Critical Analysis: The Problems of OP-Ed

A) Succinctly summarize the author’s argument and how the social issue/problem is defined by the author; In this op-ed the authors argue the impact families in caring for their elderly verses the governmental influents that are imposed “families, not Government agencies, provide most services and care for the elderly. For every institutionalized senior citizen, there are at least two equally disabled elderly people receiving care at home.(Smyer&Plantz)” It is in the author’s opinion that elderly citizens should be given that choice to decide on where they want to spend the remainder of their years, the author also stress that most elderly prefer to remain in the care of someone they trust; such as family, close friends, neighbors, or local church organization and without being in the care of family or those that they have confidence in the elder’s condition is more like to decline rather than increase “Until recently, the elderly and their families had one choice if they needed supportive services: an institutional setting that often provided more care than was needed at more expense than was necessary, thus inducing dependency and worsening the elderly person's condition.(Smyer&Plantz)” The authors feel that the government is not doing enough to encourage families to care for the aging population and sufficient funds are being poured into institutions such as nursing homes, assistant living facilities and so on. According to the author government is not doing enough economically to up-hold the promises of the Older Americans Act. B) Discuss the points of disagreement between you and the author; While it was a initially difficult for me to disagree with the author in the beginning because I could relate to some the points that the author was making, I can agree with the fact that government should give people more option as to where and with whom they want to spent their last years, but I can stand to argue the fact that most of the abuse and maltreatment on