#8 Retirement Myth Debunked

Myth #8 – The government will take care of medical expenses

At the risk of sounding cynical, governments don’t pay for anything. Working Canadians do. Taxpayers do. Taxes are directed to certain areas of need. Growing needs and rising costs mean that there isn’t enough public money to go around. That reality is hitting retirees and will continue to hit them harder as time goes on. Our rapidly aging society is backing governments into a corner forcing our leaders to make tough decisions on health care. It seems that there are already too many elderly people to care for with existing programs and funding. Absolute costs are going up while services are being cut back. Get used to it. You are going to have to channel more income into paying for uncovered services or eat into your long-term savings to take care of yourself and your aging family. Our society is moving quickly from child care issues to eldercare issues. And the latter issue is much more expensive and long-lasting. The movement now is pushing care out into the community. That sounds good and has some merits. But long-term care is not free. Much of it is provided by family. It’s voluntary. It means sacrifices of energy, time out of the workforce, and hits to the retirement savings plans of caregivers. The government is not picking up the tab.