Does Obamacare ‘Cut’ $716 Billion From Medicare?
Commentators weigh in on a claim by Mitt Romney
Should ‘the 47%’ Pay Income Taxes?
A look at the effects of tax breaks for low-income families with children.
Medicare Identifies Problem in Readmissions
Big goofups are not a great thing when one is trying fix healthcare. Medicare Errs In Crackdown On Hospital Readmissions.
More on Rising Medicare Part D Drug Premiums
Take a few minutes to read As Medicare Drug Premiums Soar It’s Time to Shop Around, another informative article about prescription drug plan open season. This October 2, 2012 Reuters article by Mark Miller goes into considerable detail about the…
Tonight’s Presidential Debate and Social Security
If Mr. Lehrer does his job well, that second segment will include questions about Medicare and Medicaid along with Obamacare and Romneycare although 15 minutes does not seem nearly enough time to cover the topic particularly given the vast gulf between Democratic and Republican parties.
What is not mentioned in the schedule is Social Security, an omission for which AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond took the debate organizers’ to task:
Want to win a genius grant? Try caring for the elderly
Encore: Coleman is 3rd geriatrician in 5 years to win $500,000 MacArthur award
Medicare Prescription Drug Plans: Basic Info for 2013
It’s that time of year again — the open season when Medicare beneficiaries keep, change, or make modifications to their prescription drug benefit plans (Part D). A September 25th Associated Press (AP) article, Report: Double-Digit Premium Hikes Seen in 7 of 10 Top Medicare Prescription Drug Plans
Large Medicare Part D Premium Increases for 2013
As you know, the annual Medicare enrollment period begins in about two weeks, 15 October. Both the physical handbook and the Medicare website are well designed, useful and easy to understand. It’s one of the things the federal government is good at and you should take full advantage.
Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenses Loom Large Despite Medicare
Adult children who help aging parents should check out the Washington Post article At End of Life, Medicare Beneficiaries Spend Thousands Out-of-Pocket. Reporter Sarah Kliff explains that a recent study, Out of Pocket Spending in the Last Five Years o…
Democratic Convention: Social Security and Medicare
Did you watch the Democratic Convention last week? I did. There were some damned good speakers leading up to the main event but most viewers didn’t get to see them, even on MSNBC and CNN which favored uninformed pundit chatter…
Baby Boomers: The Entitled Generation, by Bill Keller, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist
Bill Keller, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, painstakingly summed up his baby boom birth cohort as “The Entitled Generation.” This snippy criticism is typical of jeremiads written by and for Boomers to portray unseemly conclusions about the nation’s largest generation. So writes the columnist from on high, “We are an entitled bunch.” Keller’s views fall way short of balance. For example, while warning of and alleging future entitlement fund shortfalls to be imposed by the generation, he…
Aging Parents and Hospital Admission for Observations
When your parents go to the hospital and need to stay over night or longer, be sure the medical staff admits them as official patients and not for observation (which means that technically they are not admitted at all). People hospitalized for observ…
G&G: Applying for Medicare While Gay
Gay and Gray is a monthly column at Time Goes By written by Jan Adams (bio) in which she thinks out loud for us on issues of aging lesbians and gay men. Jan also writes on many topics at her…
A Hospital Stay—In Your Own Home
What if you could be admitted to the hospital—in your own bedroom? That’s the idea of a health care model called Hospital at Home, which is aimed at elderly patients with diseases such as congestive heart failure, emphysema, urinary tract infections, or pneumonia. According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, people [...]
“Meaningful Use ” and the American Hospital Association
Approximately twenty percent of hospitalized Medicare patients return to the hospital within a month, costing the program billions of dollars each year. The American Hospital Association calls that “bounceback”. To help reverse that trend, Medicare has been using what they … Continue reading →
Sen. Corker: Long-Term Care is “Heading for a National Crisis”
Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn) warned today that long-term care financing is “a major train wreck” and “heading for a national crisis.” Corker, the senior Republican on the Senate Aging Committee, said he was very worried about the viability of private long-term care insurance and added , “there is no doubt there is a public sector role” [...]
What Would Happen to Senior Care if the Supreme Court Strikes Down Health Reform
The fate of many important health reforms aimed directly at seniors is in the hands of the Supreme Court. While the public has focused most of its attention on whether the High Court will strike down the individual mandate in the 2010 health reform law, the justices today are hearing arguments about another critical issue: What should happen to the [...]
#PROAGING: Republican Budget Realigns Medicare But Ignores Long-Term Care
The macro-economics of aging over the next 40 years do not look great: the first Baby Boomers reached the age of Social-Security eligibility 15 months ago, but the crest of this so-called ‘Silver Tsunami’ will not come until about 2030. It will not recede for another couple of decades. The issue is not the number [...]
The Constant, Wearying Assault on Elders
On Sunday, while I was reading and gathering information for yesterday’s post about the AARP secret meeting on Social Security, I could feel how tired I am of it all.
“All” being the necessity to maintain a constant watch on politicians and their corporate overlords together with exhausting and usually confusing details of our financial and medical lives.
Jane Gross on NPR’s Tell Me More
If you missed the Michel Martin’s Tell Me More on Monday, January 23, 2012, head over to the program’s website to hear Jane Gross talk about her book, A Bittersweet Season: Caring For Our Aging Parents and Ourselves. Her conversation cover…
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