Medicaid: Why it matters to all of us
Medicaid, with “aid” at the end, is a federal-state insurance program established to help individuals and families living in or near poverty. But, high health care costs, particularly nursing home...
View ArticleCongress must protect our community health centers
Every Thursday morning, I wake up excited for the 14-hour day I’m about to begin. My Thursdays are so long because that’s the day I work a second evening job at a Federally Qualified Health Center...
View ArticleAre commercial Medicaid and Medicare plans a good taxpayer investment?
How do we know whether commercial Medicare and Medicaid health plans are a good taxpayer investment? Chad Terhune reports for Kaiser Health News that one non-profit commercial Medicaid health plan had...
View ArticleHow to get free or low-cost dental care
Because dental care can be so expensive and most insurance—including Medicare—does not cover it, it is the number one health care service people skimp on. As a result, people put themselves at serious...
View ArticlePrograms that lower your costs if you have Medicare
Medicare only covers about half of a typical person’s health care costs. So, even with Medicare, many people struggle to afford premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pockets health care costs. Some...
View ArticleFree and low-cost ways to address hearing loss
While our hearing is likely to weaken with age, there are things we can do to address hearing loss. Hearing aids can be very expensive—as much as $3500 for a single hearing aid and most people need...
View ArticleProtect your eyesight: Free and low-cost vision care
Your ability to see well is precious. But, your vision is likely to deteriorate as you age. Some people develop eye diseases that have no early warning signs, including age-related macular...
View ArticleBefore choosing a nursing home, check out Nursing Home Inspect
If you are looking into nursing home options, Pro Publica has an online tool worth exploring, Nursing Home Inspect. The tool relies on federal government inspection reports to spotlight nursing homes...
View ArticleCARE Act assists family caregivers
About seven in ten older adults need long-term care at some point. In many cases, it is a family member who provides that care to help them remain in their homes as long as possible and stay out of...
View ArticleMedicare changing nursing home incentives to deter poor care
Kaiser Health News reports on a ghastly phenomenon that appears all too common for people with Medicare in some nursing homes. To increase their revenues, nursing homes create conditions that lead...
View ArticleMedicaid coverage of home and community-based care
If you would like to remain in your home as long as possible–sometimes called “aging in place“–Medicare will be of only limited help. Medicare pays for only a small amount of home care in situations...
View ArticlePACE helps older adults stay in their community
The Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is a home and community-based program designed to keep older adults who are at risk for nursing home placement living in their community. PACE...
View ArticlePeople with serious health needs more likely to disenroll from Medicare...
A new study of people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans published in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that people with high health care needs disenroll from these commercial Medicare health plans into...
View ArticleWhat’s a Medicare Special Needs Plan?
Medicare offers commercial health insurance coverage to help people with special needs through Medicare Special Needs Plans. The commercial health plans are a type of Medicare Advantage Plan, which are...
View ArticlePeople with Medicare and Medicaid in Special Needs Plans at extra risk
A paper in Health Affairs by Marc A. Cohen et al. explains that people with Medicare and Medicaid, “dual-eligibles,” enrolled in commercial Medicare Special Needs Plans, a type of Medicare Advantage...
View ArticleEvidence suggests privatized Medicaid long-term care may put people at...
The US health insurance system has become increasingly privatized. One big trend is in the Medicaid program. More than two dozen states have contracted with for-profit health insurance companies to...
View ArticlePresident Trump’s 2021 proposed budget would most hurt vulnerable older adults
Monique Morrissey writes for the EPI blog about President Trump’s proposed 2021 budget. Morrissey explains that this White House budget would hurt vulnerable older adults, even though it claims to...
View ArticleCan you protect nursing home residents in a profit-driven system?
A story in The Guardian about corporate entities that buy up nursing homes, with the goal of squeezing as much profit out of them as possible and no regard for their residents, speaks volumes about the...
View ArticleGovernment-administered long-term care insurance is long overdue
Since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, more than 46,000 people have died in nursing homes. The private health care market is failing, and government-administered long-term care insurance,...
View ArticleCoronavirus: More home and community-based services needed
For all the tragedy that Covid-19 has wreaked on this nation, there are a few silver linings. COVID-19 has cast a spotlight on the failings of nursing homes and the need for more home and...
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