Too few babies and too many old folk

Recently two subjects come up repeatedly at news sites---the decline in births and the rapidly increasing popuation of elderly and their care needs. They allude also to the "sandwich" generation - middle aged people still working, still raising kids, still seeing to their children's educations and aso caring for their aging parents. The articles about caring for aging parents are heavily focused on the crushing experience of caring for parents with advanced dementia/Alzheimers. The Catholic church has spent millions fighting legal abortion for more than 50 years, to little effect. Now the church is battling another morally challenging issue--assisted dying. This article asks some good questions--what is the Church, not just the institution but THE church—the laity, the parish—going to offer those who see no viable course to escape non-stop pain and suffering other than death?

 https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/beyond-saying-no-church-s-answer-assisted-suicide 

 

Will the anti-abortion fight pattern of spinning the wheels while spending millions on lobbying be any more effective in fighting assisted dying? There won’t be enough babies to save the system. There are many theories about the decline in birth rates. I suspect that all play a part. It would be a good idea for the PTB to face reality and begin serious planning for a steady decline in the birth rate. They should stop wasting time pondering what appears to be looking for "soft" ways to coerce women to have more children to save social security and Medicare. They need to look at options that include increasing taxes on corporations, multi-millionaires, and the growing numbers of billionaires, and removing the income cap for deducting social security so that these deductions continue for all income, at the same rate as lower income Americans. Perhaps there should be a means test at some point. Trump earns way over the cap just with his salary as President, and also gets SS. But since our politicians are now owned by billionaires, tax increases are not likely anytime soon. Meanwhile the baby boomers keep getting old. There are no realistic policy solutions being proposed in the US as far as I know. Pushing for more couples to have big families isn’t going to do it. 

 Most elderly Americans, including those with Alzheimer's, are cared for by family, simply because hiring in home care or moving an elderly family member to assisted living is VERY expensive. But there is no financial help from government for this at all.  Instead, it proposes trillions more for the depleted weapons stockpile and a new class of unneeded battleships. Even when there is money (or Medicaid) to cover the cost of basic assisted living, many resist it. Many people in assisted living really don't want to be there (read the comments to the frequent articles on the subject) It’s depressing to be living where everyone is smiling through their pain while waiting to die. 

 Family caregiver burn-out is widespread. The looming eldercare crisis will be exacerbated by trump's deportation policies. Most caregivers, in homes and in facilities, are immigrants of color. In the last almost three years I haven't seen a single non-immigrant caregiver in either assisted living facility that my husband lived in (with me in the first, alone for a month in the second) nor in the home caregivers we have had. The work is very hard and is poorly paid, even in “luxury“ assisted living places with fees that run well into six figures annually. I have no idea how many caregivers are legal, or are using false SS cards, but our country desperately needs them. Americans should be thankful they are here and willing to undertake these very difficult jobs. The Haitians will be gone soon unless somebody files another lawsuit to delay. The Latinos live in fear, even if they are legal. So some no longer go to work, and all face a danger of arrest without a warrant, just based on the color of their skin and the language they use. The law of supply and demand hasn't been repealed, and a smaller caregiving workforce will result in even higher care costs soon. 

 So, what will be done to relieve the pressure—assisted dying? Some families follow advice to run through all their savings, or give their assets away, to qualify for Medicaid coverage for basic assisted living (not “ luxury” assisted living). They should be aware of the look-back provisions. When they apply after giving away or spending all their funds, Medicaid will look back at their finances for the previous five years and they will be ineligible for assistance if they followed the advice to deplete their assets during the five years before applying for assistance. Voluntary self-impoverishment v. voluntary assisted dying shouldn’t be the only options.. 

 In the comments to articles about the looming elderecare crisis, many of the elderly, or nearly old, say that they plan to request assisted dying once life holds no pleasure, no joy, only pain. They also don't want to be a huge burden for their adult children or adult grandchildren. I struggle with the moral issue of assisted dying, but I don't condemn those who seek it. 

 Americans, and especially Catholic christians, need to think hard about this as states continue to legalize assisted dying and the bishops fight it. The Catholic church has failed to persuade most Americans that abortion should be a crime after spending 50 years and millions and millions of dollars to end legal abortion. Abortion continues, as it always has, including before Roe v Wade. It will continue even if there is a national ban--history, including US history, has many, many examples of this reality. 

 Will the church also waste milions fighting the right to assisted dying legislation? If it does, what will it offer as an alternative? It has failed miserably in providing meaningful help to poor women who seek abortion, both at the local (parish) level and at the political level. Will it do any better with this new issue?