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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

#91

Post by spwa4 »

rco8786 wrote: post #50
stouset wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would wager that’s exactly what the GP thinks. It was pretty clear to me they think the entire system is set up so that anyone with needs is milked to extract the maximum possible amount of money.

I mean that's just trivially true right? For profit corporations are designed to maximize profits, therefore they must try to maximize the amount of money they extract from their customers.

As opposed to public companies? Come to Northwest Europe and you'll find a very similar problem: elderly in homes, so incredibly understaffed that there simply isn't anyone to pick up someone who falls for hours.

These days every few months there's a new "accident" reported in these places. They have been destaffed to dangerous levels. Apparently last months' issue was that the administration was wrong. A room that had an elderly person was registered as empty, but had an old lady inside. She starved to death because she was unable to leave the room and "didn't call for help" (probably didn't call loud enough).

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

#92

Post by warkdarrior »

righthand wrote: post #41
rkomorn wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess. Ancestor comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45302115 already starts with the context of not wanting to subscribe to a random site, so I don't know how we don't end back up exactly there to have a non-leaky system with micropayments on top?

But the solution to not wanting to subscribe is to pay the $0.50 or leave. Before it was: find a way around paywall or leave. The OP maybe wants free things only?

When it comes to digital stuff, everything wants free things only.

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

#93

Post by vdupras »

rco8786 wrote: post #23
thisisnotauser wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that's bad?

Possibly, but it's been the human condition ever since currency was invented.

I think that saying this is a convenient cover up of the shortcomings of our own culture. I really don't think that in all of human history, there's been no culture having a more healthy relationship with their elderly. I'd even wager that it's pretty easy to find counter-examples.

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

#94

Post by groggler »

dh2022 wrote: post #89
joules77 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

Are you volunteering yourself and your kids to not taking medication and seeing doctors in your old age? Or are you volunteering "other people"?

Seems like a nasty interpretation to assume a grandfather is other people and make it a straw man argument..

We could just as well ask:

Are you volunteering yourself and your children for 30 years hooked up to tubes with partially effective pain medication?

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

#95

Post by spwa4 »

Retric wrote: post #85
spwa4 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No worries, the EU (and UK) governments have gone ahead and taken the only real way out of this conundrum: researching robotic labor to take over for this ... and defunded it.

That’s not the only solution, curing dementia would largely solve the manpower issues here. Rapid population decline is a separate issue that makes this problem seem much worse. In other words, if elderly care works in a steady state population then it’s a symptom here not a cause.

You have seen the protests in France? Raising the retirement age will not go over well, to put it mildly.

Bloquons tout!

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

#96

Post by throaway5445454 »

spwa4 wrote: post #91
rco8786 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean that's just trivially true right? For profit corporations are designed to maximize profits, therefore they must try to maximize the amount of money they extract from their customers.

As opposed to public companies? Come to Northwest Europe and you'll find a very similar problem: elderly in homes, so incredibly understaffed that there simply isn't anyone to pick up someone who falls for hours. These days every few months there's a new "accident" reported in these places. They have been destaffed to dangerous levels. Apparently last months' issue was that the administration was wrong. A room that h…

prison life

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

#97

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#98

Post by Retric »

spwa4 wrote: post #95
Retric wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not the only solution, curing dementia would largely solve the manpower issues here. Rapid population decline is a separate issue that makes this problem seem much worse. In other words, if elderly care works in a steady state population then it’s a symptom here not a cause.

You have seen the protests in France? Raising the retirement age will not go over well, to put it mildly. Bloquons tout!

Increasing the retirement age isn’t necessary. It increases overall prosperity in exactly the same way all those things that increase productivity do by allowing you to use extra labor on other problems.

Instead changing demographics means retirement benefits may need to alter their payout formulas, but more prosperity means more money for retirees in absolute terms even if they keep receiving the same percentage of GDP. IE X% of per capita GDP in 2025 is way higher than X% of per capita GDP in 1975 adjusted for inflation easily offsetting increased lifespan. The same is nearly guaranteed in another 50 years.

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

#99

Post by justmedep »

BeetleB wrote: post #75
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…

LTC is risky, as others have pointed out. My company offers one that claims to be reliable (owned by an insurance company that's been around for over 100 years, albeit not in the LTC space). The one thing I didn't like about them: They don't adjust for inflation. So if you sign up for a $100K plan, you'll get $100K - which will worth a lot less by the time I need it.

Isn’t that adjusting for inflation and not for cost of living?

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

#100

Post by mikestew »

groggler wrote: post #94
dh2022 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you volunteering yourself and your kids to not taking medication and seeing doctors in your old age? Or are you volunteering "other people"?

Seems like a nasty interpretation to assume a grandfather is other people and make it a straw man argument.. We could just as well ask: Are you volunteering yourself and your children for 30 years hooked up to tubes with partially effective pain medication?

Are you volunteering yourself and your children for 30 years hooked up to tubes with partially effective pain medication?

No one spends 30 years hooked to tubes. Ask better questions, or at least dial back on the hyperbole if you'd like a reasonable discussion.

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