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Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

theguardian.com

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Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#111

Post by Sindisil »

vonnik wrote: post #32

I worked for a while selling fractional nurses into for-profit nursing/retirement homes at the end of Covid, got to interview some industry experts, who told me that these for-profit homes are the 21st century equivalent of 19th century insane asylums. If you or your loved ones have to enter one, seek at all costs a home that is not for profit (Catholic orders run some, Jewish organizations others, the VA also offers…

> I worked for a while selling fractional nurses into for-profit nursing/retirement homes

If that sentence fragment isn't a dystopian summary of the current state of at least US society, I don't know what is.

Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#112

Post by enoint »

vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #43

I have read that the big wealth transfer from boomers won't be as inheritance to their kids but most of it will go the the health and elderly care sectors. Hearing this stuff I totally believe it. I am thinking about more and more about a plan to off myself once I need expensive care so I am not a burden to the next generation.

I have a lot in common with other commenters here. I’m close to people who are close to death.

There are some diseases which will rob you of the choice of assisted suicide. You must legally prepare while you are still of sound mind and body.

Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#114

Post by e40 »

lisper wrote: post #24
rootsudo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest sign something is broken is when someone writes: "Thankfully, my mother died before the acquisition, and my father died last week, only a few months after the acquisition, so I don't have to deal with this any more." Depressing to read. I'm not sure on which side.

To be fair, my mother had cancer and my father had Parkinson's, and that was a much bigger factor in their ultimate quality of life than any deficiencies in the retirement home they found themselves in. So I don't mean "thankfully" in the sense that "thankfully they died prematurely so they didn't have to suffer under their home's new management", I mean it, "Thankfully the natural course of their lives timed their d…

I think most of us read it the way you meant it. Sorry for your loss.

The concern you raise is front and center for me, because my mother is 87 and we’ve been looking for a place. All the options are terrible, without considering PE.

Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#115

Post by WarmWash »

danny_codes wrote: post #88
e-dant wrote: post #15

The market is perfectly efficient, value is well attributed, lobbying is a social good, being rich means you’re smart and should have special privileges, optimizing for returns on investment is equivalent to optimizing for a better society Obviously I’m kidding, and something is rotten

We let capitalism run too far. Need to swing hard towards socialism or the whole thing will collapse

The actual problem is how do we give people things that are way more expensive than those people will ever be able to cover themselves?

The answer is to make someone else pay for it. But man, have you ever gone to dinner with your large tech salary and been advised you have a moral obligation to cover 80% of the table's bill, and then be demonized for scrutinizing what people ordered?

Socialism is great when you can get yourself to believe that the government is a bottomless money pit fed by evil people with infinite money harvested from captive forced labor.

Capitalism is great when you can get yourself to believe that the lives of people who cannot carry (or did not carry) their weight don't matter.

Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#116

Post by enoint »

rayiner wrote: post #89
nradov wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other fundamental problem is the demographic profile in most developed countries. We have aging populations, and proportionally fewer young people to care for them. I'll bet most HN users wouldn't want to work at a retirement home or assisted living facility even if it paid well. My father spent his final years in such a facility and dealing with him was quite difficult for the staff there. This will inevitably c…

The other other fundamental problem is that dealing with elderly people often is difficult and unpleasant and what can you really expect from people who aren't related to them? Daycares and preschools are often very loving places because babies are cute and trigger people's nurturing instincts but that's not true of the elderly.

In some parts of the facility, workers are recognized by older folks who are aging with poise. That connection looks mutual.

In other parts, memory care, you are never recognized by the patients. Prepare for combative, confused ill people; your job depends on not treating them like animals.

I see adult children visiting their parent, who doesn't recognize them, and wouldn’t understand that $115,000/year isn’t entirely paid by the state.

Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#117

Post by rpdillon »

I got this email in mid-March:

> I’m reaching out to start a dialogue regarding a possible non-executive founding directorship role for a new senior care deal.

> We are doing a roll-up. Acquiring and consolidating various senior living revenue generating companies, eliminating redundant operations, improve and expand service offerings and ultimately exit via private sale or IPO.

It was so bonkers I forwarded it to my wife, who works in a research center on aging, and she was like, "how many red flags can you fit into one email?"

This stuff is depressingly real.

Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#118

Post by Henchman21 »

lisper wrote: post #17

My parents ended up being forced by circumstances to move into a retirement home about five years ago. Fortunately, the place turned out to be run by people who mostly cared about their clients and so my parents' lives were basically OK, except that the food sucked (which AFAICT is par for the course at retirement homes). But a few months ago the place was acquired by a different company, which is trying to squeeze o…

The people that perform these acts to the elderly should be tortured to death. You may think "wow thats some hyperbole right there!" but active torture is effectively what they're engaged in against the people in their care.

So let's give them an eye for an eye.

Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#119

Post by giwook »

mmooss wrote: post #10
giwook wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The intentions may be good but that's unlikely to happen in our lifetime. What might be a more feasible solution?

It could happen this year; legislatures just need to pass laws. The hardest part is people posting comments like yours as a diversion from doing real work (though there are other hard parts too).

I find it interesting that you assume ill intent as the default when I was genuinely asking for actionable steps we could take to address a very real problem.

Perhaps consider giving people the benefit of the doubt instead of projecting your cynicism onto others.

Re: Private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs

#120

Post by giwook »

mmooss wrote: post #10
giwook wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The intentions may be good but that's unlikely to happen in our lifetime. What might be a more feasible solution?

It could happen this year; legislatures just need to pass laws. The hardest part is people posting comments like yours as a diversion from doing real work (though there are other hard parts too).

You say all it takes is for the legislature to pass the laws and seem to assume our government is functioning as expected without any bugs.

And yet we’re talking about an extremely well-connected and powerful industry in PE. Do you really think they won’t lobby intensely against legislation that would cripple their profits? Are the majority of our legislators really immune from considering corporate interests?

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