We also are very encouraged that people are living stronger, healthier lives. We are encouraged that disabled Americans have more options to live fully and healthily for a longer period of time. We are encouraged that all these folks are proving that retirement can be a beginning as well as an end. But we know that with aging, inevitably, come the infirmities of age. We cannot expect that every older American will be able to fend for himself or herself.
Millions require the care that can only be provided in a nursing home.
But millions more choose to remain at home with family and friends. Indeed, the elderly are remaining at home in record numbers. The same is true of people with disabilities. Today millions and millions of households are caring for elderly relatives, or even for neighbors. They represent the best of America, fulfilling a family obligation, often unspoken but deeply resonant in the American character.