Boomers want to retire yet stay involved

Boomers want to retire yet stay involved
Many retirees, especially we baby boomers, want to retire
from their careers yet become involved in other areas such
as social and health services.

Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are starting to
retire, and they want to make remarkable contributions to
society.

Sure, people retire to play golf, but they soon find that
golf isn't enough.

We need to embrace the energy, expertise and wisdom of
retirees and encourage their involvement.

To optimize this opportunity, some false impressions must
be cast aside and hurdles cleared.

Unpaid volunteers are often not as respected or as valued
as paid personnel, a trend that has to be changed. Also
unpaid positions are often not as challenging.

To fully engage volunteers, we must ave community
commitment of money and of time for nonprofits to develop
needed systems and infrastructures.

To make the volunteer experience win-win for both the
organization and the individual. Volunteers should be
given orientation and training, job descriptions and
supervision. The expectations must be clear for all
involved.

We suggest shifting the view of retirement from 'the
freedom FROM work' to the 'the freedom TO work'.

As more baby boomers jump off the corporate ladder, we hope
they can work in ways that are personally rewarding and
ways that benefit society. We need to welcome and engage
these new members of the so-called work force. Because,
after all, sometimes golf just isn't enough...

But what about care issues?

How to pay for the long-term health-care needs of aging
baby boomers will become a major crisis unless steps are
taken to rationalize the current hodge-podge of federal
regulations and restricted coverage, according to a
health-law expert at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.

"Most elderly Americans have limited coverage of
long-term-care expenses through Medicare and face
potentially cataclysmic expenses as nursing-home costs soar
to as much as $100,000 a year," wrote Richard L. Kaplan, an
Illinois law professor specializing in elder law, in a
recent issue of the University of Illinois Law Review.

Kaplan proposes a comprehensive restructuring of
long-term-care financing to tackle this problem, which most
heavily falls on middle-class families. Under his plan,
Medicare, the government's health-care program for older
Americans, would cover most nursing-home costs.

To help families pay for care outside of nursing homes such
as assisted-living facilities and continuing-care
retirement communities Kaplan also proposes improving
private long-term-care insurance to make it more appealing.

Fewer than 10 percent of Americans now have private
long-term-care insurance, and many believe mistakenly that
Medicare will cover their long-term care. In fact, Kaplan
writes, "Medicare is woefully inadequate in terms of
long-term care. It covers only the two extremes of the
long-term-care continuum, home health care and nursing
homes, and does so under significant restrictions.
Medicare's coverage of home health care utilizes primarily
a medical approach that only incidentally strives to
maintain a senior citizen in his or her home. On average,
this coverage is limited to only four hours of assistance
per day and requires ongoing coordination with a
supervising agency and a physician."

Medicare's coverage of nursing-home costs is equally
restricted. Programmatic limitations apply to the level of
care needed, the medical condition being treated and a
patient's prior hospitalization. As a result, Medicare
enrollees face substantial financial exposure when they
enter a nursing home.

Shifting the cost of nursing-home care to Medicare which
could be financed by general tax revenues plus premiums
paid by enrollees would cerainly help protect families from
costs that can wipe out the assets of senior citizens and
often their children as well. But it's unlikely that
Medicare will be expanded in this way. Highly unlikely.

Consequently, as we plan for a flexible, engaged
retirement, we must also prepare for long term care with
sensible insurance coverage, and these days you can get
your comparative rate quotes most easily online.

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Long term care insurance activist, Clay Cotton, writes for
http://www.prepsmart.com - The Online Baby Boomers Decision
Assistance Center, where you get Free Long Term Care
Insurance advice, comparative rate quotes and personal
guidance, all while safely at home in your favorite pajamas
and bunny slippers.