Whenever one of my contemporaries complains about the problems of getting older, my kneejerk response is “It’s better than the alternative.”

But sometimes I wonder.

Families go through hell when a parent or grandparent requires more than just routine care. In particular, dementia takes an incredible toll on a family’s psychology and finances.

There’s nothing federal or state governments can do to make the emotional pain of watching a loved one diminish. But anything that can be done to lessen the financial burden will help families deal with the heartbreak.

Earlier this month, Kamala Harris proposed allowing Medicare to help pay the costs of elderly home care. She says her administration would pay for this through some of the savings achieved through negotiating drug prices.

It’s an idea and seems worth trying. 

The details would be interesting. Would Medicare establish floors and ceilings for what care providers could receive as part of the reimbursement? Would there be minimum standards for quality?

Right now, finding people to attend to an elder in your care is crazy – at least here in New York. There are agencies and contractors, and they try to place people who might not be especially qualified for the task.

And there are all kinds of other issues. Are families in compliance with IRS regulations concerning taxes? Are the care providers in the country legally, or are they undocumented? How much of a family’s fortune needs to be spent before it qualifies for other forms of assistance, such as Medicaid?

As part of her plans for families caring for elderly members, Harris wants to end the practice of allowing the seizure of deceased recipients’ homes to help allay the costs of care. That is certainly a good thing.

Harris says she’s made these proposals after thinking about the difficulties she had when her mother was dying of breast cancer. That’s something Americans can relate to – when we talk about “economic anxiety,” that – and not some blatantly racist trope – is what we should mean.

The other key issue affecting those who are is the protection of Social Security and Medicare.

Republicans hate those two programs. They are what endear so many Americans to the Democratic Party – gifts from Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson to this generation and beyond.

Because the population is aging, the costs of these programs are taxing the systems that support them. This has given opponents an opening. For instance, they believe letting Social Security become a voucher program that allows funds to be invested as recipients see fit would help.

Which it wouldn’t. Especially now, at the point of our lives when Social Security is a crucial part of our income. It would be like gambling. And one mistake could be life-changing – and threatening.

Harris is looking at a longstanding Democratic idea – raising the ceiling at which income is taxed for Social Security and Medicare purposes. It’s ridiculous that Elon Musk pays a lower percentage of his income toward these programs – which he doesn’t need – than a teacher, a policeman or a miner.

But, as befits the point of these pieces, it’s not something you hear a lot about in the campaign coverage. Because the idea is to not let this message get heard – for fear it’s really popular among the demographic that could ensure her election.

It matters to my generation. It matters to my kids. I’ll bet it matters to you. 

In more ways than one, that beats the alternative.