When it comes to getting older, many Americans are on their own.

A majority of people in Japan (55%), Italy (78%) and Brazil (82%) all believe their government is responsible for financing the aging population, according to the study by The Economist and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, private foundation based in Menlo Park, Calif. The one exception? The U.S. Only 42% of American respondents felt the same. “These views are largely divided by party identification, as views of government responsibility generally are in the U.S., with Democrats more likely to place the responsibility on government and Republicans more likely to place it on families,” it added. A majority in all countries said children should help aging parents.

Americans are also conflicted when it comes to dealing with and talking about death. They are more likely to discuss end of life issues with loved ones (56%) versus a minority in the three other countries surveyed. And yet they are more likely to say they “generally avoided” talking about subject in day-to-day life (69%) than the other countries. And Americans and Japanese are far more likely to want patients and family to make end-of-life decisions — 87% and 88% respectively — than Italians (52%) and Brazilians (47%). Despite these differences, most people across the countries surveyed agree that doctors should be honest with patients regardless of their prognosis.

Full Content: Market Watch

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