Most seniors want to age at home rather than move to a senior living facility. But this choice brings many challenges, including the risks of social isolation, limited access to medical care and supportive services, and the potential for falls or other injuries that come from living in a home that is unsafe for a frail older adult. But there [...]
Adult day centers seem to have made it into the political debate in Washington, though not in a good way. In his nasty weekend back-and-forth with President Trump, Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) suggested the White House has become an “adult care center” and wondered if the staff had “missed a shift” when Trump launched his Sunday Twitter storm. Yesterday, Rep [...]
Discharge planning is often a broken link in the chain of care for hospital patients. Older adults and others with complex care needs nearly always need follow-up after they are discharged. They’ll almost certainly have to take new medications. They may need bandages changed after surgery, or physical therapy after a stroke. Unfortunately, they and their families rarely get the [...]
For decades, seniors and others with chronic illness have had to scale a seemingly insurmountable barrier built by the health care system, aided and abetted by Medicare and Medicaid. On one side of the wall was medical care, mostly controlled by doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and skilled nursing facilities. Medicare paid them to do as many medical procedures as possible, and [...]
Imagine your widowed father is 96 and living alone in a distant city. He’s got severe heart disease and mild dementia but is still competent to make his own choices. And is decision is: He refuses to move to a care facility but will not accept any supports and services that could help him remain safely at home. He won’t let [...]
If, like millions of Americans, you need personal assistance and run out of money, you may be eligible for long-term care under Medicaid. But in order to get those safety net benefits, you may have no choice but to move into a nursing home. This is true even though most people prefer to stay at home and most of the [...]
Slowly but surely, more people who receive Medicaid benefits for long-term supports and services are getting their care at home rather than in nursing facilities. Still, only about 3.3 million seniors and younger people with disabilities who require long-term care get such help at home—about 1 million more than in 2000. Overall, the program now spends about $50 billion or [...]
Too often, we stash our elders away in institutional residential care facilities. And, sadly, even many active seniors choose to separate themselves from the broader world, opting for what they see as the safety and security of gated communities. This week, I spent a couple of days in Rochester, N.Y., where the St John’s Living Community has developed two [...]
With the election behind him, Barack Obama's first item of business will be dealing with the fiscal cliff--that toxic combination of tax increases and automatic spending cuts that are due to kick in on Jan 2, unless Congress acts to delay or replace them with a long-term deficit reduction plan. Going over the cliff would mean deep cuts in a wide range of government programs. [...]
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" in the future of financing [...]