With the rising costs of health care and erosion of retirement savings from traditional pensions, many American seniors find themselves in a financial bind when they need unexpected medical care and must turn to their family members for emergency assistance. Often, their children have children of their own, and are juggling the rising costs of education and health care within their own household. The financial squeeze felt by these families in the “sandwich generation” who are taking care of both their parents and their children is likely to become more prevalent in the future as the population changes.

Key Facts

In his State of the Union Address, President Bush announced a new health care proposal that he claims will“help more Americans afford their own insurance.” In fact, however, the President’s proposal is more likely to weaken the nation’s health care system than it is to make things better. It will not help the vast majority of the 47 million uninsured and will not address the inefficiencies in health care that contribute to skyrocketing costs. What it will do is undermine our country’s most reliable source of health care coverage - the employer-sponsored system - and put more and more people into the individual market where the risks are much greater.