God's Waiting Room

We've all heard the phrase "Growing old gracefully", perhaps used a little too flippantly these days, but will that be the case? When, like me you are a twenty something young man, the nature of your own mortality rarely comes to mind. At the risk of sounding morbid, I find this astonishing because age is a destiny we will all have to face. We all hope that our twilight years will be spent relatively pain free, cherishing the fruits of our labour and loved ones. 

Unfortunately, this is a luxury afforded to fewer people then ever before. Some of us will become prisoners of our minds, retreating fretfully into a quagmire of mismatched memories. Whilst those dearest to us watch helplessly, as we descend ever further down the dark tunnel of incoherence that is Dementia. This evil disease is not picky, paying no heed to fame or fortune. I have a close connection to the horrors of Dementia, watching my grandmother succumb to its clutches. At the time of her passing, she was a whisper of the woman she once was, a permanent resident of "God's Waiting Room"

Dementia is a silent Spectre creeping up behind society. By 2021 there will be over 1 million people suffering with the disease. In 2012 alone, Dementia cost the taxpayer £23 billion and is only set to rise even further. As Britain's population ages, do we have a contingency plan to cope with the increasingly complex needs of the elderly?

There are a variety of options to consider, all with individual merits. The first and most common decision, is the selling of the sufferers assets (i.e. house and cars) to fund care costs. This method has one major disadvantage, it leaves no inheritance for parents to provide their children with future financial security. This choice is the only one currently available in the UK, however there are a few progressive alternatives. We could emulate the Germans, where everyone pays into a health insurance, solely for the purpose of covering care cost in old age. In the UK, this could be paid in conjunction with our mandatory National Insurance contributions. 

My personal preference is the National Insurance top-up scheme, as this would be fairly easy to implement, with little or no need for reconstruction. Either way, we need to decide now, before it's too late!!

See you next week,

John xx