A growing number of seniors hitting that magical age of 65 are facing one of retirement’s first big decisions: whether to opt for Medicare or Medicare Advantage for their health care. And it seems as if the Advantage plans, offered by private insurers instead of the federal government, are winning the battle. Last year about…
If you are about to undergo surgery, the doctors will warn you about possible physical side effects during recovery. They’ll tell you how long it will be before you can resume your daily routine. They’ll advise you about medications and give you a list of precautions. But there’s one thing they may not tell you:…
These days we often hear about adult children moving to another community – or another state – to be close to their aging parents. Traditionally, the image in our minds is that of a couple in their late 40s or early 50s moving to be near a Mom or Dad in their mid-70s. But based…
The issues of comfort care and end of life medical decisions are front and center with the death of Barbara Bush. Earlier this week America lost one of its best-known and most-admired citizens, former First Lady Barbara Bush. She passed away Tuesday April 17th at age 92 in her Houston home, surrounded by family, including her husband George H.W. Bush, our 41st President.
Ah, retirement! It’s just one fancy meal and exotic trip after another, right? Well…maybe for a tiny handful of the über wealthy. For the rest of us, living in retirement means learning to compromise, improvise and economize, since there’s usually a limited amount of resources to spend on things that are purely fun. However, the…
In recent years there has been no shortage of articles about the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), better known as the reverse mortgage. At AgingOptions we read these articles with a great deal of interest, since questions about these powerful but misunderstood financial tools come up frequently in our LifePlanning Seminars and on our radio…
There is a type of dementia that few have heard of. Far less common than Alzheimer’s disease, which affects some 5 million Americans, this type of dementia is found in about 60,000 people nationwide. It’s called frontotemporal degeneration or FTD, and though it’s largely unknown, it’s the most common form of dementia among patients under…
Here at AgingOptions, we can’t count the number of times we’ve reminded radio listeners and seminar guests that the traditional approach to retirement planning – focusing on finances and virtually ignoring everything else – is (as we say) a recipe for disaster. Sometimes we feel like a voice crying in the wilderness! So it’s gratifying…
For the past several years there has been little if any obvious change in the way doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. Typically, a patient starts showing some observable signs and symptoms, and they come to their doctor for neurological testing. By the time the familiar symptoms of dementia begin to show, the disease has already progressed…
Starting this fall, your ride to the doctor’s office or your home-delivered meal might be covered by your Medicare Advantage plan. The same goes for that air conditioner you need to help deal with your chronic asthma or the grab bar you needed installed in your shower for safety. Indeed, the popular Medicare Advantage programs…