Suffering from dementia, the wheelchair-bound former translator celebrated her 94th birthday in a Polish nursing home last month. Her daughter sent her there in a bid for a better life and more affordable care.
Miskulin has joined the vanguard of a controversial movement: emigrant nursing home residents.
The “Grandma export” trend has set hands wringing in Germany, where Munich’s leading newspaper denounced it as “gerontologic colonialism” and compared it to nations exporting their trash. Yet more families like Miskulin’s say it’s their best option to provide a dignified old age for elderly parents -- and save money -- amid a lack of affordable quality care at home. One in five Germans would now consider going abroad for a nursing home, according to a March survey by TNS Emnid, one of Germany’s biggest pollsters.
“I can only say, children, when your parents get older, send them to Poland,” said Miskulin’s 66-year-old daughter, Ilona von Haldenwang.
Germany’s migrating seniors are an early warning sign of a challenge of global proportions. As birth rates drop, life expectancies increase and the baby boomer generation heads into old age, the United Nations estimates the world’s population of people older than 60 will more than triple to almost 2 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, even for seniors cushioned by government aid in countries like Germany, the cost of nursing home care is rapidly becoming prohibitive. German spending on long-term care for seniors is expected to increase from 1.4 percent of gross domestic product to 3.3 percent of GDP by 2060, the European Commission said in a report last year.
The insurance pays out 1,550 euros ($2,060) a month to German citizens who, like Miskulin, need the highest level of care. That’s less than half of the 3,250-euro average monthly bill for such care inside Germany. Nursing homes in Poland are marketing care that in some cases may be similar or better for about 1,200 euros per month. The German government will pay as much as 700 euros toward nursing care outside the country. Though less than half the amount provided for in-country homes, it’s enough, together with most retirees’ pensions, to pay for monthly care costs -- with cash to spare.
The arithmetic is compelling for older Germans and their grown children. And costs in Germany are only likely to go higher: The country’s population is expected to be among the world’s oldest by 2050, on par with Japan, South Korea and Italy, with about 15 percent of residents over the age of 80, according to an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report.
Read more: Germans Export Grandma to Poland as Costs, Care Converge - Bloomberg
Miskulin has joined the vanguard of a controversial movement: emigrant nursing home residents.
The “Grandma export” trend has set hands wringing in Germany, where Munich’s leading newspaper denounced it as “gerontologic colonialism” and compared it to nations exporting their trash. Yet more families like Miskulin’s say it’s their best option to provide a dignified old age for elderly parents -- and save money -- amid a lack of affordable quality care at home. One in five Germans would now consider going abroad for a nursing home, according to a March survey by TNS Emnid, one of Germany’s biggest pollsters.
“I can only say, children, when your parents get older, send them to Poland,” said Miskulin’s 66-year-old daughter, Ilona von Haldenwang.
Germany’s migrating seniors are an early warning sign of a challenge of global proportions. As birth rates drop, life expectancies increase and the baby boomer generation heads into old age, the United Nations estimates the world’s population of people older than 60 will more than triple to almost 2 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, even for seniors cushioned by government aid in countries like Germany, the cost of nursing home care is rapidly becoming prohibitive. German spending on long-term care for seniors is expected to increase from 1.4 percent of gross domestic product to 3.3 percent of GDP by 2060, the European Commission said in a report last year.
The insurance pays out 1,550 euros ($2,060) a month to German citizens who, like Miskulin, need the highest level of care. That’s less than half of the 3,250-euro average monthly bill for such care inside Germany. Nursing homes in Poland are marketing care that in some cases may be similar or better for about 1,200 euros per month. The German government will pay as much as 700 euros toward nursing care outside the country. Though less than half the amount provided for in-country homes, it’s enough, together with most retirees’ pensions, to pay for monthly care costs -- with cash to spare.
The arithmetic is compelling for older Germans and their grown children. And costs in Germany are only likely to go higher: The country’s population is expected to be among the world’s oldest by 2050, on par with Japan, South Korea and Italy, with about 15 percent of residents over the age of 80, according to an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report.
Read more: Germans Export Grandma to Poland as Costs, Care Converge - Bloomberg
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