How Will Clients Care for Their Parents?

Are there other ways that caring for aging parents will differ from previous generations?I think the boomers are going to bypass the assisted living centers and nursing homes that we normally associate with aging. In the next 30 years, those spots will be relegated to the bottom socioeconomic level of our society. If my trends analysis is correct, the boomers will practice aging-in-place with their parents; then they'll adapt the lessons learned when their time comes.

Over the next 30 years, we'll see a surge of communities that allow residents to make easy transitions through various stages of physical and mental capacity. All the newer retirement homes will be wheelchair accessible and feature elevators, reachable appliances and cabinets and special caregivers' rooms. And because boomers will demand more autonomy around the care of their parents than the Best Generation required, we may see the return of the visiting doctor. Perhaps residential groups will get together and hire their own doctor to ensure they have access to the medical care they want.

Health care reform has been a major issue in the presidential campaign. What's your sense of changes that might unfold?I see three things happening. One, I think the bottom 30 percent of the population will gain access to some kind of primary care that's a combination of government subsidy and private provider. I think Wal-Mart could administer that for us. After all, they have the locations and the second largest pharmacy in the world. There's no reason why we couldn't have someone there to give flu shots and measles vaccines. Two, the middle part of the country with the traditional employment model will move to high deductible employer-sponsored plans with the emphasis on wellness and discrimination on behavior-related illness. So, as an employee, you will get health insurance, but if you smoke or are overweight, your deductible will be higher. Three, at the upper end, where most advisors' clients are going to be, I think we'll see legislation that increases the Health Savings Account (HSA) contribution substantially, perhaps to $100,000. That will transform these accounts into intergenerational wellness accounts that will be passed from one generation to the next.

Are there other innovations that could ease the burden for children caring for aging parents?Parent Care Solution has developed and is championing something called a Parent Care Savings Account (PCSA). A PCSA would resemble a 401(k) in deductibility and tax-free accumulation characteristics and allow employees to set aside 3 percent of salary on a pre-tax basis for care for their aging parents. The PCSA could be transferable from one generation to the next on an income- and estate tax-free basis as long as the future use of the funds was limited to providing health care services for parents, including long-term care, chronic disease management, adult daycare, etc. I see all sorts of opportunities for life insurance to be placed inside the PCSA (something an HSA should allow now) in order to multiply the inherited amount inside the account.

Our impending healthcare crisis is so severe that we need to consider changes of this magnitude. Boomers tend to seek control and take responsibility and what they learn in the next few decades taking care of their parents may well be the catalyst for real change in how we care for the aging in America.

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Marie Swift is the president of Impact Communications, a marketing and communications firm for independent advisors; see www.impactcommunications.org