The US health system focuses an enormous amount of money and attention on post-acute care—the medical treatment patients receive after they have been discharged from a hospital. But it would more cost effective, and far better for patients, to refocus on what you might call pre-acute care: What the US can do to prevent those hospitalizations in the first place. [...]
In response to the recent burst of inflation, the government increased Social Security benefits significantly in the past two years. But compared to average pre-retirement income, net benefits have been falling for decades. And the trend will continue. One big reason: Rapidly rising Medicare premiums that usually are deducted directly from Social Security checks. Think about Social Security benefits in [...]
Too often, physicians are reluctant to give patients a diagnosis of dementia, even when cognitive testing shows memory loss or other symptoms. And when doctors do provide a candid diagnosis, they may send their patients and their families home without any guidance for what to do next. No practical advice. No sense of hope. And too often, not even any [...]
Caring for a chronically ill parent, spouse, or other relative is hard. And, without support, it can seriously interfere with paid jobs, disrupting not only employees’ lives but their workplaces as well. There are lots of good reasons for firms to assist workers who are caring for loved ones. Unfortunately, many don’t make the effort, perhaps because they are worried [...]
Last year, Medicare decided it would routinely pay for sophisticated imaging tests for Alzheimer’s disease called amyloid-PET (positron emission tomography) scans. The move will make it easier for people with early-stage memory loss to get tested and potentially become eligible for a class of new drugs that aim to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. However, many neuroscientists and imaging experts [...]
Congress is debating whether to impose new restrictions on immigration as the price of a deal to provide new aid to Ukraine and Israel. But some of the biggest victims of this misguided policy will be frail older adults, younger people living with disabilities, and their families. For their sakes, Congress should make immigration easier, not harder, for the nurses [...]
There is a seemingly endless debate about whether Americans have sufficient savings for retirement (see here and here). The answer is that many do. But tens of millions do not. Overall retirement assets have grown enormously in recent years-- to $36 trillion, despite a terrible stock market in 2022. But looking at total retirement plan savings, or even average 401(k) [...]
The federal government wants to know more, and wants consumers to know more, about who owns nursing homes. It is about time. And it may help identify some of the worst actors who pollute the nursing home industry. However, without easier access to this new information, I’m not sure how helpful it will be for prospective residents and their families. [...]
The US is desperately short of nurses, personal care aides, and other direct care workers who help frail older adults and younger people with disabilities manage their days. Instead of dealing with the problem, policymakers have, predictably, devolved into their usual partisan blame-mongering. Watch, if you can, this recent hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the worker [...]
Welcome to November, National Family Caregivers Month, one of those Hallmark Card-like designations that politicians grant when they can’t, or won’t, actually act to help people. But instead of getting frustrated over what Congress isn’t doing, it seems like a good opportunity to think about what support those family members need. Many groups have surveyed family caregivers over the years [...]