When it comes to Caregiving, we often talk about sandwich generation, but then, most of us do not see the other side of the coin i.e. the Middle Class Middle Aged sandwich generation.
Till a decade ago, Senior Living (Retirement Communities, Assisted Living, Care Homes) were mainly clubbed as Old Age Homes, but suddenly the Aged Care sector has become the blue eyed boy of the industry.
It seems that every one is finding their long lost love for older people especially towards those who can pay a monthly fees of Rs.1 lakh and above.
The larger point of debate is, how expensive or affordable will Eldercare become in the next 10 years?
The Care Homes who are charging Rs.1 lakh per month today will probably charge Rs.2 lakhs in 2036 and home care providers who charge Rs.800-1200 per day will probably charge Rs.2,500/-. The question is, how many middle class older people will be able to spend that amount of money?
For example, if an Elderly couple takes up a residential Assisted Living room in 2036 at the cost of Rs.2.25 lakhs per month from the age of 70 till 90 years, then they would spend about Rs.5.5 crores over a period of 20 years (excluding inflation).
If our Golden Years with Care is going to cost anything upwards of Rs.5 crores, then in my opinion we are staring at a mountain which might become difficult to conquer.
While the private sector has managed to get a foot in the door, but then, for a country to be seen as socially developed, we need to see all senior citizens with the same lens and not categorize people based on power (eyesight), concave or convex vision.
Sheltered Accommodation, Housing with Care, Age Restricted Communities, Social Housing and other home and non-home based innovative solutions will have to be rolled out within the next decade, otherwise we will find the middle class senior citizens stuck in quick sand.
In my personal opinion, the middle class cannot live in a charitable old age home due to societal pressures and personal lifestyle, and at the same time they will not be able to afford a decent private sector Assisted Living Facility due to affordability issues.
To conclude, "Our Future has to be defined Today, otherwise our Today will become our Future".
Pankaj Mehrotra
