As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in the Intensive Care
waiting room at a local hospital. I’m
sitting with someone close to me, whose father was admitted to the ICU after
what was supposed to be a routine surgery.
By all appearances, the father and his family is a typical,
normal family. He’s age 61, and the wife
is in her mid 40’s, and together they have a 10 year old son. After a long career in telecommunications,
the father was downsized last year and essentially retired.
As a result of the surgery, he currently has limited feeling
in his arms and legs. He’s on a
respirator. And the doctor didn’t mince
any words when he said that this is going to be a long process. Who knows when he’ll get out of ICU. After getting out of the hospital, he’s
looking a months of rehab.
The wife is asking questions about her husband’s medical
condition, and options and so forth. All
things you would expect. And the family
is of course distraught.
I’m not close enough to the family to know much about their
finances and the family dynamics. Still,
it’s difficult for me with the daughter.
Her father is lying in a hospital bed in a very precarious situation. I’m rather distraught for her.
With paralysis a real possibility, the wife is thinking
about their life and all of the things that will change.
Helping out at the son’s school and picking him up from
school every day.
Helping out at the Cub Scout meetings.
Skating and playing hockey together.
Going up and down the stairs of their 2 story home.
As the daughter just said, “Normal
From a financial standpoint, I do know a few things.
- Even if everything goes perfectly, the minimum amount of time before they will receive a disability check from Social Security is about 7 months. Information about Social Security disability is here.
- At age 61, the father is not eligible to apply for Social Security retirement benefits. Early retirement starts at age 62.
- Though their income will be higher with disability payments (he wasn’t working anyway), there will be extra costs associated with this health issue.
- The
number 1 reason for bankruptcy in this country is
unreimbursed/uninsured medical costs and financial impact associated with
medical issues.
What costs? Think
about what the family is facing.
§
Rehab sessions, which may or may
not be insured.
§
Transportation to and from those
sessions.
§
Possibility of having a visiting
nurse to help with daily activities.
§
Possibility of the wife having to
take time off of work for transportation and the impact on her wages.
§
After school care for the son since
the wife works full time.
§
Counseling for their son to
emotionally deal with the situation.
§
Renovating the house since the
father won’t be able to get up and down the stairs. Or possibly selling the house and moving.
§
And hiring a lawn and/or snow
removal service.
I have no idea if the family can weather the impact. But if they are like the typical American
family with little or no savings and tight budgets, this will be a big problem
for them unfortunately.
Disability happens all too often and in ways that no one
expects.
You can draw your own conclusions from this sad situation.
If this happened to you, would you be prepared to handle
this financially?
If not, what are you going to do?
