Wow. Do you not know any elderly people personally, or do you just dislike and disrespect the ones you do know.
Did you read my previous post. Hospitals work quite a bit along the lines of a financial model and it’s not because of abuse of the system by the elderly. As I said, my experience is with the adult foster care system. Hospitals discharge sicker and sicker patients so that they can collect the difference on the Medicare payment. The home health is needed more because of this practice.
I also know that there was no way my Mom after her knee surgery could have gotten to the hospital, nor after her cerebral hemmorhage. She was not non-compliant, she was just very ill (and discharged prematurely).
There certainly are abuses - people are getting lazier and more self-centered because they are used to being taken care of cradle to grave by our wonderful government welfare programs. But usually that abuse isn’t in the frail elderly.
Many elderly women live alone and away from their families They are the ones that need assistance - and it may be a partially social need, but social needs drive medical ones, particularly in the frail elderly and it’s cheaper for society to support someone at home, rather than them ending up back in the hospital.
Society does not have a high percentage of intact families living together with their older relatives. You may think that the elderly should just shut up and quit inconveniencing you, but you are going to be elderly at some point, so you might want to think that through.