Why is a Birthday Way More Important Than Cake?

A Birthday… More important than than you ever thought

Imagine a group of senior living professionals sitting around a couple of tables…drinking coffee and talking about what’s new…then imagine the owner of a transportation company relaying the story of how one of their clients…a senior with cognitive impairment had given 3 different birth dates and they were struggling to process paperwork. Now imagine this room of industry professionals coming alive with almost everyone sharing their “birth date story”. Today we’re talking about how your loved one’s special day could be way more important than presents and cake.

As I was in this room with all these professionals sharing my own story, I thought…This needs to be a blog post! So today we’re going to look at some reasons a birth date could be wrong. There may be some obvious reasons your loved one’s birth date is important like age requirements for assisted living and Medicare and VA benefits but also some you may not have even thought about.

Have you seen the movie This is 40 with Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann? It’s a hilarious, sometimes raunchy, look at aging and in one scene Leslie Mann is at a doctor’s appointment and during her very vulnerable exam… two nurses and her doctor all realize she’s given 3 different birth dates… It’s hilarious! It also shows just how easy it is to have a discrepancy! Want a different birthday? Just say the word…or date and there you go…it’s a matter of record! 

So what are some other reasons your birth date could change, aside from not wanting to get older? How about wanting to be older! It’s estimated that more than 200,000 men and women lied about their age in order to join the war effort during WW2. This of course involved forging documents…some were as young as 15 years old! 

How about lying about your child’s age to get them to start school earlier? Have you read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers? Well I’ll admit I didn’t finish it…But what I read made sense! Birthdays matter when it comes to education and how that relates to sports. If your child’s birthday misses the cutoff for starting kindergarten then when do they start your child could be almost a year older… bigger…stronger…smarter…than many of the other students in their class. This goes for sports too! And of course I’m simplifying this relative age effect but many parents have produced false birth certificates to enroll their children. Case in point…a friend recently shared that until 4th grade she thought she was a full on Scorpio! Yes…I’m bringing in astrology here… but stick with me. Her mom’s friend forged her birth certificate so she could start school earlier. Now, before we talk about why the correct birthdate is so important…let’s look at some more examples of why a birthdate could be wrong.

-Data is entered incorrectly

-Parents want their children to start sports early

-Giving the wrong birth date to avoid ageism and discrimination.

So why are we talking about this today? Why is a birth date so important? And especially for you…reading a blog about seniors?

First, there are many benefits and resources for seniors that are age dependent and I’m not just talking about getting that AARP membership! Medicare, Social Security, Veterans Aid and attendance which pays for part of assisted living and many senior living communities have age requirements. More importantly, if your loved one’s age or birth date is different then what you think it is, it could be a huge problem for applying for some of these resources. It could mean rejected applications and having to wait much longer to obtain these benefits…or worse! You could discover that your loved one doesn’t qualify yet due to their incorrect birth date or maybe they could’ve qualified earlier. If your birth date doesn’t match Medicare’s records then you won’t be able to file a claim. 

I also had a client who discovered their mother’s death certificate had the incorrect birthdate…Which could have banking, real estate and tax implications. They had to order a new one.

So…Do you really know your mom’s or dad’s or grandparent’s birth date? Is it the one you’ve been celebrating your whole life? The one on their healthcare app.. the one you always give when you call their doctor? Or is there another date floating out there and will you find it before you’re trying to qualify them for services or will that be the day you find out…just how important a birth date really is.

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