Q: We thought about selling our home to get the equity and move into one of these graduated living communities, but economically we would not be able to make it. We don’t want to sell our home, but I feel I have to make some decisions about our future, especially based on my wife’s diagnosis and my not knowing how long I will be able to care for her and myself. What should we do?

A: In answering this question about the economic trauma facing many seniors last week, our lead-in to this week’s column was to be “What to do.” Little did we expect that, by a 217-to-215 vote taken in the early morning hours of Nov. 18, the House of Representatives would pass the “Deficit Reduction Act of 2005,” pack the budget with pork, and give seniors and seniors-to-be a real turkey for Thanksgiving.

Coupled with budget crises in every state, this Congressional action will destroy our health and long-term care infrastructures. This means that not only the welfare of our most vulnerable citizens (not to mention the flood of retiring baby boomers who will pass through our system of long-term care) will be seriously threatened, but also that we, as health care consumers, will foot the bills via increased health insurance costs and fewer services. Because Medicaid makes up a large percentage of each state’s budget, reductions in federal – and therefore state – funding will affect our health care and health care jobs in every state, thus increasing the bleeding of already injured economies.

While whining about increases in the cost of Medicaid, budget-cutters have ignored the growing needs and growing numbers of seniors, seniors-to-be and people with disabilities. These budget-cutters also have refused to talk about their underlying reasoning.

Fiscal irresponsibility has caused middle-income seniors and seniors-to-be to lose ground financially because Congress has 1) allowed big business to renege on pension and health care promises to retired employees in order to bolster sagging earnings and stock prices; 2) refused to rein in the high cost of prescription drugs and energy; 3) refused to stop funding their pet pork projects, 4) reduced taxes for the wealthy and corporate interests that lobby them; 5) all but taken away from middle-income Americans the “fresh start” that bankruptcy was designed to give in favor of big banking interests; and 6) refused to curtail their unnecessary spending. With all this combined, Congress has saddled us with historic budget deficits.

The fundamental, yet unspoken, strategy behind HR 4241 and many other “cost- cutting” measures is called “Starve the Beast” – that is, cut taxes and create budget deficits to force the reduction of so-called “entitlement programs” for seniors and disabled individuals, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Last time we checked, Americans have paid premiums for Social Security and Medicare. But because Congress has robbed the trust funds and can’t pay them back, they call seniors’ pension and insurance programs “entitlements.” We suggest that if our government’s books were subject to the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission, members of Congress would be sharing cells with convicted CEOs of the corporate world.

What lies ahead if HR 4241 becomes law? We believe that 1) Family financial difficulties will result in more divorces and fewer marriages; 2) More Americans will choose to cohabit rather than marry; 3) More widows and widowers will be left penniless to rely on their children during their last years; 4) The middle class’s “American Dreams” of home ownership and of being more affluent than previous generations will vanish. We also believe that if we value life to the extent that many remain firm on a “no abortion” stance, it is contradictory to not extend life values and provide for increasing numbers of elderly and disabled children.

Taking the NextStep: What to do? The Senate’s version of the budget, while including cuts, is much more palatable than the House’s version. The budget will go to conference committee to be ironed out after the Thanksgiving holiday. Contact your senators and representatives and let them know your next vote depends on theirs. Don’t sit on your hands until you or your family is devastated and there is no one left to speak for you.

– Jan Warner is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and has been practicing law for more than 30 years. Jan Collins is editor of the Business and Economic Review published by the University of South Carolina and a special correspondent for The Economist.