Quote Originally Posted by David88vert View Post
My grandmother had a heart attack and spent time in the hospital 2 years ago. Due to proper financial planning many years before, my grandfather left her with enough money to cover medical issues. Is this a rarity? No, not in my family. None of my family has been rich, but all have been able to handle their needs to get insurance and to cover their own medical costs. Are you claiming that you are not capable of planning your own financial future, and need the government to do it for you?
I am not claiming any such thing. My grandmother knew she was old but my family happened to have many members die off during that time. Our money went to their care/bills/funerals as well. The bills eventually exceeded what we were bringing in. It also has a bit to do with the amount of income a particular family is bringing in as a whole. I'm not sure where a majority of your family is located but we aren't in a nearly affluent part of the country or city for that matter. The only person in the family that was capable to assist was my aunt as she was the wealthiest of all in the area. Now yes, I have family in a few other cities (1 couple in ATL, 1 old couple in NYC, 1 Uncle in NC, 1 cousin in Cincinnati (who ended up in the hospital himself this year ekk) and a cousin in MI.)

- Note after re-reading my initial post, I have to state that I listed the information wrong. My aunt did not sell her home DUE TO the bills, she had already sold her home and used the money from the sell to assist her mother with up-front costs. My grandmother just so happen to suffer the stroke at that time. Then just used savings to purchase her home she is in today.

My ATL family is taking care of the wife's mother who is in a special needs housing situation and from what she has told me, that eats up almost another mortgage payment, she works 2 jobs for that reason. The NYC residents are well into their respective lives and are on a fixed income barely getting by, unlike in their heyday when money was coming back in forth likea seesaw. My Uncle in NC is also retired, not to sure about his actual status as we don't normally communicate with him. My cousin in Cinci has never been that well off, but he did make an effort to assist in all this. Also the cousin in MI helped a bit, but he is young in his career and raising his own family. For an example, I probably have others, but what happened was coincidence and it was managed as best as possible.