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 [...]
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) [...]
We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care is a study in contrast. On one hand it is a chatty, easily accessible look at the failings of the US health insurance system by two of the nation’s best young health economists. But behind the one-liners and informal presentation, it proposes a highly provocative, radical alternative to our current mess. Liran [...]
Medicare is a critical lifeline for older adults who need health care as they age. But a new study shows that over the next two decades, out-of-pocket medical costs for older adults are likely to rise significantly, even with access to Medicare. By 2035, a typical senior will spend one out of every seven dollars of retirement income on medical [...]
We’ve all seen those best- places-to-retire lists. Inevitably, they are based on low taxes, good weather, or lots of activities. But how about this metric: Where will you get the best care if you are old and frail? Hint: Oregon is good. Rural Louisiana is not. The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, which has access to an [...]
Older adults are getting too much medical treatment. No, I am not suggesting we ration treatment for seniors or empower the mythical death panels. Rather, the health system should replace aggressive but ultimately useless medical interventions with more care. This means rethinking the way we care for older adults with chronic disease. We should organize care around the goal of improving their quality of life rather than on [...]
In a recent essay in The Washington Post, geriatrician and author Jerald Winakur described the recent hospital experience of his 91-year-old mother. You won’t be surprised to learn it was a nightmare: Poor pain management, overworked staff, insufficient training, little communication among physicians and no communication between his mom and the waves of medical professionals who treated her each day. [...]
Want to know what’s wrong with the health care system for older adults in the US? It can be summed up in that 10-word response on a physician’s voice mail. One evening last month, I got a panicked call from a friend: She came home from work and discovered that her widowed mother, who has been living with her for [...]
For seniors trying to manage multiple chronic disease, moving from one care setting to another can literally be a matter of life and death. That's why it is so important that health providers--doctors, nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities, and home care agencies--work together to make sure that those moves happen safely. Too often in our poorly coordinated health and long-term care systems, those [...]