Physical Activity May Be Associated With Reduced Cognitive Impairment In Elderly Population

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from Medical News Today

Moderate or high physical activity appears to be associated with a lower the risk of developing cognitive impairment in older adults after a two-year period. Thorleif Etgen, M.D., of Technische Universität München, Munich, and Klinikum Traunstein, Germany, and colleagues examined physical activity and cognitive function in 3,903 participants (older than 55) from southern Bavaria, Germany between 2001 and 2003.

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Designing Easy-To-Use Products With The Help Of Arthritis Simulation Gloves

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from Medical News Today

As the U.S. population ages, manufacturers of consumer goods are realizing that many customers may not be as nimble-fingered or sharp-sighted as they once were. To help product designers and engineers address those changing requirements, researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have been developing evaluation methods and design techniques to identify and address the needs of all consumers, including those with functional limitations.
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Older Female Cancer Survivors Have Added Health Issues Compared To Their Counterparts

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from Medical News Today

As cancer survivors live longer, questions arise about what kind of care long-term survivors require.

A recently published study from Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences found 245 older married women who survived cancer had more health problems as compared to a sample of 245 married women without cancer.
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New Report Finds Low Adult Vaccination Rates For Pneumonia In U.S.

from Medical News Today

A new report, Adult Immunization: Shots to Save Lives, released by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that more than 30 percent of adults ages 65 and older had not been immunized against pneumonia in 36 states as of 2008. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other experts recommend that all seniors should be vaccinated against pneumonia, which is a one-time shot for most individuals, since seniors who get the seasonal flu are at risk for developing pneumonia as a complication.
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A Day Through the Eyes of a Blind Woman

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from Even Grounds blog

Let's look at an ordinary day with the eyes of a blind person. There is so much to take for granted which is not given to others, for example, because they can't see. What happens with people who are totally blind? All of a sudden, many things are done very differently. Sometimes, accessible technologies will solve the problem. This includes any technology which can be used equally well by those who can see and those who can't. In other cases, special technologies need to be used to achieve the same that others do just by using their sight. This is technology which is specifically developed for blind people.

Let's follow a blind person through a whole work day. For the sake of the example, we will call her Lisa.

We will examine how technology helps Lisa throughout her whole day. We will not discuss anything else, but instances, where information technology can help her. We won't look at any other issues she might be facing. There are many more challenges we could talk about, but in order to overcome those, information technology itself will not solve the problem. In this post, I will only demonstrate how much information technology can make a difference.

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Does the village of Ballabgarh, India hold the key to preventing dementia?

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from Power-Up Friday-ChangingAging.org

Researchers have found a much lower than expected rate of
dementia among residents of this northern Indian village. While one might expect that people don't live as long in rural India on average as we do, the discrepancy holds even when taking this factor into account.

Over 5000 people were tested there by doctors from the University of Pittsburgh to look for clues to this phenomenon.


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Letters - What Do the Elderly Owe the Young? - NYTimes.com

Letters to the Editor in response to the David Brooks op-ed piece The Geezers’ Crusade in the New York Times.

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TIME GOES BY | If You Thought the Gregg/Conrad Commission was a Bad Idea...

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by Ronni Bennett

On the day of President Obama's State of the Union address, Republican Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin introduced a budget proposal that would, according to the Congressional Budget Office [pdf], create a budget surplus of about five percent by the year 2080. The three main changes that Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future would make are:

• Restructure the federal tax code to eliminate all taxes on interest, dividends, capital gains and estates (which mostly benefits the rich)

• Privatize Medicare and Medicaid

• Privatize Social Security

In other words, the proposal would transfer even more wealth from the working and middle classes to the rich while making it more difficult for everyone to get the health care they need and deserve, not to mention jeopardizing everyone's retirement.

As Ezra Klein put in the Washington Post, “Ryan's budget proposes reforms that are nothing short of violent.” The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare agrees: the plan “decimates Social Security and Medicare in the name of deficit reduction.”

Nowhere in Ryan's Roadmap does the word "defense" appear in relation to the military. There are no spending cuts in it except to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and it increases costs to individuals for those programs and private coverage as it simultaneously cuts benefits.

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The Eldercare Locator Service

The Eldercare Locator, a service of the U.S. Administration on Aging, is your first step for finding local agencies, in every U.S. community, that can help older persons and their families access home and community-based services like transportation, meals, home care, and caregiver support services.

Go to Eldercare Locator online

TIME GOES BY | GRAY MATTERS: Medicare Home Health Care

by Saul Friedman in Time Goes By Blog

I learned the hard way: The greatest and the most predictable danger for older people is falling. Too often, a broken hip can lead to a deep and irreversible decline in one’s health or well-being if you don’t get the best of help quickly. For me, I was laid temporarily low by a mild concussion.

Fortunately, for those of us who are eligible, Medicare and Medicaid have made some advances in fashioning benefits that will keep patients at home to mend instead of keeping them in a hospital which can be dirty, dangerous and expensive, or sending them to a nursing home, where the pampering, diapering and surroundings can be even more debilitating.

I hope this is not too basic, but in case you’re a caregiver or a potential patient and you don’t know, or haven’t read the 2010 “Medicare and You” manual, under the Medicare law, after a hospitalization of at least three days – say, for an accident, a stroke or for a broken or surgically mended hip – a patient is entitled to up to 20 days of rehabilitation and therapy in a skilled nursing facility at no cost. (After 20 days the cost is more than $133 a day). The skilled nursing facility, I should add, is not a nursing home. But nurses and therapists are available to help you bathe and dress until you’re able to do so for yourself.

A very important (and inexpensive) alternative, when leaving the hospital or the nursing facility or if you simply need medical help getting over a wound or illness is home health care, which Medicare covers and will cost you nothing. This is one of the best Medicare benefits, although too few beneficiaries or caregivers know about it.

I learned something about Medicare Home Health Care just a few days ago after I took a serious fall from the steep brick steps leading into my home, which left me with bruises, a minor concussion and further impairment of my right arm and leg, which had been weakened by a stroke six years ago. For those of you who are wondering, even six years into a stroke, therapy can help.

That meant I needed trained professionals to look after my recovery from the concussion and to provide physical therapy to get me back on my feet. All it took to get part-time home health care was a prescription from a savvy emergency room physician who wrote in his Rx that the care was “medically necessary.”

As the manual says, “a doctor must order it and a Medicare-certified home health agency must provide it.” That’s especially important for in past years, Medicare cracked down on fly-by-night agencies who charged but didn’t deliver adequate care.

The hospital may recommend an agency, but you should use one that is recognized. In my area, the best is the Johns Hopkins Home Health group.

The home health services may include medical social services, making sure you have help in the home, and part-time or intermittent home health aide services such as checking on a bandage or an IV, administering drugs or simply keeping track of your vital signs and the healing of a wound or a surgical site. The manual says that “you must be homebound” to receive such services, but that means you can leave home to visit a doctor, go to religious services or even go to adult day care.

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National Family Caregivers Association February 2010 Newsletter

The National Family Caregivers Association has published its February 2010 Newsletter containing articles on:
* HEALTHCARE REFORM
* COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY ARE ENACTING CAREGIVER PROTECTIONS AT WORK
* HOME SAFETY FOR DEMENTIA CARE
* RECOMMENDATIONS ISSUED TO IMPROVE MANAGEMENT OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

Read Newsletter

New Report on National Health Expenditures Underscores Need for Comprehensive Health Care Reform

Statement from Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis

Today researchers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, writing in the journal Health Affairs, reported that U.S. health spending reached $2.5 trillion in 2009, and that health care’s share of the economy grew 1.1 percentage points to 17. 3 percent—the largest one-year increase since the federal government began keeping track in 1960. These findings underscore the need for comprehensive health care reform that will help rein in the unsustainable spending growth that is placing an increasing burden on American families, businesses, and state and local governments.

Clearly the nation’s sluggish economy was a big reason for the increase in percentage of health spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), which actually shrank by 1.1 percent in 2009. Of greater concern for the future of our health system and the health of our economy is the projection that health spending will increase to nearly one-fifth—19.3%—of GDP by 2019, with a growing number of uninsured and underinsured—as more businesses find it difficult to pay for adequate insurance coverage for employees, and as more Americans lose their jobs. Inefficiencies in our health care system and the lack of incentives to provide high quality, cost effective health care play a large role in rising costs.

These untenable increases in health care costs and the economic hardship it poses for middle-class families lend additional evidence that we cannot afford to continue on our current path—spending much more than other countries do for health care that falls short on many meausures of quality and avoidable deaths and disability, while nearly 50 million Americans are uninsured, and 72 million working-age adults struggle to pay medical bills or have accumulated medical debt.

Congress should aim not to miss this historic opportunity to reform our health care system and put us on the path to a high performance health system and a healthy economy. Comprehensive reform will help control spending, and it will finally put the U.S. on track to get real value for its health care dollars.

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Millennials' Lukewarm Support For Health Care Bills - Pew Research Center

Many Are Uninsured Yet Most Are Unengaged

Millennials may stand to gain more from an expansion of government health insurance than people in any other age group. Fully a third (33%) of those younger than age 30 say they are not covered by health insurance; that compares with 19% of those in Generation X, and smaller percentages of Baby Boomers (12%) and those in the Silent Generation (3%).

Yet Millennials' support for the health care proposals before Congress has been lukewarm at best. Millennials do favor many of the individual components in these proposals -- for example, 65% favor the so-called "public option." But small percentages of young people expect their own health care or insurance coverage to improve if health care legislation passes. And as is typically the case with major policy issues, Millennials have largely tuned out of the health care debate: They are far less likely than those in older age groups to report they have heard a lot about the issue.
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NOW! Blog » The perils of doing nothing - 17 cents of every dollar

by Jason Rosenbaum

It's been said often, but given today's news, it deserves to be repeated. We can't do nothing about the health care crisis. We need to fix this problem and fix it now.

Overall spending on health care increased to 17 cents for every dollar spent in America last year, the largest one year increase since the government started keeping this record. For every dollar you make, almost one fifth of it goes to health care costs. And it's not stopping there, if health reform is not finished:

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Medicare Pays Almost Half of Rural Hospital Stays

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Newswise — Medicare patients accounted for almost half of all stays (45 percent) at rural hospitals in 2007, while the percentage of Medicare beneficiaries who were admitted to urban hospitals was considerably lower (35 percent) , according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The federal agency’s analysis also found that in 2007:

• About 25 percent of rural hospital patients were covered by private health insurance v. 36 percent of urban hospital patients. One-fifth of patients in both rural and urban hospitals had Medicaid and about 5 percent were uninsured.
• Half of the nation’s 2,000 rural hospitals had fewer than 50 beds compared with only one-fifth of urban hospitals.
• The top five illnesses among the two-thirds of rural residents who were hospitalized in rural facilities were: pneumonia (267,000 stays); congestive heart failure (166,000 stays); chronic obstructive lung disease (146,000 stays); chest pain (110,000); and fluid and electrolyte disorders, primarily dehydration and fluid overload (106,000 stays).
• The top five illnesses among the one-thirds of rural residents who were admitted to urban hospitals were hardening of the arteries (108,000 stays; osteoarthritis (79,000 stays); back disorders (75,000 stays); medical device, implant or graft complications (61,000 stays); and heart attack (61,000 stays).

This AHRQ News and Numbers is based on data in Inpatient Stays in Rural Hospitals, 2007 (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb85.pdf). The report uses statistics from the 2007 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of hospital inpatient stays that is nationally representative of inpatient stays in all short-term, non-Federal hospitals. The data are drawn from hospitals that comprise 90 percent of all discharges in the United States and include all patients, regardless of insurance type, as well as the uninsured.

Virginia attorney general wants more outpatient treatment for mentally ill - washingtonpost.com

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By Tom Jackman

One of the best ways to treat severely mentally ill people, experts say, is with mandatory outpatient treatment rather than forcing them into hospitals or institutions. After the shootings at Virginia Tech by a mentally ill student in 2007, the Virginia General Assembly changed the law the next year to allow more outpatient treatment.

But even fewer people were ordered into outpatient treatment in the law's first year.

So on Thursday, new Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) will push for a new law that would allow doctors to order patients into outpatient treatment after they are stabilized in a hospital or institution.

The law could save Virginia considerable money and open up more bed space by getting stable patients out of hospitals, Cuccinelli said. The attorney general also is seeking an increase in the time allowed for mental-health professionals to examine and evaluate people once they are taken into custody. That also would give patients more time to stabilize.

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George F. Will - A growth lesson from China - washingtonpost.com

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by George Will

While China increasingly invests in its future, America increasingly invests in its past: the elderly. China's ascent to global economic hegemony could be slowed or derailed by unforeseen scarcities or social fissures. America's destiny is demographic, and therefore is inexorable and predictable, which makes the nation's fiscal mismanagement, by both parties, especially shocking.

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NOW! Blog » How insurance companies make money by cutting off customers - A WellPoint Study

by Jason Rosenbaum in Profits Before People

Insurance is supposed to be about spreading out risk among a large number of people. In health insurance, the theory goes that everyone can pay a little bit every month into a large pool. If someone who pays into the pool gets sick, that large pool covers their expenses. Because there are enough people in the pool and only a certain percentage are sick at any one time, it's possible to design a system where people can afford to be covered for their illnesses when they happen.

Under this theory, wider coverage is a good thing. More people paying into the pool means the risk is more spread out. But Wall Street run insurance companies have perverted this system. Instead of striving for the largest risk pool, insurance companies can make more money by selectively insuring only the least risky people and cutting out the rest. In other words, they make money by cutting membership.
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Pelosi Plans Health Care Two-Track

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Carrie Budoff Brown,Patrick O'Connor

With the broader health care bill still perilously close to collapse, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to take a shot at the health insurance industry next week by scheduling a vote on a smaller bill to revoke its half-century-old exemption from antitrust laws.

The vote is part of her new two-track strategy to tackle things that won’t be included in a more sweeping bill — if Congress ever passes one — while giving her members something politically popular to vote on. The move also puts pressure on Republicans, the industry and wavering Democrats, who wish their leaders would abandon the push altogether.

The bill comes as party brass struggles to find a path forward in the broader health care reform effort and amounts to a concession to her caucus as more sweeping legislation twists in the wind.
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Stop citing spending ratios! - The Hill's Pundits Blog

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By Terence Kane

There is a lot to like about David Brooks’s column today in The New York Times. I do want to respond briefly to his point about spending on children and seniors. Brooks cites a recent study by Julia Isaacs at the Brookings Institution that lists the ratio of federal spending between seniors and children at 7:1. Various other columnists have picked up this headline-generating ratio. Notice, pundits rarely use the 2.4:1 ratio for all government spending — most government spending on children is at the local and state level — since it plays less into their selected narrative. More broadly, it does not matter what ratio they cite; they are both deeply flawed.

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Budget chief attacks Ryan’s blueprint - TheHill.com

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By Walter Alarkon

The White House is hammering Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget plan, seeking to contrast sharply it with President Barack Obama’s economic policies.

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag on Tuesday argued Ryan’s plan to cut the deficit through reforms to Medicare would raise healthcare costs for families and individuals.

Democrats at Tuesday’s House Budget Committee hearing were harsher; Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) said Ryan’s plan would “end Medicare as we know it” for seniors by making it impossible for some to afford health benefits they now receive under Medicare.

Ryan proposes that the deficit be closed by shifting some seniors away from Medicare. He would have Americans 55 and younger be issued vouchers to buy private insurance approved by Medicare instead of being placed in the Medicare system. when they grow older. Those older than 55 would stay in Medicare.

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Decades Later, Post-Polio Syndrome Troubles Survivors - NYTimes.com

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By KIRK JOHNSON

The polio virus, and its reign of terror in the American psyche, is faded history now. After a vaccine was introduced in the mid-1950s, millions of people sighed, turned the page and moved on. Many polio victims, often struck in childhood, tried to leave the story behind and forget, too.

So when Becky Lloyd, a researcher at the American West Center of the University of Utah, started an oral history project on polio last fall, she imagined weaving a tapestry of memory — a filling in of details about quarantines and rehabilitation units and hospital wards, with their rows of iron-lung breathing machines that became the most chilling symbols of the disease’s attack. Polio cases peaked in the United States in 1952.

But Ms. Lloyd soon found that polio’s past was not dead and gone. It was not even past. In all the early interviews, people talked about an after-echo legacy of the disease called post-polio syndrome that had come back to hit them in their 60s and 70s. Survivors who had battled through braces and operations decades ago wanted to talk about the present, Ms. Lloyd said, and the new battlefield they faced.

“Thirty, 40 or 50 years later, it’s like they’re getting the disease again,” Ms. Lloyd said.
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Medical News: Stress of Prostate Cancer Diagnosis May Be Deadly - in Hematology/Oncology, Prostate Cancer from MedPage Today

Medical News: Administration Issues Mental Health Parity Rule - in Psychiatry, General Psychiatry from MedPage Today

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By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today

Under a proposed rule released by the Obama administration, patients in a group insurance plan who are being treated for mental illness or substance abuse may no longer be charged more than if they were receiving medical or surgical care.

The Department of Health and Human Service (HHS), the Department of Labor, and the Internal Revenue Service issued an interim rule last week containing specific language necessary to enforce the bipartisan mental health parity law passed by Congress in 2008.

The law -- called the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act -- states that if a group health plan covers the treatment of mental illness or drug or alcohol abuse, the limits and financial requirements for these services can be "no more restrictive" than those that apply to medical and surgical benefits.

That means an insurance plan cannot charge higher copayments, deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses for mental health services than for treatment of physical illnesses.
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Medical News: ADT for Prostate Cancer Raises Heart Risks - in Urology, Prostate Cancer from MedPage Today

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By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer can exacerbate cardiac risk factors and may increase the risk of heart attack and cardiac death, according to an advisory supported by four medical organizations.

However, the groups did not offer specific guidelines for clinicians on when to employ ADT therapy or avoid it.

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Even With Heart Disease Awareness on the Rise, Prevention Remains Critically Important for American Women, February 2, 2010 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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The Heart Truth campaign urges women to take action

In recognition of American Heart Month, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and its heart disease awareness campaign — The Heart Truth — is reminding all American women that heart disease prevention remains critically important, despite that fact that awareness is at an all time high. More women than ever know that heart disease is their leading killer, yet millions of women are at risk, at increasingly younger ages.

Even with increased awareness, 80 percent of midlife women (ages 40 to 60) still have one or more of the modifiable risk factors — high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, and smoking. Sixty percent of younger women, ages 20-39, have one or more of these risk factors. Recent data show high rates of overweight/obesity in younger women, which may lead to higher rates of heart disease in later years.

"Women are developing heart disease at younger ages, and our research shows that many women, particularly at younger ages, still do not recognize their personal risk," says Susan Shurin, M.D., acting director, NHLBI. "What young women need to realize is that leading a healthy lifestyle in their 20s and 30s sets them up for a long and healthy life."

Although overall heart disease deaths in women have gone down, the death rate in young women increases threefold between the third and fourth decade of life. This suggests that the late 20s and early 30s is a critical time for women to take action to reduce their risk, according to Dr. Shurin.

Activities such as National Wear Red Day on Friday, Feb. 5 and The Heart Truth's signature Red Dress Collection 2010 fashion event on Thursday, Feb. 11 encourage Americans to raise awareness of heart disease in women. The Red Dress is the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness, and helps remind women to recognize and take action to reduce their risks for heart disease.

Statistics show that heart disease risk factors are subject to a multiplier effect. This means that having even one risk factor, such as high blood pressure, can double a woman’s chance of developing heart disease. Two risk factors, such as overweight and high blood pressure, increase risk fourfold, and having three or more risk factors increases risk tenfold.

Women can prevent heart disease by reducing their risk, and following a heart-healthy lifestyle. An annual physical can provide a risk factor numbers check — blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index, and, if appropriate, blood glucose — and the opportunity to start a discussion about physical activity levels and smoking to develop a personal plan to reduce their risk. Such a plan would incorporate heart healthy eating, getting regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking. Regardless of a woman's age, NHLBI research shows that it's never too early or too late to take action.

As another way to raise awareness and encourage heart healthy living among women, The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection 2010 will go behind the seams on the opening night of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to remind women it's what’s inside that counts. A healthy heart means a longer, healthier life. More than 20 of today's hottest celebrities will walk the runway in red dresses created by America's top designers to encourage women to protect their heart health and inspire them to take action.

"Women have tremendous power to reduce their risk of heart disease, and I am delighted that our sponsors and the fashion and entertainment industries will again join with The Heart Truth to bring this urgent heart health message to millions of women and encourage them to take action to protect their hearts," said Dr. Shurin.

The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection 2010 is presented by Diet Coke. "Diet Coke is pleased to be partnering with The Heart Truth for the third year to help spread the message about heart health and living positively," said Caren Pasquale Seckler, assistant vice president, Coke Trademark Brands. "Heart health continues to be a priority for Diet Coke consumers and for our brand. Through our powerful network, we have tremendous opportunities to remind women, especially younger women, how to stay active and live a more well-balanced, heart healthy life." National sponsors of the 2010 Collection include Swarovski, and Tylenol and St. Joseph Aspirin; the make-up partner is Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.

Celebrity participants in this year’s Red Dress Collection Fashion Show include: Bethenny Frankel, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Felicity Huffman, Dania Ramirez, Dara Torres, Estelle, Heidi Klum, Swoosie Kurtz, Jewel, Jordin Sparks, Kim Kardashian, Kimora Lee, Kristin Chenoweth, Mamie Gummer, Raven–Symoné, Regina King, Robin Roberts, and Rose McGowan.

Participating designers in the 2010 Collection include: Isabella Oliver, Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta, Ohne Titel, Rachel Roy, Zac Posen, John Galliano, Monique Lhuillier, Badgley Mischka, Marchesa, Kouture, Daniel Swarovski, Michael Kors, Tadashi Shoji, Tracy Reese, J. Crew Collection, and Dolce & Gabbana.

A selection of designer dresses worn by celebrities in The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection Fashion Show will be auctioned off through a partnership with Clothes Off Our Back, at www.clothesoffourback.org. The auction starts in February and will run through early March. Proceeds will benefit the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health on behalf of The Heart Truth in support of women's heart health education and research.

For additional information, visit www.hearttruth.gov or email your inquiry to media@hearttruth.org.

Please Note: Participants in The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection 2010 Fashion Show were confirmed at time of release and are subject to change.

About The Heart Truth

The Heart Truth® is a national awareness campaign for women about heart disease sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Through the campaign, NHLBI leads the nation in a landmark heart health awareness movement that is being embraced by millions who share the common goal of better heart health for all women.

The centerpiece of The Heart Truth is the Red Dress, which was introduced as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness in 2002 by NHLBI. The Red Dress® reminds women of the need to protect their heart health, and inspires them to take action.

To learn more, visit www.hearttruth.gov.

The Virginia Gazette - News - Medicare advice: Don’t switch docs

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By Amanda Kerr

excerpts:
Fears at the time were that continuing reductions in Medicare reimbursements would lead physicians to drop Medicare patients, which would be a very big deal in a retirement community like greater Williamsburg. That problem still exists (see “Durable Threat” box).

Peng said that so far denial of services has not become a reality.

..................

A second hospital will likely come at just the right time as the senior population continues to grow. But Medicare access is by no means guaranteed, given what’s going in Washington.

“As we look at issues of health reform and the potential for declining reimbursements, many physicians in the community are concerned,” Peng said. “At this point, that discussion remains hypothetical.”

Peng said it’s too soon to tell what may happen or how doctors will address further cuts to Medicare under health reform.

One local medical practice last year sent letters to patients warning that Medicare cuts would force its doctors to limit the number of Medicare patients. The letter urged patients to contact their congressman to support changing the funding formula and raise the reimbursements.

Jumping from doctor to doctor could lead to a bad outcome of musical chairs.

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FDL Action » Breaking Up Health Care Reform: What Pieces Can Stand Alone?

By: Jon Walker

Recently, there has been some talking about breaking up health care reform into multiple bills. Others have argued that this is impossible because most of the components of the health care are too interconnected. While it is true that some reforms can’t easily be separated, the reality is that the current health care bill is made up of several effectively independent parts. I’m not advocating for breaking up reform, but I intent to show how this current bill might be broken up. If Democrats did intend to pass health care reform piecemeal, a different strategy for coverage expansion might be smart.

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Healthy Adults May Need Less Sleep As They Age According To Study

from Medical News Today

A study in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP suggests that healthy older adults without sleep disorders can expect to have a reduced "sleep need" and to be less sleepy during the day than healthy young adults.

Results show that during a night of eight hours in bed, total sleep time decreased significantly and progressively with age. Older adults slept about 20 minutes less than middle-aged adults, who slept 23 minutes less than young adults. The number of awakenings and the amount of time spent awake after initial sleep onset increased significantly with age, and the amount of time spent in deep, slow-wave sleep decreased across age groups. Yet even with these decreases in sleep time, intensity and continuity, older adults displayed less subjective and objective daytime sleep propensity than younger adults.

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Learning from The Brits – be aware of age discrimination

by Dr. Bill Thomas

From 2004 to 2006 I had the privilege of living in England, I
learned a lot about the culture, their openness to discuss difficult topics and their willingness to diminish inequality. I saw many good examples of empowerment of women, ethnic minorities, older workers and immigrants. Here is one more example:

The Equality Bill, published on 27 April 2009, will make it
unlawful to discriminate against someone aged 18 or over because of age when providing services or carrying out public functions.

The Centre for Policy on Ageing has produced five literature
based reviews in 2007 and 2009 to look for evidence of age discrimination in health and social care services in the UK.

They are:
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Social Security Payback Pays Off - WSJ.com

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By TOM LAURICELLA

While there can be advantages to delaying taking Social Security, in a tough economy, some might not have a choice. After all, for those who find themselves out of work after age 62, Social Security provides a significant safety net.

But should your fortunes reverse and finances recover, it may be worth pursuing a little-known strategy and repaying the Social Security benefits you found yourself needing to take. It's a complicated calculation -- especially if you're married -- and there are risks involved. But in the appropriate situation, the result could be bigger benefit checks later in life.

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TIME GOES BY | Recent Health Research

by Ronni Bennett

One of the things I dislike about the cultural markers related to elders is that so much of it is about poor health. There are uncounted numbers television commercials, repeated in static and video ads on the internet that also show up in magazines, all with remedies for health problems associated with old age.

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