Letters to the Editor: Increasingly expensive elder care ‘almost sounds like a conspiracy’

To the editor: Thank you, columnist Steve Lopez, for putting the elder cards on the table (“The monthly tab for her in-home elder care: $18,000. She can cover it, but how many others can?,” June 21).

It almost sounds like a conspiracy: Elder care becoming unaffordable for all but the 1% as Medicaid (which pays for more than half of the money spent on long-term care for the disabled and elderly each year) faces drastic cuts. Not to mention that cases of Alzheimer’s disease in the United States currently number about 7.2 million. Simultaneously, people must work longer and longer for full Social Security benefits.

But conspiracies are typically shrouded in secrecy. This situation is no secret. It’s been building for decades. The billionaires and their lackeys are betting that no one cares, that old and disabled lives are expendable.

What wonderful things they will do with the tax money saved from cutting Medicaid!

Susan Calhoun, Lynwood

..

To the editor: Most people can’t afford to have someone care for themselves alone 24 hours a day. In their final years, my parents lived in an assisted living facility for about half of what Reiko Kobata pays per person for in-home care. Sure, there are adjustments for an older person to move to assisted living. But I think the benefits of assisted living, including social opportunities and arranged medical appointments, make the move worthwhile. And if Kobata were to move, she could make economic use of her house, such as by renting it.

Michael Pollak, Los Angeles