I believe older adults or the elderly should be given the privilege or right to deliberate and oversee the manner by which they will be taken care of. Such involvement should encompass every aspect of the said concern, including, financial involvement. If financial involvement means having older adults’ pay for their long-term care needs themselves, then preferably, I believe they should be given that choice. Every person needs to plan ahead. Every individual is responsible for instances which will occur in his or her future.
As adults, people should be more concerned as to how they will be taken care of, and the manner by which they will be living or settling down for the remainder of their lives. By preparing and paying for such necessary long-term care needs themselves, older adults will not only have fulfilling retirements in an environment which will most likely suit them, they will be sparing their children and families the need of having to depend on them as well.
While there is nothing wrong in turning to family for assistance and support regarding the subject matter, older adults should be given the final word where their long-term care needs are concerned, and if it means paying for it themselves. I see nothing wrong with that either. Should children be financially responsible to pay for their parents’ long-term care needs? Why or why not? If adult children are capable of doing so, then they should be financially responsible for their parents’ long-term care expenses.
The term financial responsibility is a difficult reality to reconcile with in any and every context or situation. But as far as children, parents and relatives are generally concerned, everybody has some sort of responsibility or obligation to the other at one point or the other. As far as financial duties and responsibilities are concerned, varying circumstances will contribute to its difficulty, and perhaps even impossibility. But by balancing priorities and keeping one’s financial situation in check, I believe that financial responsibilities can and will be necessarily fulfilled.
I also don’t believe it is too much to ask for adult children to be given the responsibility of keeping to the long-term care expenses of their older parents. Such responsibility should go without mention, since for the extent of their childhood and adolescence, children have always been afforded or provided by their parents their respective financial needs. It would then only be fitting for children, in turn, to reciprocate the same familial involvement and financial responsibility, where long-term care expenses, at the very least, is concerned.