A woman shared her disbelief after discovering that her grandparents, both in their nineties and with assets worth $1.5 million, were unable to secure a spot in a "midtier" retirement community, despite their willingness to give away their wealth in exchange for care until their passing.
Cait (@caitmolden) recently posted a TikTok video that has since gone viral in response to another TikToker statement that reads “The boomers’ last gift to us is that all of their wealth is going to get burned up by end-of-life care”.
Cait and she grew up thinking that upon her grandparent’s death, who she says had "the cheese,” she would get the "cheese" and become "extra cheese" herself.
Despite her initial assumptions, the reality may be that the entirety of her grandparents' wealth will be spent on their end-of-life care, leaving nothing left for inheritance as she previously expected.
Cait’s grandparents, who are now in their 90s, were carefully selecting the retirement community they want to move to, dreaming about having features like a pool and meal delivery services to ensure their comfort.
Although they initially considered a more luxurious option, her grandparents ultimately chose a "mid-tier" retirement community for the middle-class bracket, where they felt the need to prove their financial worth by disclosing their $1.5 million in assets and even signing them over to the community.
“The retirement community was like, we don’t care how long you’re going to live, but we are going to take all of your money.” Cait says, “Because no matter how long you’re going to live for, it’s going to cost your entire net worth.”
“They had over a million dollars in assets that they were willing to give away in order to be taken care of until they die,” she says about her grandparents, “And they didn’t qualify.”
Cait's grandparents also shared a story with her about an 80-year-old friend with dementia who had a similar amount of money as they did but was unable to qualify for the retirement community due to the high cost of her care.
In addition, Cait discovered that there are people who cannot afford to move into retirement communities, no matter how much money they have or no matter if they’re “sitting on that $400,000 house that they bought in the 70s for ten grand.”
As a result, some people are left with no choice but to spend their entire net wealth to meet the criteria for government-funded end-of-life care.
“Regardless of whether you have money or don’t have money, it’s all going to disappear,” Cait asserts.
“Health care is going to take it, they’re going to say I don’t care how old you are, until you die, I’m taking every single cent you have.”
@caitmolden #stitch with @brown19170 ♬ original sound - Cait, it me
Cait's story provoked many responses from viewers regarding the financial burden of end-of-life care.
“The sad part is most of these facilities provide deplorable care,” one person wrote, “As a nurse I’ve seen some horrendous cases of abuse and neglect get covered up.”
“Those same wealthy grandparents usually are willing to pay a company a million but won’t pay a relative to care for them,” a second commenter suggested.
“It's almost like it was DESIGNED this way,” a third commented.
“And all the employees make barely minimum wage,” a fourth pointed out.
“And knowing how much their employees are underpaid, it’s criminal.” a fifth added.
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