The Raw Economics of the Nursing Home

Here’s another example of why we need a long-term care financing system in America.  Charles Schrader wrote a really thoughtful first-person article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about his experience and the closure of Ashton, Care Center in Pipestone, Minnesota:

Whoever said that "life’s what happens while you’re making other plans" got it right.

We briefly put our evening on hold to give ourselves time to "check our e-mail." My wife’s was a real date-killer. Judy carefully handed me our laptop. "Here," she said, "What do you make of this?"

A cryptic but carefully crafted e-mail from the management of Ashton Care Center, Pipestone, Minn., where my 98-year-old mother-in-law had been living the past two years, invited — no, urged — our attendance the following Monday evening at a family/ community meeting to discuss the "financial challenges" facing Ashton.

Our calm gave way to angst. What could this mean? Increased fees? Reduced services? Then it hit me: "The place is closing," I suggested.

Last Friday night my wife and I had other plans. A pleasant supper out on the deck, followed by reading in the den, then a movie . . . Read Charle’s full article here.