The New Old Age: A Policy of Pauperization

By By Jane Gross in the New York Times Even celebrities do not escape the shortcomings of America's absurd system of long-term care. Middle-class, middle-aged Americans are stretched to their emotional and financial limits caring for sick parents and spouses, a situation guaranteed to get worse, given our demographic trends, without a top-to-bottom overhaul of the health care system and its focus on acute, rather than chronic, long-term care.