The New York Times has just released an article that provides a liberal view of why we need immigrants in the US, ie, in order to take care of the aging population.   Sort of like the slave trade, only different because they will be paid minimum wage.   The basis for this argument stems from the fact that we have a shortage of medical personnel, most specifically, nurse assistants.  But as usual, The New York Times has completely missed the relative point.

In the US, a Certified Nurse Assistant is trained according to a rigorous education that lasts about 75 hours, or 2-4 weeks.   The average pay for a CNA in a hospital is $11.68 per hour which equates to roughly $23,000 per year.   Immigrants are the primary source of labor for these jobs, and the nursing industry is claiming to be paralyzed as shortages grow out of fear of Trump’s immigration program.

The industry considers fast food restaurants to be their greatest competition for employees.   Given there are generally no benefits, native born Americans aren’t willing to work these grueling jobs at minimum pay. Instead, over 1.8 million immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, Somalia and Honduras fill the gap, many speaking broken or no English.   Most are on Federal welfare programs, including food stamps and Medicaid.

But the real crisis is only just beginning, and it isn’t so much about immigrant slave labor as it is about the looming shortage of affordable nursing care facilities.   In 2013 the average cost of a nursing home was a staggering $81,000 per year for a ‘semi-private’ room.   Think Medicare will pay for it? Think again.

Medicare is broken into definitions of care.   They will pick up 100 days of convalescent care, and up to 60 days of physical therapy.   Some nursing homes take Medicare, most don’t.

Facilities that were taking Medicaid are finding their liability is high, their labor is less than stellar, and their land is more valuable than the business.   Private facilities start at around $6500 per person per month in Colorado.   And the only way to find a state facility through Medicaid is to be relieved of all your assets excluding $2000, while the remaining stay at home spouse may have assets totaling a whopping $116,000.   A house? Not allowed unless it is worth less than $116,000.

Baby Boomers are coming of age.   Only a small proportion will have the resources to fund a private facility stay, the remainder will become a burden on their children. The immigrant CNA workforce picking up the labor shortage in Private and Medicaid facilities will not affect the real problem because their value is minimal in terms of cost.

Today there are over 46 million US citizens over the age of 65.   There are 28,000 assisted living facilities housing roughly one million residents.   The average age of residents is between 75 and 83 and the majority are women.   Facilities are broken down into various definitions, including; independent living, assisted living, critical care, and Alzheimer care.

You want to fix the problem? You have to correctly identify it.  Immigration has been justified by Liberals not from a position of compassion and love, but as a means of propping up an aging population in need of slave labor and social security tax revenue. In Europe, it is far move prevalent as the birth rate has plummeted for decades.   The fact that the immigrants in these countries prove to be more of a financial and cultural burden than benefit, has yet to be addressed given it is not ‘politically correct’.

The only other means of mitigating this coming crisis is to cut down the aging population, through disease or war, or both.   But the grisly reality is it has absolutely nothing to do with compassion and everything to do with an agenda, a need, and a looming disaster about to spiral out of control.