Many countries east and west are faced with the same problem ? the grey generation. The percentage of the population that is past their sell-by date is increasing all the time while those involved in productive employment are shrinking faster than the Arctic ice-cap. Every society that meets this situation has to deal with the situation of what to do with all these elderly folk and even more pressing where to get the money to pay for such provision. The United Kingdom is no exception, so it might be interesting to consider that country’s experience and the way that it attempts to deal with this global conundrum.
　　Since the welfare state was developed at the end of WWII all the workers in the UK have contributed to a scheme of compulsory National Insurance. This is based on a deduction of a regular contribution deducted from your pay or salary by their employers at the same time as Income Tax is collected on behalf of the government. Even if you pay no tax you must still pay National Insurance. Self-employed people have to make the payment in the same way as they pay taxes. If people are unemployed, their contributions are credited to them. The National Insurance funds are designed to provide funding for the National Health Service (still basically free) and Unemployment Benefits as well as for the pensions paid to the elderly. At the age of 65 for a man and 60 for a woman, all who are covered by the National Insurance provision will qualify for a pension.
　　In theory, the contributions collected from the workers should provide sufficient funds for a basic living pension for the old people of the country. In practice, as the ratio of pensioners to workers becomes increasingly unbalanced and the costs of the Health Service soar almost out of control, there is never really enough money to make proper provision. The standard pension now is barely sufficient to live on if there is no other income. In cases of hardship people can apply for pension credits of various kinds which are designed to meet day-to-day living costs. However, the government is eager to encourage all those in employment to make some private provision which is usually done through a pension scheme organised by their employers or by private insurance.
　　Workers in state-run employment such as teachers or civil servants have no option but to contribute a percentage of their salary every month to the national schemes organised by the government itself and will be paid a pension based on a proportion of their final salary at the time of retirement. Employers with a large work-force will have their own pension schemes wit their own levels of contribution and final pensions ? some very generous and some less so. However, no matter how much your final pension, you will still qualify for a State Pension. There, of course, a catch. Your pensions, including your State Pension, for which you have contributed all your working life are subject to income tax ? the more your pension, the more tax you pay.
　　There are other lesser financial benefits from being old. At 60 you qualify for free travel on buses and cheap travel on the railway system. There a few health benefits ? free prescription medicines and free eye-tests, for example. Many places have reduced or even free admission charges for pensioners. Even so, anyone living on the basic pension alone find it quite hard to make ends meet.
　　One major problem for old people everywhere is accommodation. Providing the elderly are still physically well and active, they tend to stay in their own homes as long as they possibly can. With the mobility that exists in employment in the UK, fewer sons and daughters now stay within easy reach of their parents so that regular visiting becomes less convenient. As the parents become older and frailer, this raises a series of problems. Different families work out various solutions. If the family can afford it, they sometimes equip a room or even a small apartment ? the “granny flat” ? in their own home for their aged parent. Sometimes, the old people move into “sheltered housing” where they stay in their own house or apartment in a group of similar places and there are wardens employed to check on their welfare several times every day and to perform minor services for them. This provision is usually subsidized by the local government or by a charity organisation. It is a very popular solution with many families though it is seldom a cheap option and the number of such units is far fewer than the demand for them. Another solution is some kind of nursing home or retirement home where the old people live in a large house where they have their own room and can be cared for by trained staff in accordance with their physical condition. Especially as they grow older and their health deteriorates, the majority of people probably end their life living in some kind of “home”. The kind of life that the old enjoy there, and perhaps the standard of care they enjoy, depends on the nature of the establishment and that, unfortunately, often depends on the ability to pay. There are no maximum charges for nursing home care and paying for this can use up the old people’s savings and the income from the sale of their own property very rapidly. The government will pay for the cost of basic care in a low-cost home, but only after all the elderly individual’s own financial resources have been exhausted. This is a situation which causes a lot of distress and many a family quarrel.
　　For many old people in the UK, as elsewhere, their dream is to live in their own home, visited frequently by their children, and to pass away peacefully sleeping in their own bed having saved a little bit of money to pass on to their family. Fortunately, for many this dream can still come true. For some, and maybe these days a majority, the sunset years have become troubled by too many clouds of near-poverty, poor health, and a fairly meaningless existence in an institution surrounded by strangers while all their hard-earned savings go to make some enterprise even richer.
　　
　　許多國家,無論是東方還是西方,都在面臨著一個相同的問題――老齡化。如今,從事生產(chǎn)的就業(yè)機(jī)會減少的速度比北極冰蓋融化的還要快,與此同時,年紀(jì)越來越大的老年人所占的比例一直在增長。每個國家都需要解決如何對待這些老年人的問題,更加棘手的是,到哪里去得到支付老齡化問題所需要的費用。對于這個如今全世界國家都面臨的難題,英國也同樣逃不掉。因此,關(guān)注一下這個國家在處理這個全球性難題上有什么經(jīng)驗和方法,或許是一件有意義的事情。
　　自從英國這個福利國家在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)之后發(fā)展起來到現(xiàn)在,在這里工作的人們就一直在為強(qiáng)制性的國家保險制度做著貢獻(xiàn)。也就是說,雇主們會從工人的報酬或者薪水里面定期扣除一部分錢,同時,還會以英國政府的名義扣除他們的個人所得稅。即使你不用交個人所得稅,也必須繳納國家保險。個體經(jīng)營者也需要按同樣的方式交稅。如果有的人失業(yè)了,那么他們之前所繳納的稅款就會歸還給他們。國家保險基金是用來向國民醫(yī)療服務(wù)制度(基本上是免費的),失業(yè)津貼,還有退休和養(yǎng)老金提供資金的。男性65歲,女性60歲,凡是符合國家規(guī)定的,都可以領(lǐng)到養(yǎng)老金。
　　理論上說,工作著的人們繳納的稅款足以養(yǎng)活那些有著最基本的生活要求的老人們。實際上,隨著退休人員和工人的比率日漸不平衡,再加上醫(yī)療服務(wù)的花費猛增,幾乎失去控制,確實沒有足夠的錢再做適當(dāng)?shù)膬�備。如�?如果沒有其他收入來源,養(yǎng)老金的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)頂多只能勉強(qiáng)維持老年人的生活。生活困難的人們可以申請多種養(yǎng)老補(bǔ)貼,來滿足日常的生活費用。然而,政府還是熱衷于鼓勵所有工作的人做一些個人儲蓄,這種儲蓄通常是由雇主或私立保險機(jī)構(gòu)發(fā)起的養(yǎng)老規(guī)劃來打理的。
　　在國營部門工作的人,比如像教師,或者公務(wù)員,每個月都會從自己的薪水中拿出一定比例的錢貢獻(xiàn)給政府發(fā)起的國家保險制度。當(dāng)他們要退休的時候,將會根據(jù)最終的工資的比例得到退休金。那些有眾多員工的老板們,會根據(jù)他們所做貢獻(xiàn)的程度,擁有自己的一套養(yǎng)老金計劃,最終他們得到的養(yǎng)老金有的很多,有的少一些。你的養(yǎng)老金,包括國家養(yǎng)老金,這一輩子的工作之后所得的養(yǎng)老金,都要受到所得稅的支配――得到的養(yǎng)老金越多,交的稅就越多。
　　另外,還有較少的一些針對老年人的優(yōu)惠政策。如果你到了60歲,就可以免費乘坐公交車,也能買到便宜的火車票。還有一些醫(yī)療優(yōu)惠,比如說免費的處方藥和免費的牙齒檢查。很多地方減免了退休人員的門票。即使如此,那些僅靠退休金維持生活的人還是會發(fā)現(xiàn)很難使收支平衡。
　　任何地方的老人都在面臨一個主要的問題,就是住處。如果老年人身體還算靈活,行動自如,那么他們都愿意呆在自己的家中,只要他們有這個能力。在英國,工作的遷移率比較大,極少有兒女住在離他們父母家較近的地方,這就使定期看望父母變得不太方便。隨著父母年齡的增大,身體日漸虛弱,就會引起一系列的問題。不同的家庭會有不同的解決辦法。如果有的家庭可以承擔(dān),子女們就會在他們自己的家中為父母布置一間房間,甚至是一間老人套間�；蛘�,有的老人們會搬進(jìn)“老年養(yǎng)護(hù)所”,在這里,老人們會租用屬于自己的一套房子或者公寓,這些房子會聚集在一個比較集中的街區(qū),會有看護(hù)人員每天多次查看老人的健康狀況,并且對他們進(jìn)行簡單的服務(wù)。養(yǎng)護(hù)所的津貼一般是由當(dāng)?shù)卣��?或者慈善機(jī)構(gòu)提供。盡管這是一個并不便宜的選擇,而且這樣的機(jī)構(gòu)比起很多家庭的需求量還是相對較少,但還是很多家庭選擇了這種方式。另外一種選擇就是像“護(hù)理之家”或者“退休之家”這樣的機(jī)構(gòu)。通常是一棟比較大的房子,老人們在這里有屬于自己的獨立房間,還有受過訓(xùn)練的員工根據(jù)老人們的身體狀況為他們提供服務(wù)。特別是當(dāng)老年人的年紀(jì)越來越大,健康狀況越來越糟糕。他們通常都會選擇自己喜歡的“家”來安度晚年�；蛟S是喜歡那個“家”的生活方式,或許是喜歡那里的護(hù)理標(biāo)準(zhǔn),這些選擇都取決于這些機(jī)構(gòu)的類型,不過說到底,還常常取決于自己的金錢承受能力。在“護(hù)理之家”花錢沒有上限,在這里住通常會非�？斓鼗ü饫先说乃�有積蓄,還有變賣自己的財產(chǎn)所得的錢。政府會為收費低廉的機(jī)構(gòu)提供基本護(hù)理的花費援助,但也是在所有老人自己的經(jīng)濟(jì)來源全部消耗殆盡之后。這種情況導(dǎo)致了很多家庭的經(jīng)濟(jì)窘迫和家庭糾紛。
　　對英國許多老人來說,和任何一個地方的老年人一樣,都渴望住在自己的家中,孩子們經(jīng)常來探望,最終可以睡在自己的床上安然離世,并且有自己的一點積蓄可以留給他們的家人。幸運的是,對于很多老人來說,這個夢想還是可以實現(xiàn)的。對一部分老人,或許現(xiàn)在來說對于大部分老人,他們的晚年被太多烏云籠罩著。近乎貧困,身體狀況糟糕,還要拿出自己所有的積蓄毫無意義地住在一個被陌生人包圍的機(jī)構(gòu)里,而他們畢生的積蓄還會使一些企業(yè)更加富有。

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