Caring for old people and their money - Diana Clement

Financial exploitation of older people is a big problem in our country. Photo / 123RF

OPINION

Financial exploitation of older people is a big problem in our country. Whether it’s scams, family/caregiviers helping themselves to money, expensive essentials such as hearing aids, or simply paying the cost of retirement villages, and resthomes, older people are a cash-machine to many families and businesses.

This article is dedicated to a not-so-young stranger who complained bitterly to an op shop volunteer [me] that her ageing Waiheke-based mother had money that she and her sister should have. Why should they wait until she died, the woman asked? I looked this customer in the eye and replied that it was her mother’s money to do what she wanted with.

The narrative that leads to op shop customer’s thinking starts with everyday language such as “the elderly”, “boomers”, “grey tsunami” and many other perjoratives, which dehumanise our parents and grandparents. Once they’re no longer human, just a “they”, it’s easier for less honourable people to help themselves to someone’s savings whether through scams, manipulation, or abuse of trust. It leaves the victims vulnerable and financially depleted.

Older people need the money they’ve worked for and saved. It’s expensive to buy the goods and services targeted at them. As my parents started to age, I became increasingly aware of how expensive equipment is to buy. Wheelchairs at the time started at $1000 at mobility stores, although Trade Me competition has brought prices down.

Essentials they may need such as hearing aids are eye-wateringly expensive. There is a long list of other items that can make people’s life more comfortable, at a price, if they haven’t been cleaned out financially by family, carers or scammers. Think electric beds, stairlifts, mobility scooters, electric La-Z-Boy chairs, and so on. Age Concern sees cases where family don’t want to let mum or dad spend this money and deplete “their inheritance”.

Even simple tools such as bed rails, raised toilets, walking sticks, magnifiers, braces, walkers, ramps, and a heap of other stuff can cost way more than someone on NZ Super can afford. Those with community services cards can, if they push hard enough, get some of this equipment for free. But it takes a tenacious person to navigate the system.

How about hearing? “Only $7 a day”, one advert for hearing aids screams. That’s $2555 per year, which is more than 10 per cent of a single person’s annual $23,825.36 income from NZ Super.

I’m not the first person in the media to raise eyebrows at Bay Audiology “heiress” Ali Andrews’ week-long 30th birthday party at a luxurious villa on the cliffs of St Tropez, as reported in the NZ Herald’s Spy column. There’s nothing wrong with businesses making money. But when hearing aids are one of the country’s most profitable businesses, one has to wonder why.

If you get too frail to clean the house, do basic DIY, or even cut your own toenails, you’re paying $30 to $50 an hour for services. Once you can no longer drive or catch a bus, there’s Driving Miss Daisy, or a mobility taxi to pay for.

The cost of maintaining a home is enormous. Hanny Naus of Age Concern says the perception that older people all have mortgage-free homes and therefore no costs, is not correct. Rates, insurance and maintenance add up and homes need repainting and reroofing.

Then there are retirement villages, which mostly pocket the capital gain and take 20-30 per cent “deferred management fee” of the capital on top when you die or move out. If Waiheke mother has to go into a rest home because she can no longer care for herself, the most basic rooms cost $1464.26 per week [$76,141,52 annually] in her region. A friend’s father pays $3900 extra a year for the “luxury” of a private bathroom in his Ryman rest home room.

We all know that the health services are underfunded, and that society feels that a 4-year-old is more deserving of rationed healthcare than a retiree. With the help of Lifedirect’s online comparison, I worked out basic private medical insurance including surgical and specialist visits costs $7252.96 at age 75, which most older people can’t afford on NZ Super. If Waiheke mother couldn’t get on a public waiting list, or have time to wait, she would have to pay privately. A knee replacement ranges from $24,700 to $30,100, a simple colonoscopy $1900 to $3300, a hip replacement $23,800 to $28,600, and cataracts $3000 to $5500 per eye.

Let’s hope Waiheke mother doesn’t feel pressured to part with her savings.