Eldercare, Aging and Long Term Care

N.F.L. Data Reinforces Links to Higher Rates of Dementia - NYTimes.com.

Confidential data from the N.F.L.’s dementia assistance plan strongly corroborates claims of a link between football and later-life cognitive impairment. Records indicate that pro football’s retirees are experiencing moderate to advanced early-onset dementia at rates several times higher than the general population, the most glaring evidence to date of the dangers of professional football in past eras.

The Little-Known But Important Details You Need to Know about Reverse Mortgage Eligibility | Gilbert Guide.

Determining reverse mortgage eligibility is one of the areas where I get the most questions, and for good reason; while eligibility for the program may seem simple, some of the age and property requirements are a bit more confusing. I'll discuss some of the biggest concerns about establishing reverse mortgage eligibility below.

Well - Physical Toll of Dementia Often Overlooked in Treatment - NYTimes.com.

Dementia is often viewed as a disease of the mind, an illness that erases treasured memories but leaves the body intact. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Stuart Bradford Well Share your thoughts on this column at the Well blog. Go to Well » Related Health Guide: DementiaBut dementia is a physical illness, too — a progressive, terminal disease that shuts down the body as it attacks the brain. Although the early stages can last for years, the life expectancy of a patient with advanced dementia is similar to that of a patient with advanced cancer.

Study Finds Some Complications With Minimally Invasive Prostate Surgeries - NYTimes.com.

Prostate cancer patients who chose minimally invasive surgery rather than more extensive operations to remove the prostate were less likely to experience complications like pneumonia, but reported higher rates of long-term problems, including impotence and incontinence, according to one of the largest studies to compare outcomes to date. Patients achieved similar rates of cancer control regardless of which surgery they had, the analysis found.

Simple tool can boost motivation, improve health in older adults.

The ability to identify patients with low motivation establishes an opportunity for health care providers to develop and implement interventions to improve older adults' motivation and to help them attain and maintain a higher quality of health and life. The GoB may help target adequate interventions to bolster motivation and thus improve health behaviors and outcomes in older adults

After a Death, an Extreme Form of Grieving - NYTimes.com.

Each of the 2.5 million annual deaths in the United States directly affects four other people, on average. For most of these people, the suffering is finite — painful and lasting, of course, but not so disabling that 2 or 20 years later the person can barely get out of bed in the morning.

Patient Money - When Elder Care Problems Escalate, You Can Hire an Expert - NYTimes.com.

CARING for an elderly parent is emotionally and mentally draining. There are diagnoses to decipher, housing issues to consider, health aides to vet and a raft of legal documents to complete. It can seem overwhelming, even when families are in complete agreement on how to care for an elderly relative. And often they are not.

Analysis: You Have No Idea What Health Costs - washingtonpost.com.

The truth is we all pay, and much more than we recognize, for health care. For many, it's among the largest investments we'll make, on par, even, with the money we spend on a house or tuck away for retirement. But while it's easy to track our stock portfolios as they tank along with the market, our outlay for health care is less obvious. Employers pay some, and so do individuals, and taxpayers. And some even hides behind the deficit. As such, few of us see the full picture. But to make sense of the proposals for reform, getting a grasp of the cost is critical. The average health-care coverage for the average family now costs $13,375, according to Kaiser. Over the past decade, premiums have increased by 138 percent. And if the trend continues, by 2019 the average family plan will cost $30,083. Three years of slightly above-average health insurance will cost a solid six figures. Those are numbers to marvel at. Those are numbers to fear. But they are not the numbers that loom in the minds of most Americans. And therein lies the problem for health-care reform. About 160 million Americans receive health coverage through their employers. In general, the employer picks up 73 percent of the tab. This seems like a good deal. In reality, that money co

Helping the Aged Leave Nursing Homes for a Home - NYTimes.com.

A growing number of states are reaching out to people like Mr. Brown, who have been in nursing homes for more than six months, aiming to disprove the notion that once people have settled into a nursing home, they will be there forever. Since 2007, Medicaid has teamed up with 29 states to finance such programs, enabling the low-income elderly and people with disabilities to receive many services in their own homes.

Vicente Navarro: Obama's Mistakes in Health Care Reform.

Let me start by saying that I have never been a fan of Barack Obama. Early on, I warned many on the left that his slogan, “Yes, we can,” could not be read as a commitment to the major change this country needs (see “Yes, We Can. Can We? The Next Failure of Health Reform”). Still, I actively supported him against John McCain and was very pleased when he became president – for many reasons, encompassing a broad range of feelings. One reason was that Obama is African-American, and the country needed to have a black president. Another was that his election seemed to signal the end of the Bush era. But, the most important reason was that I saw him as a decent man, surrounded by some good people who could promote change from the center and open up some possibilities for progress, giving the left a chance to influence the administration’s policies. Well, after just over seven months of the Obama White House, I have no reason to doubt that he is a decent man, but I am dismayed by the bad judgment he has shown in the choice of some of his staff and advisors. I really doubt that he is going to be able to make the changes we need. As I said, I never had great expectations about him and his policies, but even the lowest of my expectations have not been met. Some among the m