An except from an interesting op-ed:
My friend M. — you’ll understand in a moment why she’s terrified of my using her name — had to make a searing decision a year ago. She was married to a sweet, gentle man whom she loved, but who had become increasingly absent-minded. Finally, he was diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
The disease is degenerative, and he will become steadily less able to care for himself. At some point, as his medical needs multiply, he will probably need to be institutionalized.
The hospital arranged a conference call with a social worker, who outlined how the dementia and its financial toll on the family would progress, and then added, out of the blue: “Maybe you should divorce.”
“I was blown away,” M. told me. But, she said, the hospital staff members explained that they had seen it all before, many times. If M.’s husband required long-term care, the costs would be catastrophic even for a middle-class family with savings.
Eventually, after the expenses whittled away their combined assets, her husband could go on Medicaid — but by then their children’s nest egg would be gone, along with her 401(k) plan. She would face a bleak retirement with neither her husband nor her savings.
(Yes, I recognize that it is NYTimes and some people take exception).
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/opinion/30kristof.html?_r=1
Tags: 401 k, assets, blown away, Catastrophic, conference call, dementia, divorce, early onset dementia, gentle man, Health Care Option, Health Help, Help Marriage, hospital staff members, long term care, marriage, medicaid, middle class family, nest egg, nytimes, out of the blue, Public Health Care, retirement, social worker
