Your strategy for end-of-life care if you don't have children?

[TeeJay1952]

If you feel you must leave, try not to leave a mess. (gun guys)

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

So what I'm getting from this thread is this:

- Save up a lot of money. How much do you reckon is enough? A nursing home is $10K a month??? If I'm 30 now I expect that number to be much higher due to inflation. Or is that $10K for a really, really good nursing home? What about a middle-of-the-road one? I don't expect to be able to afford that much for more than, say, 3 years.

- You can end up requiring assistance long before you actually die and long before you become "miserable" with your quality of life. My grandparents lived for over a decade in this state - they were too old to drive, buy their own groceries, cook, and clean the house. But they could still go to the bathroom on their own, wash themselves, read books, etc. They lived like this for a decade with my uncle and aunt who lived down the street. For a decade. This kind of living would be prohibitively expensive if you were doing it on your own with only your savings and social security, no?

- Medical costs are completely unpredictable. A nursing home is such and such a month. A live-in nurse is such and such a month. Medical costs can completely ruin you, at least in the states. In countries like the UK and Aus and NZ I don't believe this is possible.

- Suicide. This completely ignores point #2 above, that you can end up requiring assistance LONG before you actually reach a point where your quality of life degrades to the point of wanting suicide.

I'd like to hear from people who live in more socialist countries. Is this even a conversation that you need to have? Or will the government provide everything at a reasonable level of quality? In the USA there is a HUGE percentage of 65+ people living in poverty (ranging from 20% to 45%). Norway? 1.8%.

 

[JEDI]

So what I'm getting from this thread is this:

- Save up a lot of money. How much do you reckon is enough? A nursing home is $10K a month??? If I'm 30 now I expect that number to be much higher due to inflation. Or is that $10K for a really, really good nursing home? What about a middle-of-the-road one? I don't expect to be able to afford that much for more than, say, 3 years.

- You can end up requiring assistance long before you actually die and long before you become "miserable" with your quality of life. My grandparents lived for over a decade in this state - they were too old to drive, buy their own groceries, cook, and clean the house. But they could still go to the bathroom on their own, wash themselves, read books, etc. They lived like this for a decade with my uncle and aunt who lived down the street. For a decade. This kind of living would be prohibitively expensive if you were doing it on your own with only your savings and social security, no?

- Medical costs are completely unpredictable. A nursing home is such and such a month. A live-in nurse is such and such a month. Medical costs can completely ruin you, at least in the states. In countries like the UK and Aus and NZ I don't believe this is possible.

- Suicide. This completely ignores point #2 above, that you can end up requiring assistance LONG before you actually reach a point where your quality of life degrades to the point of wanting suicide.

I'd like to hear from people who live in more socialist countries. Is this even a conversation that you need to have? Or will the government provide everything at a reasonable level of quality? In the USA there is a HUGE percentage of 65+ people living in poverty (ranging from 20% to 45%). Norway? 1.8%.

people who are in nursing homes go there to die.
they're so sick that they die within 2yrs, unless it's Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's = body fine, your mind is gone.
you last YEARS.

as for 65+ people being in poverty:
some are engineered that way to take advantage of Medicaid.
throw everything you have in a trust and claim poverty to have the state pay for everything medical.

in some states, you can own the trust, throw your house in the trust, live in your house, and STILL get the state to pay for everything including daily nurse/home care!

 

[IronWing]

Parents I can see, but why would anyone who doesn't have children want to end their life?