It keeps getting harder to save for retirement

The Washington Post Business Section Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017 has a long article by Jonnelle Marte, “Why it’s so hard to save for retirement”, with an exposition of the career of Ted Benna. 

  

The basic problem is that, while the 401(k) was a good idea, employers expected it to replace defined benefit pensions, which they tended to freeze starting in the late 1990s.

   

Another problem is that social security offsets were often designed around the idea of starting early retirement at 62, despite the fact that people live longer.  Careers from the past simply weren’t sustainable for enough decades.  

Seniors can face sudden driving restrictions as medical scrutiny of prescriptions steps up

The tendency for some physicians to require more frequent visits to renew prescriptions raises the risk that problems, not causing overt symptoms, could be found.  In some states there are mandatory reporting requirements about drivers on physicians.  These states are California, Delaware, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon and Pennsylvania, as outlined in a 2011 New York Times article by Jane Gross.  

In most other states, doctors may report elderly drivers.  It is typical for rules to prohibit driving for six months after a stroke, three months after a TIA (enough to cause medical treatment), and perhaps three months after pacemaker implantation.  Amazingly, driving while on oxygen if often permitted, partially.

  

Here are three references for Virginia:  Nolo,  DMV reporting form, and DMV policies. 

Opioid crisis seems to drive Medicare and insurance companies to demand more doctor visits to scrutinize all prescription refills

I got a text late last night that the CVS store couldn’t refill my Losartan blood pressure medicine because it required re-authorization.  I checked, and quickly saw that the refills had been less then previously.

I call the doctor’s office and I’m told that the insurance (I presume that’s Part D Medicare) now insists on more frequent monitoring, every six months, not every year.  From a Medicare perspective, that encourages more doctor visits, more revenue for doctors, and more hits on the federal deficit for Medicare spending.

This seems to be driven by the opioid crisis, which I have nothing to do with.  But “big government” has dragged me into it anyway. 

There are some remote issues with some blood pressure meds.  They can, in rare cases, lead to afib or cardiac arrests.   Still, this is opening my own life, at least, to possible unnecessary disruption and interruption. 

  

A lot of people live as long with very little medical intervention as with a lot.  My paternal grandfather lived to 89 with almost no doctor visits (on a farm, with physical activity).  So some of us who don’t use the benefits a lot support those who do need it.  That’s how health insurance works.

Seniors in nursing homes and assisted living centers sometimes had to flee Irma in large numbers

Moving disabled seniors to shelters, in large numbers, from nursing homes and assisted living centers was indeed harrowing before the arrival of Irma, according to this Washington Post story by Aaron C. Davis and others on Sept. 9.  The link is here. 

In some cases, distant relatives bought them plane tickets north and arranged for special services to take them to airports. 

Some with Alzheimers were told they were going “on vacation.” 

  

All of this could be construed as an argument for keeping disabled seniors in their own homes with adult children when possible, but in this case, seniors had already moved to Florida. It’s always been common for seniors to retire on coastal communities, increasing risk.   

Picture:  Naples FL, mine, 2004. 

Consumer Reports covers assisted living costs

Consumer Reports has a cover issue, “Who Will Care for You?” with a big article  on p. 30 (Oct. 2017 issue). 

There is an interesting chart of the cost of a year’s rent in an assisted living facility, which for Washington DC is over $80000 a year.  Florida and North Carolina are among the cheapest, at $36000.

  

Lower birth dates and longer life spans are part of the problem.  I wonder, do big families help?  Or are seniors who live alone (like I do) likely to stay sharp longer because they have to?  I know other seniors (from FL) who are still into fitness training, bicycle races, swims, and the like.    Physical fitness and stronger immune systems seem to counteract a future of dependency. 

Congress still could threaten retirees as debt ceiling plays out

Politico Playbook has the latest analysis on the debt ceiling issue, with a deadline in very early October.

Trump seems to want to raise it cleanly (which is a refreshing change from his earlier ideas of “deals” with creditors).  But he offered to tie it to a veterans bill, which some hard liners rejected, and now there is a “big mess” (or “big problem”).  Now the latest is to tie it to Houston relief efforts.

I would be concerned about attempts to bargain away other people’s lives, like immediate cutoff of some social security benefits for people who “don’t need it”.  Boehner seemed to threaten than back in 2011. 

  

I leaves one watching his own back all the time. 

Trump winds down the myRA flexible retirement program for lower income people

The Trump Administration will wind down the myRA program, a flexible IRA that had been set up for low and moderate income people with more flexible withdrawal rules.

On Truth-Out and TalkPovery, Alysha Alani describes the program explains how she helped low income clients in the Seattle area with the program.

Wikipedia attribution link for Seattle area aerial picture under CCSA 4.0 by Aditayade