Community health is the study of how social and political policies impact the health of those that are most directly affected, and there is evidence now that the failing health of senior citizens has a direct correlation to defaulting on mortgages. On a base level, this makes absolute sense; if you have increased costs because of your medical care, finding the money to pay for other things–such as your living arrangements–becomes a lot more difficult. A good community health approach needs to take this new info into account when forming any sort of new policy. Senior health is a good place to begin when forming your own decisions.
Unfortunately, this is a downward spiral. Previous evidence indicated that financial problems could lead to poor health. Each one, it seems, contributes to the other, and this makes it extremely difficult to break this cycle if you have an elderly loved one that finds themselves in such a situation. It can be a frustrating and extremely depressing place to find yourself, and it is something that you want to avoid for a family member if you can. Remember, just because it seems like a hopeless situation does not mean that it actually is.
This doesn’t mean that people who find themselves with a chronic condition like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or cancer are without hope. There are certain things that can be done to help alleviate this issue, and the best way to handle this is to prepare before an issue is a likelihood. Having a good insurance policy in place, both health and long term care, is a key part of this. Also, setting money aside for retirement can be a big help. If a chronic disease occurs, this way, there is a care plan loosely in place that can be of help. You will have medical costs partly covered, and senior care will be covered in a limited fashion. It’s a good start, and it can erase a lot of the discouragement that comes along with the double whammy of chronic health issues and financial problems.
There have been studies that looked at this issue before, but this went a few steps further than those of the past. For one, most studies looked at the impact of foreclosure on health, and not the other way around. By looking at health first, it shows that there is hope for preventing the financial strain of foreclosure and other related problems. This is encouraging news to Baby Boomers that have worked hard to establish themselves financially over their careers and now see themselves getting into their retirement years. It means that by taking care of their health and setting up safeguards like better insurance policies, they can protect their legacies while protecting themselves.
Senior care is an easy thing to extrapolate from this study. By making sure that a loved one has good care set up for them when health issues begin, you can make sure that the burden of having to find care is eased right from the beginning, and that costs are reduced as much as possible. It’s a start, but it’s a great start to protecting our elderly loved ones.
Leave a Reply