Retirement is a stupid concept. One of my Grandfathers just stopped taking medication and going to the docs. And died quite peacefully within a couple years of retiring. Death and decay is just natural and quick. While my other grandfather has been kept alive 30-35 years post retirement popping a tray full of pills everyday, having gone through dozens of surgeries and has had hopeless quality of life post retirement.…

Some of us get old and tired. Retirement is a necessity. Your opinion will change with age on this one I expect. retirement has existed really since humans lived past their 40s. (1700s) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement

Re: The sordid reality of retirement villages: Residents are being milked for profit

#60

Post by [deleted] »

rco8786 wrote: post #48
ryandrake wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retirees are more likely than not to have built up at least a small pension or 401(k)[USA]: money sitting there earning interest and capital gains. You don't think the Aging Industry is going to just sit around and not try to grab as much of it as they can? They are going to do their best to ensure the system is set up to let them harvest those accounts dry.

Yea again, that's not different than anyone else with any other amount of money. For profit corporations are designed from the ground up to separate us from our money (or "milk" if you will). In reading the article, it doesn't seem to me that anyone is being taken advantage of any more than all of us are when we walk into a shopping mall, open amazon.com, or buy a home.

[deleted]
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