Long-Term Care Costs and the National Retirement Risk Index

Center for Retirement Research at Boston College's report demonstrates that the National Retirement Risk Index shows that 44% of retirees will be unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement, even if they work until age 65 and annuitize all their financial assets.

Full report is available

Engaging the 21st Century Multi-Generational Workforce

MetLife Mature Market Institute's study examines the role of engagement in creating a satisfactory work environments, and the difference age can play in achieving engagment.

Full report is available

Boon or Bane? Examining the Value of Long-Term Care Insurance

A video of testimony before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging by:

Diane Rowland,, Sc.D., Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured

Sean Dilweg, Wisconsin Insurance Commission

Carol Cutter, Indiana Department of Insurance

Thomas M. Stinson, Genworth Long-Term Care

Bonnie Burns, California Health Advocates

Hospital strains to cut elder care costs

The Boston Globe reports on a new initiative by Massachusetts General Hospital to cut medical costs by reducing hospital stays and emergency room visits by the frail elderly. This program has necessitated a heavy up front investment in an expanded primary care staffs, in order to provide hands-on help for patients struggling with a multitude of health problems.

Full article is available

Closing the Long-Term Care Funding Gap: The Challenge of Private Long-Term Care Insurance

Kaiser Family Foundation's Policy Brief examines the basics of private long-term care insurance, in the context of how consumers buy policies, how much policies cost and how they work, and what regulations exist to protect consumers.

Policy Brief is available

How Would Medicare Part B Premiums Be Affected If There Is No Social Security COLA?

Congressional Research Service examines the effects of the cost-of-living adjustments to social security on Medicare. It is believed that there will be no COLAs for the next three years.

Full report is available
Issue Brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation is available

Medicare Part D Payments for Beneficiaries in Part A Skilled Nursing Facility Stays in 2006

Office of Inspector General has released a report which outlines the extent to which Medicare Part D paid for drugs for beneficiaries in Part A skilled nursing facility for the year 2006.

Full report is available

Data from the National Center for Health Statistics

National Home and Hospice Care Survey: 2007 contains survey data of home health and hospice agencies, their staffs, their services, and their patients.

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2004) Linked Mortality Files has linked mortality data to the already existing in information in the NHANES, which tracks health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States Public files are available, as well as files restricted to approved researchers.

National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files has linked mortality data to the already existing information in the NHIS, which tracks health status, health care access, and progress toward achieving national health objectives. Public files are available, as well as files restricted to approved researchers.

The GINA Law: Consumer Protection in a New Era of Genetic Testing

AARP discusses the implications of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which limits insurers' ability to use genetic information to raise rates for an entire group.

Research Report is available

Nursing Home Residents May Keep $250 Stimulus Payment

The National Council on Aging reports taht almost everyone living in nursing homes, assisted living facilities or board and care homes, will receive a one-time payment from the U.S. government of $250 in May 2009, thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed into law in February 2009. Homes and facilities are not allowed to take it for bill payment, even if the state subsidizes care.

News item from Elder Law Answers
News report from National Council on Aging concerning stimulus payment
Fact sheet from National Council on Aging

State-Funded Home and Community-Based Services Programs for Older Adults

AARP looks at state-funded home and community-based services, and finds that, currently, states have been able to maintain funding for their programs over the past decade. The report cautions that the current economy may jeopardize funding for these programs.

Full report is available

Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary Reports from Families USA

Families USA has released two reports which examine issues surrounding Medicare and low-income beneficiaries:
Key Priorities to Help Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries</span> outlines the 3 key things Congress should do improve Medicare.

Medicare: Helping Low-Income Seniors And People with Disabilities looks at out-of-pocket health care costs incurred by Medicare participants.

Effects of Early Life on Elderly Health

Population Reference Bureau has issued a report that shows choices made earlier in life can have lasting effects on elderly health; decisions about exercise, nutrition, smoking, and drinking behavior, pursuit of higher education, whether or not to marry, and which neighborhood to live in all have consequences
much later in life. Not only can such choices in one’s adult life affect elderly health, but so can characteristics of one’s childhood.

Full report is available

AARP Bulletin Survey on Employment Status of the 45+ Population: Executive Summary

A Research Report from AARP reports the results of a survey which examined whether people over age 45 had lost jobs, sought new employment over the last 12 months, or if they had uncertainty about keeping their current jobs. Survey results include:

17% said they had postponed plans to retire.

15% had looked for a new job because of uncertainty about their current employment.

16% reported having lost a job during the past 12 months.

22% felt it was at least “somewhat likely” that their job could be eliminated within the next year.

Full report is available

Providing More Long-term Support and Services at Home: Why It’s Critical for Health Reform

AARP's Public Policy Institute Fact Sheet details ways in which reform of Medicare's present policies on long-term care could be more economical, and provide better service to seniors.

Fact sheet is available

Care at the End of Life Still Not What It Could Be

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has made available the results of a study which conducted a variety of surveys to assess the end-of-life care provided in private homes, in nursing homes and in hospitals. Their study found:

Many people dying in institutions have unmet needs for symptom amelioration, physician communication, emotional support and respectful treatment.

More than one-third of U.S. nursing homes' residents with severe cognitive impairments have feeding tubes.

Family members of African-American decedents were less likely than those of white decedents to rate the care they received as excellent or very good.

Students and residentsgenerally feel unprepared to provide good care for the dying, and both faculty and residents feel unprepared to teach them.

Full report is available