Caregiver’s Toolbox Ep. 46 “Different Types of Home Care Services”
Click here to view our Podcast Directory
Caregiver’s Toolbox Ep. 46 “Different Types of Home Care Services”
Speaker 1:
Welcome to The Caregiver’s ToolBox, tools for everyday caregiving. We provide education and information on senior care topics. Here’s your host, Ryan McEniff.
Ryan McEniff:
Good day, everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us. My name is Ryan McEniff. I am here with Janet. Janet, how are you?
Janet:
I am well, Ryan.
Ryan McEniff:
Thank you. Glad everything’s going well.
Janet:
Everything’s going good.
Ryan McEniff:
I like your shirt by the way.
Janet:
Yes, I’m going the nautical theme today.
Ryan McEniff:
Janet is wearing a buttoned down navy blue with small little anchors all over it.
Janet:
Yeah. Anchors away, it’s Friday.
Ryan McEniff:
Anchors away, absolutely. Let’s anchor. Let’s pull up anchor away from this place-
Janet:
Pull up anchor, there you go.
Ryan McEniff:
…and get the back out of here.
Janet:
Yep.
Ryan McEniff:
Anyways, you are listening to The Caregiver’s ToolBox, tools for everyday caregiving, where we discuss senior caregiving issues and topics. And today, we’re talking about four common reasons. Oh, no, we’re not talking about that. Excuse me. That was the last podcast. Today, we’re talking about breaking news. If there’s breaking news sound waves you can think of when you hear it on the radio. This is breaking news. Yeah, exactly. That if you didn’t know this already, Medicare is going to be insolvent in 2026 and social security is going to be insolvent in 2034. 2034 still is ways away, but 2026 is close. We’re talking in less than a decade, Medicare, where tens of millions of people get their healthcare in this country and hundreds of millions more are expecting to get their healthcare from in this country, is going to be basically bust, completely bankrupt. There is no money in the piggy bank to pay for anything.
And I don’t know if this podcast will come out before or after, but we just did a couple, a podcast on the four different types of home care. And two of those types of home care were about VNAs and certified home care and hospice. And that sure as heck falls under Medicare. So, Janet, what are your thoughts on this? What are your concerns and feelings?
Janet:
Well, with Medicare, it is how a vast majority of the population is going to get their healthcare benefits. It helps them with their medications. It helps them with their doctor visits and all of those things. And the whole industry is based on getting paid by that bank account. And if there’s no money in the till and they can’t pay the services that are needed, there are services that are going to fade away. There’s just no way that everything could continue to be maintained. In over the past, I don’t know how many years, I can remember when even a VNA, you could get reimbursed for more home health aid hours than they tend to give now, because there’s less money to go or around. It will probably affect the Medicaid side, as well in terms of MassHealth and there are a lot of people that get their insurance through that.
Ryan McEniff:
Subsidized insurance, all of that.
Janet:
Subsidized insurance, your very pills. And the nature of at least our society is we’ve got at people with diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure. This doesn’t even deal with people that are developing dementia as they age. And there are doctors that aren’t taking certain insurances because they’re not getting reimbursed enough now. You can’t help but wonder, where is this going to go? Who’s going to buy all the pharmaceutical stuff that’s being invented. The whole thing is kind of a creepy thought, I think.
Ryan McEniff:
Oh, I think it’s very disturbing. And one of the things I’m reading in this article, and I’m sure based off of what news outlets you read are present in the United States who by no means is polarizing in any way, shape or form. But I’m sure it just says here, “President Trump has ruled out changes to social security retirement, although he’s called for reforms to the disability program as part of his budgets and things like that.” But I highlighted that because it’s another case. And I don’t think while President Trump isn’t winning popularity, contests in every place of this country, this isn’t anything new with the way that he’s reacting to it. It is clearly kick the can down the road. And whether you are a democrat or republican or somewhere in between, we can point to past, what, seven presidents, six presidents, that we’ve known that this train is coming.
This catastrophe is coming for decades now and nobody’s wanted to do anything about it. And it’s looking like, what, maybe the next, maybe not even, what, it would be maybe the next president or the president after that, who’s administration is going to have this happening. I mean, you’re talking less than 10 years. So, if Trump doesn’t get elected, let’s say he doesn’t get elected in two years. And let’s say, whoever does get elected goes for eight years, there you go, you’re right in 2026 and you’re dealing with this head on. So, if Trump does get reelected, either way, it’s going to be the next president of the United States that deals with this issue.
Janet:
Yeah. I actually think, even, you’re starting to see changes now. So, even past midterms and even into the next election, the things, the changes that have been implemented to alter Obamacare have had a huge impact on a lot of things. And at the same time, we are living in an age where, as technology moves faster and faster, there are devices that are being invented that help fix things, cure things, pharmaceuticals, but there’s a huge cost to those. And when people know that there’s a medication out there that’s going to save their family member, they want that. They want more things, but they’re costing even more and more.
Ryan McEniff:
Yeah, absolutely.
Janet:
So, things we didn’t even have cures for in the past, now we’re looking for reimbursement for.
Ryan McEniff:
Yeah. And I’m sure a lot of these pharmaceutical companies and being in the Boston area, that’s one of our pillars of economy here. I’m sure a huge part of their profits and their revenue every year come from reimbursement from the federal government. I mean, it’s got to be, just because the federal government is basically an insurance program with a military attached to it.
Janet:
And a lot of drugs are invented, tested and fail, and they still have to pay the employee that worked their butt off trying to make that work.
Ryan McEniff:
Well, that’s the point I was making was that, what’s going to happen when they realize there’s no money in the bank account to replenish the money they’re giving out to all the seniors and giving out to people? And then the money that they’re using to, like you just said, do R&D on things, research and development, then all of a sudden your medical industry doesn’t continue inventing and researching new cures for things. You’re absolutely right, Janet.
Janet:
And you look at one thing that came along, was pain medications to cure a lot of things. And what the healthcare system that was looking to take care of us did was it created opioid addictions. Well, now they want to expand these drug abuse programs and mental health programs, that’s to spend money beyond what we’re spending now.
Ryan McEniff:
Absolutely.
Janet:
it’s crazy.
Ryan McEniff:
It’s going to be an interesting few years, because obviously, our president cut taxes, which everybody loves getting their taxes cut. I mean, let’s be honest here. Everybody loves having to pay less and keep more. But at the end of the day, I’m sure part of the reason this came out was because that tax cut is probably going to bring this faster than it would otherwise would’ve come. That we were inevitably going to be dealing with this day was whether it’s going to be 2026, or is it going to be 2036 or 24? It was going to happen. But those tax cuts probably aren’t helping the cause. But I don’t know what the answer is going to be because there’s going to have to be a big one because it’s a huge, huge…
I mean, for those maybe listening, without getting into it too much, you’re talking, I believe 61% of the federal budget comprises of Medicare and social security and Medicaid. I mean, you’re talking nearly two thirds of the federal government is based on just providing entitlements to people. So, you’re talking about the two biggest entitlements that are going to go bankrupt in the next 20 years. So, the only way to fix that is the either to get more money to come in. And the only way you get more money to come in is either tax people more, or you take out more loans from other countries to pay off what you owe people. So, I don’t know what the solution’s going to be. That’s way over my head.
Janet:
And for every cut, somebody’s going to like a cut, somebody’s going to hate a cut. Somebody wins, somebody loses. And I mean, we hear and we know clients that are dealing with VA benefits and the VA hospitals. And that’s a huge sum of money. That’s I think one of the largest budgets in the country as well, and yet listen to all the issues there are for safe and reasonable care under that budget. Is that a harbinger of things to come? I don’t know.
Ryan McEniff:
No, it feels like you’re between not only just a rock and a hard place, but five rocks and five hard places.
Janet:
Don’t get sick, don’t get old, and get rich and then it’ll be okay.
Ryan McEniff:
Everybody follow Janet’s rules to life and you’ll be just fine. But I mean, it will be interesting too, because I don’t know how it will effect this would have on the private industry, our industry. I mean, we’re granted, we’re not reimbursed by anybody other than generally private paid. A little bit of, I mean, a small, small amount of veteran that’s aid in attendance we’ve gotten over the years, but we’re predominantly just private pay. So, I don’t know how much of a affect it would have on us per se, but it’s still just… Changes are common people.
Janet:
They are.
Ryan McEniff:
One way or another, we’re going to have some big changes coming away. So, we thought it was appropriate just to speak about this, since this is going to affect our industry, it’s going to affect everybody who’s listening to this, this channel. It’s going to affect anybody that was just born three minutes ago, because at the end of the day, people are counting on this, whether you’re three minutes old or you’re 30 years old, or you’re 79 years old, it doesn’t matter. You are looking forward to this type of stuff.
Janet:
Yep. So, to use your nautical theme or setting sail in choppy waters.
Ryan McEniff:
We’re going to end on that one. We’re going to end it on that one. So, thank you very much for listening. Then my name is Ryan McEniff and if I’m here with Janet and you’ve been listening to The Caregivers ToolBox. Have a great day.
About Us
Minute Women Home Care is a premium, non-medical, live-in care, and in-home care service provider that enables our clients to live at home with dignity and respect by assisting with their activities of daily living. We support families in senior home care within their mission to allow their parents to age in place rather than transition to a nursing facility.
Minute Women Home Care | Home Care Services Since 1969