> Not excusing the Portopiccolo Group at all, but it sounds like half the problem is labor shortage.
The problem is enormously complex.
First, there's been a labour shortage in geriatric care for years.
Then the pandemic came along and exacerbated things.
Meanwhile, elder care in highly supportive settings is very labour intensive, which means it's expensive.
But it's also a service people have no choice to buy. i.e., eventually some percentage of elders will require full time care, and right now, in most of the western world, that means an institutional setting.
And the consumers of the product are some of the least represented in our political systems. Even with organizations like the AARP, the reality is the needs of an aging population get about as much attention as the needs of the poor.
When you combine a product with very high and inelastic demand, combined with high costs, and no consumer advocacy, and then privatize that service, guess what: the quality of the product is going to go down in order to cut costs and maximize profits.
Given that the primary cost of elder care is staffing, that creates downward pressure salaries, which drives even more people out of an already very challenging industry.
The answer is simple: Elder care should be a publicly delivered service.
But, the neoliberal answer is to Privatize All The Things. And so here we are.
The problem is enormously complex.
First, there's been a labour shortage in geriatric care for years.
Then the pandemic came along and exacerbated things.
Meanwhile, elder care in highly supportive settings is very labour intensive, which means it's expensive.
But it's also a service people have no choice to buy. i.e., eventually some percentage of elders will require full time care, and right now, in most of the western world, that means an institutional setting.
And the consumers of the product are some of the least represented in our political systems. Even with organizations like the AARP, the reality is the needs of an aging population get about as much attention as the needs of the poor.
When you combine a product with very high and inelastic demand, combined with high costs, and no consumer advocacy, and then privatize that service, guess what: the quality of the product is going to go down in order to cut costs and maximize profits.
Given that the primary cost of elder care is staffing, that creates downward pressure salaries, which drives even more people out of an already very challenging industry.
The answer is simple: Elder care should be a publicly delivered service.
But, the neoliberal answer is to Privatize All The Things. And so here we are.