Aging
‘Science Friday’ and KHN: Examining Medicine’s Definition of Death Informs the Abortion Debate
There is a widespread consensus in medicine on the definition of death, and those standards have been codified into laws in nearly every U.S. state. There’s no such medical consensus on the answer to another big question: When does human life begin? With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, that question has big implications for […]
Her Brother Landed in a Nursing Home. She Was Sued Over His Bill.
“I thought this was crazy.” Lucille Brooks Lucille Brooks, 74, Pittsford, New York Approximate Medical Debt: $8,000 Medical Issue: None. She was billed for her brother’s care. What Happened: Lucille Brooks was stunned to discover a nursing home in Monroe County, New York, was suing her. She had never been a patient there. Nor had […]
Para las familias médicamente vulnerables, la presión de la inflación es inevitable
ROSAMOND, California — Deborah Lewis se levantó al amanecer y se conectó a su teléfono para poder comenzar a entregar comida rápida, café y comestibles a los residentes en esta parte occidental del desierto de Mojave, el lugar en el que generaciones atrás el piloto de pruebas Chuck Yeager rompió la barrera del sonido. Lewis […]
For Medically Vulnerable Families, Inflation’s Squeeze Is Inescapable
ROSAMOND, Calif. — Deborah Lewis rose from bed before dawn and signed in to her phone so she could begin delivering fast food, coffee, and groceries to residents in this western patch of the Mojave Desert where test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier generations ago. Lewis prayed she would earn $75, just enough […]
Watch: How Nursing Homes Put Friends and Families on the Hook for Residents’ Debts
Barbara Robinson was just trying to help her mother’s friend sign up for Medicaid and move into the Monroe County nursing home in Rochester, New York. But because Robinson signed the admissions form, the nursing home considered her financially responsible for the woman’s care, Anna Werner reported for CBS News. After the woman died, the […]
No, the Senate-Passed Reconciliation Bill Won’t Strip $300 Billion From Medicare
Senate Democrats’ reconciliation bill “will strip $300 billion from Medicare.” Ad from the American Prosperity Alliance, posted July 19 As Senate Democrats raced to pass what could be their final piece of major legislation before the midterm elections, critics went to the airwaves to blast the proposal as hurting older Americans who rely on Medicare. […]
Cognitive Rehab May Help Older Adults Clear Covid-Related Brain Fog
Eight months after falling ill with covid-19, the 73-year-old woman couldn’t remember what her husband had told her a few hours before. She would forget to remove laundry from the dryer at the end of the cycle. She would turn on the tap at a sink and walk away. Before covid, the woman had been […]
Hospices Have Become Big Business for Private Equity Firms, Raising Concerns About End-of-Life Care
Hospice care, once provided primarily by nonprofit agencies, has seen a remarkable shift over the past decade, with more than two-thirds of hospices nationwide now operating as for-profit entities. The ability to turn a quick profit in caring for people in their last days of life is attracting a new breed of hospice owners: private […]
Nursing Homes Are Suing the Friends and Family of Residents to Collect Debts
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Lucille Brooks was stunned when she picked up the phone before Christmas two years ago and learned a nursing home was suing her. “I thought this was crazy,” recalled Brooks, 74, a retiree who lives with her husband in a modest home in the Rochester suburbs. Brooks’ brother had been a resident […]
‘True Cost of Aging’ Index Shows Many Seniors Can’t Afford Basic Necessities
Fran Seeley, 81, doesn’t see herself as living on the edge of a financial crisis. But she’s uncomfortably close. Each month, Seeley, a retired teacher, gets $925 from Social Security and a $287 disbursement from an individual retirement account. To make ends meet, she’s taken out a reverse mortgage on her Portland, Maine, home that […]