Medicare is the 1965 Ford Mustang of healthcare. It was cutting-edge back in the day. But, like that half-century old car, Medicare no longer runs very well and needs a remake. The real issue is not its finances, which is what most of Medicare’s 50th anniversary commentary is about. It’s about redesigning how it delivers care, which is what really [...]
Family caregivers are invisible. Those children, spouses, or other relatives who provide personal assistance to loved ones with physical or cognitive limitations are often taken for granted or even ignored. But without them, our system of long-term supports and services would collapse. Frail elders and younger people with disabilities would get sicker. Hospitalizations would increase. Medicare and Medicaid costs would [...]
What are the odds you’ll need assistance to help with personal activities such as bathing or dressing before you die? For those about to turn 65, it’s about 50/50, according to an important new study. On average, you can expect to need this high level of care for about two years. But one-in-five Americans will need such assistance for less [...]
The number of people needing long-term supports and services is likely to double by mid-century, and there is broad agreement across the political spectrum that our system for delivering and financing that care is, frankly, terrible. But for years, these problems seemed intractable. How could we break the political gridlock that has infected this issue, along with so many others? [...]
Yesterday, the CEO of the nation’s largest long-term care insurance company, Genworth, acknowledged the US needs a new model of LTC insurance that includes some government role. Tom McInerney estimated that between half and two-thirds of Americans simply cannot afford to buy insurance in the traditional private market. A 50-something can expect to pay an average of $2,500-$3,000-a-year for a typical [...]
Cancer researchers are closer than ever to achieving their long-held dream of turning the disease from a death sentence to a chronic illness. This would be a remarkable scientific achievement. But while people may soon routinely live decades with their cancer in remission or even cured, they will not become immortal. Most will eventually suffer from some other debilitating condition and [...]
A landmark new study paints a dramatic picture of family caregivers: Nearly 44 million adults in the US are providing personal assistance for family members with disabilities or other care needs. That’s more than one out of every six adults. More than 34 million care for frail elders and nearly 4 million help children with disabilities. About 6.5 million care [...]
Over a 12 year period, nearly 6 of every 10 adult children age 51 or older will provide some care for an aging parent or in-law and nearly one in five will help an ailing spouse. And those who do are less likely to work, more likely to see a decline in their financial well-being, and more likely to fall into [...]
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 [...]
Should the aides who provide home care for frail elders and younger people with disabilities receive a living wage and decent benefits? If they do, how can families, who often are unable to afford care today, be expected to pay those higher wages and benefits? Should the market be allowed to set these prices, or should government intervene through minimum [...]