Aging
Lawsuit Accuses Company Of Fraudulently Cycling Patients Through Nursing Homes, Hospice Care
A national hospice company improperly cycled patients through nursing homes and hospice with a goal of making as much profit as possible from Medicare, according to a whistleblower lawsuit announced this week. Federal attorneys also sued the hospice company, AseraCare, alleging it milked Medicare’s hospice benefit by pressuring its employees to enroll people into hospice […]
Calculating A Long-Term Care Policy: Will It Cover Your Needs, Can You Pay For It And Can You Afford Not To Have It?
This story was produced in collaboration with In the last years of Martin Privot’s life, his family had to start selling his assets to pay for his nursing home costs. “He needed 24-hour care and couldn’t be left alone,” recalls his daughter Toni Footer. “My biggest fear was we would run [through his money] and […]
Tips For Buying Long-Term Care Insurance
—Determine if you qualify financially. Don’t buy if the out-of-pocket cost for the coverage would be more than you can afford. Consumer Reports advises people that if their net worth, excluding their home, is below $300,000, long-term care insurance is not a good buy for them. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners also recommends that […]
Controversial Amendments Injected Into Florida Vaccine Bill
Tallahassee – On the second floor of the state Capitol building white coats swarm the halls. Tables in the lobby offer skin cancer screenings and cholesterol tests—a mini medical center, showcasing some of the services that local pharmacies provide. But retailers want to offer even more services and physicians from around the state are pushing […]
Different Takes: The National Plan To Address Alzheimer’s Disease
Early in January, a Department of Health and Human Services advisory panel issued a draft framework that represents the first step in a process to set up a national strategy to tackle Alzheimer’s disease. This plan was mandated by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law a year ago. Its challenge is […]
Taking Steps To Overcome Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s can’t wait. More than 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day — that’s one every eight seconds, a pattern expected to continue until 2029. As these baby boomers age, one of out of eight of them will develop Alzheimer’s — a devastating, costly, heartbreaking disease. It is time for a national strategic plan to […]
The National Alzheimer’s Plan: An Opportunity For Action
The National Alzheimer’s Project Act provides an historic opportunity to develop and act on a comprehensive approach to the detection of memory disorders and the management of Alzheimer’s disease. No one doubts the importance of developing prevention approaches, tools for early detection and effective therapies. And no one doubts the seriousness of Alzheimer’s disease as an […]
Seniors Need To Reevaluate Their Needs For Popular Medical Treatments: The KHN Interview
This story was produced in collaboration with Nortin Hadler, a professor of medicine and microbiology/immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been warning for years about the lack of evidence supporting many popular medical treatments and tests. His work is controversial. In books such as “Stabbed in the Back: Confronting Back […]
Oregon Emphasizes Choices At Life’s End
This story is part of a reporting partnership between Oregon Public Broadcasting, and Kaiser Health News. Terri Schmidt, an emergency room doctor at Oregon Health and Science University, can’t forget the day an elderly man with congestive heart failure came into the hospital from a nursing home. Helen Hobbs, 93, lives in an assisted living […]
Connecticut Weighs Its ‘Nurses Only’ Medication Policy For Homebound Seniors
This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes WNPR, and Kaiser Health News. Connecticut, like every state trying to reduce health care spending, is looking closely at how it cares for people with chronic conditions. Gov. Dannel Malloy has promised to move more than 5,000 poor and disabled patients out of nursing homes […]