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| Loretta Anne Woodward Veney and her mother Doris Woodward |
Longevity
is generally better than its alternative. But when the body or
especially the mind wears out, caring for yourself or finding someone
else to do it for you can impoverish you in short order.
We
fail to plan for it at our peril. So when it seemed that Republicans in
Washington were close to passing legislation that could fundamentally
change Medicaid,
I wrote five straight columns
about the program. Already, the majority of Americans need Medicaid to
pay for at least some of their nursing home costs or care at home
because they’ve run out of money. Proposed caps on Medicaid, which have
not come to pass for now, had the potential to cause enormous problems.
In
the wake of those articles, you wrote in, hundreds of you, with
harrowing stories and hard-won advice, more of which I intend to present
in future columns. But a smaller number of people wrote in unprompted
to assign me homework — books that they found useful as they were
navigating their own changing conditions or those of spouses, close
friends or other family members.
This
week, I read all four books that came up at least twice in your
correspondence. I don’t recommend you do the same, for if you’re more
empathetic than average or prone to anxiety, you’ll finish the reading
sprint, as I did, emotionally wrung out and worried sick.
Still,
these books are all in their own way utterly essential reading. Few of
us are prepared for the financial and emotional complexities of managing
the last several years of our lives. But as we live longer, drain what
may prove to be inadequate retirement savings and lean harder on already
strained government programs, we’ll probably find ourselves facing ever
more challenging questions and unfortunate compromises. (
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Full Article & Source:
Hard-Won Advice in Books on Aging and Elder Care
