Michelle Cottle

Whether we're talking about logistics.

or in some cases, just the emotional toll this takes from watching a loved one decline.

And so lots of stories along those lines.

Then on the flip side, I was kind of gratified that some of the people had latched on to the dark humor that I talked about in my own experience, finding humor in the little things, or, you know, just huddling up with other family members to either reminisce or just talk through things that were going on that are kind of head-smacking.

So the majority of long-term care, if you're talking about chronic illness or just age or somebody to watch a parent who's got progressive dementia but not to the point where they need full-time nursing care, that...

is usually handled by Medicaid if you are eligible for Medicaid.

Medicaid is a poverty program.

You have to meet the criteria for it.

There are lots of ways to manage this.

People have to spend down their assets a lot of times in order to qualify for Medicaid, which means you basically have to impoverish yourself in certain cases in order to qualify, which seems completely backwards for people who've been saving their whole lives to deal with their retirement.

Also,

Medicaid does not guarantee you in-home health care.

You can only get that if the need kind of meets the supply.

Otherwise, it's only required to put you in a nursing home, which is what most people want to avoid at all costs.

For people who are kind of middle class and don't qualify for Medicaid...

you have to cobble together some sort of system of unpaid help.

I know people who quit their jobs, moved in with their parents.

I know people whose grown kids were taking turns driving to medical appointments or staying with parents at different shifts.

The studies on the toll that it takes on caregivers, both emotional and physical, because that's so closely connected,

The risk of illness, serious illness, tends to be higher among caregivers, especially those who are dealing with people with dementia.