Hi,
I was reading a book, Becoming Mortal by Atul Gawande, and highly recommend it. While reading, I came to the conclusion that I do not want end-of-life care. If I’m at an old age and things start to decline, as they naturally do, then I would rather just let life take its course than have all these procedures done to extend my life, especially if it would be to the point that my body is still “functioning” but my mind is gone due to dementia.
In Atul’s book, he mentions that most people burn through their life savings to pay medical bills they incur while 80 or 90 years old. He also mentioned that most of the elderly people that are having all these medical problems still aren’t really happy after they receive treatment. They have a longer life, yes, but the quality is not good. That most would not pay the astronomical bills for the medical expenses, but since insurance covers most of it, they just do it.
If I’m over the age of say 85 years old, at this point, I would only want palliative and hospice care should anything go wrong. Are there plans that can be only for those who have the same mindset at that? I feel that it would SIGNIFICANTLY lower the costs for all the people in the plan.
Additionally, if this were more commonplace, say on a government level, then the money being allocated for medicare covering people in their 90s who might not get much utility out of the expense could instead be used to lower education costs, which would reap huge benefits for peoples lives & overall happiness.
I’d rather have a better quality of life for the middle portion of my life, than the last 3-5 years of it
Please let me know your thoughts! (also, I do value the elderly, I just know for myself that I wouldn’t want intense life-prolonging care after the age of 85
submitted by /u/PlatformSuccessful98
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Hi, I was reading a book, Becoming Mortal by Atul Gawande, and highly recommend it. While reading, I came to the conclusion that I do not want end-of-life care. If I’m at an old age and things start to decline, as they naturally do, then I would rather just let life take its course than have all these procedures done to extend my life, especially if it would be to the point that my body is still “functioning” but my mind is gone due to dementia. In Atul’s book, he mentions that most people burn through their life savings to pay medical bills they incur while 80 or 90 years old. He also mentioned that most of the elderly people that are having all these medical problems still aren’t really happy after they receive treatment. They have a longer life, yes, but the quality is not good. That most would not pay the astronomical bills for the medical expenses, but since insurance covers most of it, they just do it. If I’m over the age of say 85 years old, at this point, I would only want palliative and hospice care should anything go wrong. Are there plans that can be only for those who have the same mindset at that? I feel that it would SIGNIFICANTLY lower the costs for all the people in the plan. Additionally, if this were more commonplace, say on a government level, then the money being allocated for medicare covering people in their 90s who might not get much utility out of the expense could instead be used to lower education costs, which would reap huge benefits for peoples lives & overall happiness. I’d rather have a better quality of life for the middle portion of my life, than the last 3-5 years of it Please let me know your thoughts! (also, I do value the elderly, I just know for myself that I wouldn’t want intense life-prolonging care after the age of 85
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