Search Results for: denial

The Senior Housing Glut: Signs of Increasing Denial

February 3, 2020 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Senior housing used to be a “sure bet” for investors. Their gamble was based on statistics that showed the Silver Tsunami of Baby Boomers turning 80 in the next 10 years. In anticipation of this aging population, investors rushed to back development of the housing units that would be required to meet the rising demands. And now they’re dealing with a lot of vacant properties causing a senior housing glut.

Mish Shedlock reports that this might be one of the biggest real estate miscalculations in recent memory.

What’s Behind the Senior Housing Glut?

There were double the number of new senior housing units built in 2018, compared to 2014. Senior housing units are expected to hit an all-time high in 2023. There’s now a large supply of this type of housing while occupancy rates are lower than expected.

My anecdotal observation is too many people fail to move into them as soon as they should.

Some experts think the vacant housing may be due to the improved ability we have to control the progression chronic illnesses.

There are seniors who just don’t want to live among a bunch of other old people. They may see it as a jinx. Others just feel depressed by the idea.

Technology is also a driving factor. Venture capital and other investment firms are expected to invest about $1 billion this year in “aging in place” technologies. That’s about double the spending from three years ago. As the Wall Street Journal reports, “Seniors would prefer to remain at home near families and friends than live among others their own age.” Advances in technologies help support those wishes.

Or at least create the perception that their care at home is comparable to the care they’d receive in housing designed for the care of its senior residents. My experience is that too many people postpone moving into these facilities, to their detriment.

That River of Denial

When long-term care is needed, no technology can replace warm, loving, human touch and the ready support of community and friends. At a time in life when you’re less mobile, or cognitively impaired, my opinion is home is often not the healthiest, safest place to be.

I personally believe that the desire to age at home has less to do with longer lifespans, better treatments, ageism, or technology. It has to do with the topic I most frequently write about: Denial.

I find that some people don’t want to admit they are in need or are approaching the time when they require more help. For example, elderly spouses, frail themselves, often choose to be primary caregivers, insisting “nothing’s wrong”. Denial often detracts from the dignified, graceful outcome that might have been possible.

Are you ready to plan for your best possible future? If so, click here to receive a free, no-obligation quote for your own LTCi coverage. The life that is waiting for you might surprise you.

The High Cost of Avoidance and Denial

January 20, 2020 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Over the years, I’ve written multiple blogs posts about the importance of creating a solid long term care plan to address your late life wishes. Make the plan and share it with your family. And yet, time after time, I read horror stories about unnecessary suffering, neglect and even death because they never had “the conversation”. As if avoiding this important discussion gives them some artificial sense of control and safety. There is a cost of avoidance and it’s very high.

“I’d rather die than talk about this.”

The truth is that once chronic health problems arise, your ability to make good decisions often decreases. This is partly because your brain may have reduced cognitive powers. And also because making good choices becomes harder when you’re feeling panicked with fewer options. It’s really hard to see the big picture when it feels like your world is getting smaller.

Mr. & Mrs. Shaver Paid the Cost of Avoidance

As reported in the New York Times (Dec 2019), their love story is the thing movies are made of. A romantic courtship and a loving marriage of 60 years. Unfortunately, his wife starting showing signs of dementia. Even though his children encouraged hiring home care help, Mr. Shaver refused any discussion. “Mind your own business. I’m taking care of it.”

He had ample savings for their retirement, so we know the cost of hiring help was not the issue. As the sole caregiver to his wife, he was obviously aware of her declining state of mind. However, he was unwilling to make any move that would improve their environment.

It must have broken his heart to see the love of his life disappear from his life. She no longer recognized him or their daughters. One day, while she was asleep, her loving husband laid down in bed next to her and shot his wife. And then shot himself.

The Time to Plan is Now

I’ve been helping people create these plans for 30 years. One thing I’ve learned is that having such a plan in place provides a peace of mind and increases quality of living. Without the comfort of a strategy, the fear of aging only grows over the years. As you age, the concerns over injury (falling in the shower, tripping over furniture, dizziness from medications) can contribute to mounting fears.

Once the fear takes hold, it becomes harder to make clear and thoughtful decisions. I’ve done several blogs on age-related brain loss and cognitive decline.

For most of us, whether we’re middle class or more affluent, owning long term care insurance (LTCi) is critical for ensuring dignity, options, and access to quality long term care. But it’s not enough. You must have ongoing, difficult conversations with your family so everyone understands the outcome you desire.

Click here to receive a free, no-obligation quote for your own LTCi coverage. Your family will thank you.

Denial of the Facts Does Not Make Them Less True

October 10, 2018 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Resistance to planning for long term care and doubting that human activities have created global warming share some very interesting roots. What a revelation to me! Author Karie Marie Norgaard connected these dots in her book, Living in Denial.

In the book, Norgaard examines the thought processes behind those who choose to deny the existence of climate change. I read an essay by Andy Skuce in which he takes a deep dive into Norgaard’s research and understanding about Denial.

Types of Denial

The book divides denial into 3 categories:

Literal denial. This happens when people don’t trust the facts, even when overwhelmingly supported by objective and thorough scientific data. We often see this from “Climate Skeptics”.
Interpretive denial. This one gets slippery. It accepts the facts (climate change is real), but reinterprets the meaning so it doesn’t sound like a real threat. That removes their responsibility to make proactive changes, since it’s not a real problem.
Implicatory denial. In this case, the facts and the interpretations are generally accepted. But then, “the psychological, political or moral implications that conventionally follow” are discounted and ignored. Climate change is already too advanced for anyone to do anything about it, so I’m off the hook and don’t have to make hard choices.

Denying the Need for Long Term Care

If these thought processes sound familiar, these are exactly the same behaviors I’ve been writing about throughout my career as a Long Term Care Insurance Specialist. Let’s run through these again:

Literal denial. Not trusting the facts — No matter how many studies get funded, no matter how may reports get written. There are always going to be people who refuse to accept that they are probably going to need financial help to cover their future medical care.
Interpretive denial. Accepting the facts: Yes, we’re living longer. Yes, we’ll probably need help in our later years. BUT… we’ve always taken care of each other. Or our family is ready to step in to help. We’ll be fine.
Implicatory denial. I know, we’ve got some uncertain times ahead of us. BUT… ‘they’ say that there’s no real reliable coverage. Or it costs too much. What can I do at this point?

For almost 30 years I’ve had well-educated, affluent friends and acquaintances make excuses to avoid the conversation about reasonable, responsible long term care planning. Intellectually, these people know better. They are making sound decisions in other areas of their lives, but they refuse to accept the fact that after age 65, they might be one of the 70% of us are going to need some sort of long-term care.

Denial is not a river in Egypt and the first step is easy. Click here to receive your no-obligation quote on your own Long Term Care insurance plan.

Denial Antidotes

December 22, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

The majority of us deny the fact that the odds we will need long-term care (LTC) are quite high (70% at age 65, according to www.longtermcare.gov). More importantly, we deny the potentially catastrophic consequences caused by needing LTC without being prepared.

Here are some denial-busting tools for the ones you care about, but who refuse to have a conversation about responsible, reasonable LTC planning now, while they are able to qualify for LTC insurance and find good rates.

Give your loved one this special, eight question LTC IQ Quiz.

Watch this brief video of Meryl Comer, graphically describing the havoc being unprepared for LTC caused:

www./resources will link you to other highly informative sites like My Life. My Family, The Motley Fool, and Own Your Future Texas.

Knowledge is power. Failure to plan is planning to fail.

Denial is a Curious Beast

December 15, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Refusal to plan for long-term care and refusal to believe manmade activities are creating global warming are caused by the same thing. What a revelation to me! A book called Living in Denial, by Kari Marie Norgaard examines the causes of climate change denial.

Here’s an essay about Dr. Norgaard’s book. I love the fact that her book defines the three different types of denial:

Literal denial. This is the outright refusal to believe the facts and to dispute the consensus science, and even to deny the existence of a scientific consensus. Many so-called “climate skeptics” fit into this category.
Interpretive denial. This involves not disputing the underlying reality, but using euphemisms and framing to distort meaning. An example of this kind of denial might be the Government of Alberta claiming that it is improving emissions intensity (emissions per barrel) from the oil sands, while absolute emissions of CO2 are increasing rapidly due to growing bitumen production.
Implicatory denial. Here, the facts are not denied or re-interpreted, but instead “the psychological, political or moral implications that conventionally follow” from those facts are denied or ignored. Implicatory deniers accept the reality of human-caused climate change, but they live their lives as if the problem was little to do with them. This variety of denial is the main focus of the book. Most of us who live at a high standard of living in developed countries are guilty to some degree of implicatory denial.

These are exactly the same denial behaviors I see all the time!

For 25 years I’ve had well-educated, affluent friends and acquaintances who like, respect, and trust me, make excuses to not talk with me about reasonable, responsible long-term care planning. Intellectually, these people know better. They are making sound decisions in other areas of their lives, but they refuse to accept the fact that after age 65, they might be one of the 70% of us are going to need some sort of long-term care.

There’s little about denial that makes sense to me.

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Search Results for: denial

Denial of the Facts Does Not Make Them Less True

Types of Denial

Denying the Need for Long Term Care

Denial Antidotes

Denial is a Curious Beast

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