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The War Over Whether Medicare Should Pay For New Anti-Alzheimer’s Drugs

The powerful Alzheimer’s Disease lobby is fighting a multi-billion-dollar battle on two fronts. It is quietly trying to limit restrictions the Food and Drug Administration puts on the use of new drugs aimed at slowing the progression of the brain disease. And it is publicly pressing Medicare to pay for the widespread use of the monoclonal antibodies FDA already has [...]

By |2023-05-17T15:27:50-04:00May 17th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

As The Covid Health Emergency Ends, Medicare Will Stop Paying for Many Skilled Nursing Stays

As the Covid-19 public health emergency ends, many older adults who need a post-hospital stay in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) will be in for an unpleasant surprise: Traditional Medicare may not pay. The change, one among dozens that affect older adults, restores rules from before the pandemic. But they are complicated and will shock many patients and their families, [...]

By |2023-05-11T10:22:26-04:00May 11th, 2023|nursing homes|0 Comments

Biden Moves To Increase Pay For Medicaid Home Care Aides. Will It Work?

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has moved to increase pay for home care aides and others who provide personal care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. It has proposed new rules requiring Medicaid home care agencies to direct at least 80 percent of program payments for personal care services to compensation for care [...]

By |2023-05-05T11:04:31-04:00May 5th, 2023|Medicaid|0 Comments

Experts Raise New Questions About The Safety Of Anti-Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi

Medical experts are raising new questions about the safety of the anti-Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab, which is marketed as Leqembi by drugmakers Biogen and Eisai. One study, which looked in detail at the death of a participant in a Leqembi research trial, suggests that people with a condition that affects as many as half of those with Alzheimer’s Disease may be [...]

By |2023-04-25T10:22:43-04:00April 25th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

The Government Offers Nursing Homes A Carrot, The Stick Is Coming

Nursing homes have been pressing for more money from the state and federal governments, by far their biggest payers. Now they are close to getting it, but the extra payments may come with costly new obligations, especially related to staffing. The federal government is about to increase Medicare payments for skilled nursing care and, at the same time, states are [...]

By |2023-04-12T16:39:56-04:00April 12th, 2023|nursing homes|0 Comments

The US Predicts Big Increases In Skilled Nursing And Long-Term Care Costs

New government projections estimate significant increases in both overall and out-of-pocket costs for home care, nursing facilities, and continuing care communities (CCRCs) through this decade. The projected steep rise in costs will lead to tough decisions for both consumers and government. The latest annual projections, by analysts at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) forecast overall health [...]

By |2023-04-04T09:59:47-04:00April 4th, 2023|Health Care, Uncategorized|0 Comments

The Worldwide Debate Over Raising The Retirement Age

In the U.S., some Republican lawmakers are proposing  to raise the age of eligibility for full Social Security benefits, provoking withering criticism from President Biden and many Democrats. But the debate over when government should begin paying retirement benefits isn’t just a controversy here. It is happening all over the world. French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed gradually raising the [...]

By |2023-03-15T11:20:25-04:00March 15th, 2023|Social Security|0 Comments

Biden Would Make Big Changes In How Medicare Hospital Insurance Is Funded

In his budget due to be released tomorrow, President Biden will propose major changes in the way Medicare’s Part A hospital insurance program is funded. To ensure the program’s solvency, he’d shift hundreds of billions of dollars in tax revenues and allocate $200 billion in cost savings from other parts of Medicare to the hospital insurance (HI) trust fund. Biden’s [...]

By |2023-03-08T11:12:51-05:00March 8th, 2023|Medicare|0 Comments

More Medicare Advantage Plans Are Offering Extra Supports For Frail Seniors

Half of Medicare beneficiaries, about 30 million people, are enrolled in Medicare managed care plans such as Medicare Advantage (MA). And increasingly those plans are offering modest, but important, non-medical services to older adults living at home. These supplemental services are the only long-term care-type benefits most seniors will receive through Medicare. The assistance may include anything from meal and [...]

By |2023-02-28T10:41:53-05:00February 28th, 2023|Medicare|0 Comments

One Reason We Can’t Find Homecare Workers: Their Growing Fear Of Violence

The fear of violence against home care aides, nurses, and therapists may be adding to the already-severe shortage of care workers and adding to the burden on family caregivers. In our increasingly aggressive society, home care workers say they are being assaulted by angry and frustrated family members as well as people in the neighborhoods they visit. In some cases, [...]

By |2023-02-21T11:15:54-05:00February 21st, 2023|aging in place|0 Comments