Medicare’s Mixed Legacy

The New York Times discusses Medicare within the framework of health care reform, demonstrating how the Medicare model works as health insurance.

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How Does Retirement Affect Health?

Institute for the Study of Labor investigates the effects of retirement on health outcomes, finding an increased tendency towards chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease and cancer).

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A Slow-burning fuse

The Economist examines the fiscal effects of an aging population on the world's economic outlook.

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Medicare Part B Chemotherapy Administration: Payment And Policy

Office of the Inspector General examines the payment system within Medicare Part B that covers chemotherapeutic agents. This analysis attempts to determine if Medicare paid appropriately for Part B services billed as chemotherapy administration from 2005 to 2007.

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Payment for Medicare Advantage Plans: Policy Issues and Options

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation looks at the issues surrounding maintaining Medicare Advantage rates at current levels or reducing them to levels commensurate with the cost of comparable beneficiaries in the fee-for-service program.

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Working for life: making decent work and pensions a reality for older people

HelpAge International uses information gathered from focus group discussions with older people in Bangladesh, Peru and Uganda to make recommendations for including older people in work programs and providing them with social pensions.

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Commentary from Al Jazeera English

Social Security benefits for long-term, low-wage workers are modest and need to be increased.

Pew Research Center has released a Social & Demographic Trends survey finds a gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older Americans themselves.

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Revitalizing Social Security: Effectively Targeting Benefit Enhancements for Low Lifetime Earners and the Oldest Old

The Urban Institute's Senior Research Associate, Melissa M. Favreault, testified before the U.S. Congress Senate Special Committee on Aging on the need to increase Social Security benefits for long-term, low-wage workers.

Transcript of testimony is available

A Trying Time in Housing for Elderly

The New York Times reports on a complex built with the aging in mind, geared for affluent people 60 years or older.

Article is available