I am not a doctor of finance. I’m a medical doctor. So when I enter an elderly patient’s home, I’m not expecting to do a wallet biopsy. Whether they can pay me or not is of little consequence. I do think, however, about whether they will be able to afford the care I prescribe. Will they have enough to pay for that extra caregiver? Is there cash to keep a roof over their head, food to nourish them? These considerations only became a part of my practice as I grew experienced enough to move past the initial medical reasons that I was being called for. Not only health, but finances can be heartbreaking. Over many years of seeing my patients suffer and die from disastrous medical illness, I find it curious that I can’t seem to let go of the unbearably sad story of Isabel. She was chronically ill and suffering. Alone in the world. And then she became a hundred and homeless.
Elderly at risk
I was not her financial advisor. So I can’t tell you how she ended up a hundred and homeless. Maybe she never truly owned the home and was still paying the mortgage. Maybe she did a reverse mortgage as the years passed and her body refused to succumb. She possibly took a line of credit on her home to pay for a full-time caregiver?
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