BY WILLIAM C. HENRY No long term care of the elderly and infirm (Medicare doesn’t cover it), but TRILLION$ for the butchery and burial of our bravest. God forbid we should sacrifice a weapons system or two, or a war here or there, to provide security and peace of mind to our senior citizens. Once again the Obama administration is left searching for veracity and missing vertebrae. Apparently the fact that the CLASS (Community 
Living Assistance Services and Supports) program was predicted to become non-self-sustaining after its tenth year was sufficient cause for the Obama administration to fold its tent and signal a semi-provisional surrender. And, as if that weren’t anti-Asclepius enough, we’ve now learned that they’d prefer you not know about incompetent or unscrupulous doctors either. Let’s face it, this administration has almost always come a cropper whenever confronted with selecting among tough-choice prognoses or exhibiting the character needed to keep promises made when so doing might attract political scorn. Here’s my question for this or any future administration or Congress: How the hell do you propose we go about caring for America’s aging population if, in fact, you’re unable to come up with an “actuarially sound/deficit neutral” solution — and, let’s face it, we already know that you CAN’T. Do you plan to just gas them or go all-out-humane and gently shove them into the streets?! You know, I’ve tried diligently to discover what the estimated long term (beyond the 10 year threshold) yearly costs of CLASS-type implemented care would be, but apparently no one, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has seen fit to tackle the subject. But, in reality, it doesn’t matter what those costs will be. They are INEVITABLE! And, unless you’re willing to accept one of the aforementioned “solutions,” you’d better get ready to pay.
In the meantime, here are some examples of what you can damn well believe those eventual costs will pale in comparison to:
$1,200,000,000,000 = The amount Americans will spend this year on things they don’t need — alcohol, candy, gambling, jewelry, and the like.
$144,000,000,000 = The amount paid out in compensation (including bonuses) to fat cats at the top Wall Street securities and investment services firms for 2010.
$122,000,000,000 = The amount we will spend this year funding that unconscionable abomination known as the war in Afghanistan.
$102,000,000,000 = The annual cost of maintaining some 800 thoroughly useless U.S. military bases around the world excluding those in Iraq and Afghanistan.
$50,000,000,000 = The amount we will spend this year funding that other utterly useless abomination known as the War On Drugs.
$14,000,000,000 = The amount Americans spent last year on pornography.
So, all you greedy, self-serving and currently solvent (I think you know who I’m talking about), are you beginning to get the picture? Dignified and compassionate extended care for our elderly isn’t optional, it’s inalienable. The issue isn’t IF we’re going to pay for it, but WHEN and HOW. In 2000 the number of our citizens over age 65 was approximately 35 million. By 2030 that number will more than DOUBLE! And, millions of those are going to find themselves financially unable to obtain and/or sustain proper extended care. Sooner than later we need to ask ourselves what being able to live out one’s final years in comfort and dignity is worth to a supposedly “caring and compassionate” country like ours — especially since one of those unable-to-afford-long-term-
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Fed up early stage septuagenarian who has actually been most of there and done most of that. Born and raised in the picturesque Pocono Mountains. Quite well educated. Very lucky to have been born into a well-schooled and somewhat prosperous family. Long divorced. One beautiful, brilliant daughter. Two far above average grandsons. Semi-retired (how does anyone manage to do it completely these days?) and fully-tired of bullshit. Uncle of the Editor-In-Chief.
1,812 = The number of Americans killed in action in Afghanistan
14,342 = The number of Americans wounded in Afghanistan
0 = The number of financial industry kingpins indicted for having committed the most massive FRAUD in American history and wrecking the global economy, plunging untold millions into lives of misery and deprivation.