It's getting harder and harder to read the news without becoming depressed. While the general population is quickly aging before our collective eyes – mainly due to improved medical care and health habits – the punitive aspect of growing old without any safety net is growing exponentially. Just this week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that because of budgetary considerations decided on and passed by the California legislature back in 2011, organizations that accept Medi-Cal disbursements from the government are going to be hit with millions of dollars in payments retroactive to past years. As an example, the Jewish Home of San Francisco, a venerable institution that supplies care to the aged, is, because it relies on Medi-Cal payments to stay afloat, going to be hit with an 11 million dollar payment for 2011 alone, simply because it accepts Medi-Cal disbursements! These Medi-Cal payments are the only lifeline for many elderly people without means. This is insane, and says much that is negative about our society, one in which rich people come first and foremost...
I'm not rich (or even close), and I have to admit that I'm greatly worried about my old age. We Americans have always prided ourselves as living in the greatest country in the world, but I'm afraid that's just not the case, my friends. We are shooting ourselves in the foot, unable or unwilling to recognize that one of those famous "inalienable rights" ought to provide senior citizens with respectable old-age care. Various European countries have figured this out, but apparently we can't. In America's profit-is-all-that-counts system, the powers that be (and we are to blame for electing them) just figure, "What the hell – let's just let all those poor, old people drop dead! It's so much easier that way!"
If you're old, and without money, make no mistake: you are in serious trouble. Count me as one of them...
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