Class Warfare
One of the differences I was slow to notice (although it has occasionally been much in the news) between the US and Canada – is the lengths to which the income redistribution schemes go. I was thinking on this topic again this weekend due to being very close to such a situation right now.
We moved my wife’s mother nearby (from Oklahoma) some years ago as her health began to fail. The city has several senior’s apartment complexes and she’s been living in one for about 5 years. However, as her health began to fail quickly over the past year, we’ve had to start looking at a nursing home or extended care facility. So, with this experience, I’ve been able to compare to the care and cost of my grandmothers final years in Alberta. When my grandfather died, the task of caring for my grandmother fell on my mother, with some help from me. After a short stay in a senior’s complex in Cold Lake, my grandmother was moved to the extended care facility, which was an adjunct to the local hospital. (She was suffering from severe senility.) I found it interesting that she was actually continuing to accumulate wealth during that period, since the cost of the extended care facility was less than her monthly pension cheques (or checks for those south of the border).
The difference here in the US is that, generally, all the care facilities are privately owned. The general rule of thumb is that you get to pay the full cost of the facilities until such time as you have, basically, spent yourself into the poor house … somewhere around less than $4000 in assets. At that point the government takes over and covers your costs under Medicare and Medicaid (Medicare is automatic after … I believe … 65).
So, the inequity or difference that I see is that, in Canada, the taxes I pay (paid) cover everyone regardless of position or wealth … while in the USA the taxes only cover those that were grasshoppers during their productive life (as opposed to ants).
Whereas my grandmother managed to accumulate additional wealth after her entry into the extended care facility … her advanced senility ensured that she didn’t need anything except cigarettes … the cost for putting my MIL into the local nursing home is $160 per day. PLUS we have to allow them to obtain her medications – negating any value from her medical insurance. Before medications, that amounts to $58,400 per year for a semi-private room (as in ½ of a standard hospital room). Currently about 75% of the residents there, though, are housed using my tax dollars.
What a splendid example of a) the ant and the grasshopper, and b) class warfare carried to the extreme.
We moved my wife’s mother nearby (from Oklahoma) some years ago as her health began to fail. The city has several senior’s apartment complexes and she’s been living in one for about 5 years. However, as her health began to fail quickly over the past year, we’ve had to start looking at a nursing home or extended care facility. So, with this experience, I’ve been able to compare to the care and cost of my grandmothers final years in Alberta. When my grandfather died, the task of caring for my grandmother fell on my mother, with some help from me. After a short stay in a senior’s complex in Cold Lake, my grandmother was moved to the extended care facility, which was an adjunct to the local hospital. (She was suffering from severe senility.) I found it interesting that she was actually continuing to accumulate wealth during that period, since the cost of the extended care facility was less than her monthly pension cheques (or checks for those south of the border).
The difference here in the US is that, generally, all the care facilities are privately owned. The general rule of thumb is that you get to pay the full cost of the facilities until such time as you have, basically, spent yourself into the poor house … somewhere around less than $4000 in assets. At that point the government takes over and covers your costs under Medicare and Medicaid (Medicare is automatic after … I believe … 65).
So, the inequity or difference that I see is that, in Canada, the taxes I pay (paid) cover everyone regardless of position or wealth … while in the USA the taxes only cover those that were grasshoppers during their productive life (as opposed to ants).
Whereas my grandmother managed to accumulate additional wealth after her entry into the extended care facility … her advanced senility ensured that she didn’t need anything except cigarettes … the cost for putting my MIL into the local nursing home is $160 per day. PLUS we have to allow them to obtain her medications – negating any value from her medical insurance. Before medications, that amounts to $58,400 per year for a semi-private room (as in ½ of a standard hospital room). Currently about 75% of the residents there, though, are housed using my tax dollars.
What a splendid example of a) the ant and the grasshopper, and b) class warfare carried to the extreme.
posted by pete in Midland at 09:40
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