It costs families more to care for a frail older adult than to raise a child for the first 17 years of her life. Yet, while the government routinely provides a broad range of assistance and free services for children, it offers only limited benefits for those needing long-term supports and services—and mostly only for those who are impoverished and [...]
Georgia Congressman Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, is a bundle of contradictions when it comes to Medicare. He certainly is not alone. Trump and congressional Republicans have sent their own very mixed signals about Medicare. The House GOP very much wants to turn the program into what it calls premium [...]
It looks like nursing homes will continue to be able to require residents and their families to agree in advance to arbitrate disputes with the facilities, despite an attempt by federal regulators to curb the practice. Late last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a major rewrite of its nursing home regulations. Most of those rules [...]
Your family gets together for the holidays. You expect one of those wonderful Hallmark moments but instead...disaster. There are always issues at family get-togethers (Clinton v. Trump, Sue’s gravy v. Tom’s), but when it comes to adult children and their aging parents, the landmines seem to be everywhere. Here are four ways to turn holiday challenges into opportunities—for you, your [...]
Washington is buzzing with speculation about how President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican majority in Congress will remake Medicare and Medicaid. But neither the incoming administration nor the Hill GOP is giving much thought to what those changes would mean for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. By failing to do so, they are creating a potential crisis [...]
Older adults with chronic illness often need a combination of medical treatment and social and spiritual supports. Together, they can make people healthier and happier, and less likely to suffer acute episodes that result in preventable hospitalizations. The medical treatment comes from doctors, hospitals, and health systems while the spiritual support comes from faith communities. And, in many cases, so [...]
Last month, Genworth, the biggest seller of long-term care insurance policies in the US, announced it was being acquired by a Chinese investor, China Oceanwide Holdings. I spoke with Genworth CEO Tom McInerney about the deal, the future of long-term care insurance, and the role of government in covering true catastrophic risk. Here is an edited version of our conversation. [...]
An important new national study finds that, after adjusting for age, Americans 65 and older are less likely to get dementia than in the past. The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn (JAMA) confirms previous regional studies in the US as well as recent research in Europe. The reasons for this decline in prevalence of the [...]
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump was largely silent on Medicare, though he often suggested he’d leave the program untouched. Not any more. It now looks as if Trump may push for major changes in the principal health care program for older adults and some younger people with disabilities. But what will he do? He has not said, but House [...]
The election of Donald Trump, along with continued Republican majorities in the House and Senate, will likely result in major cuts in federal programs that benefit older adults and younger people with disabilities. Some of the programs that could be targeted: Medicaid, important reforms in the way health care is delivered through Medicare, and services funded through the Older Americans [...]