Yup. Elderly care in most countries - including Europe - is a scam designed to keep the poor classes poor. Assuming long-term care is ~3000€ a month and ten years of life expectancy, that's ~360k€, or what most of us made in lifetime savings (remember, here in Europe we got actual pensions, so no 401k needed). However, a family that already has 2, 3 million € in liquid assets? For them, even two or three people in elderly care won't make much of a dent - the interest earned from these assets alone is enough to pay for their care. And for everyone above that it's not even a question.
Now, the worse problem is there is no (ethical) way around the issue. Modern medical care as well as strict workplace safety regulations and the downturn of heavy industry (that caused a lot of people to die of silicosis, asbestosis and whatnot) allows for far longer life times, even with mentioned severe illnesses that would have taken out earlier generations before they had even hit pension age, and there haven't been wars to take out a decent part of the population either (which had been the norm prior to the end of WW2). At the same time, we can't just give poor elderly people a gun and tell them to off themselves out of ethical reasons, and we don't want to pressure them to "look for a way out" on their own either. We also can't rely on women to do the care labor as they did prior to the 70s, for both ethical and economic reasons (we need women in the work force). And we also can't import cheap labor from overseas to fill the gaps in staffing to drive down wages, because we already did that (good luck finding nurses and other care staff in Eastern/South Eastern Europe - all bled dry and burned out!).
> here in Europe we got actual pensions, so no 401k needed
Right.. you do realize that Europe is not a country? And anyway that’s not really true in many places (or anywhere to be fair if you want to enjoy a decent QoL).
> However, a family that already has 2, 3 million € in liquid assets? For them, even two or three people in elderly care won't make much of a dent - the interest earned from these assets alone is enough to pay for their care
If you have 3 million and need 360k a year that not really the case at all unless you make some relatively risky investments and/or don’t pay taxes.
> which had been the norm prior to the end of WW2
It certainly wasn’t the norm outside of the 30 year period between the start of WW1 and the end of WW2 (also on the whole it disproportionately affected young men).
Now, the worse problem is there is no (ethical) way around the issue. Modern medical care as well as strict workplace safety regulations and the downturn of heavy industry (that caused a lot of people to die of silicosis, asbestosis and whatnot) allows for far longer life times, even with mentioned severe illnesses that would have taken out earlier generations before they had even hit pension age, and there haven't been wars to take out a decent part of the population either (which had been the norm prior to the end of WW2). At the same time, we can't just give poor elderly people a gun and tell them to off themselves out of ethical reasons, and we don't want to pressure them to "look for a way out" on their own either. We also can't rely on women to do the care labor as they did prior to the 70s, for both ethical and economic reasons (we need women in the work force). And we also can't import cheap labor from overseas to fill the gaps in staffing to drive down wages, because we already did that (good luck finding nurses and other care staff in Eastern/South Eastern Europe - all bled dry and burned out!).