When should you retire? If you ask ten seniors that question you’re likely to get at least ten different answers – maybe more. Deciding when to hang up the tool belt or the briefcase is one of the most individual, personal decisions we’ll ever make. We can’t count the times when a guest at a…
In past generations it was generally considered unthinkable to question one’s doctor. Physicians possessed unchallenged authority, and their words carried nearly divine weight. Ironically, even in today’s skeptical age, some patients – especially older ones – still feel reluctant to challenge their doctor about anything he or she says. (If you want to read more…
One of the final elder care policy moves of the Obama Administration will not be implemented after all, thanks to a ruling just announced by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (also called CMS). The new regulation means that nursing homes can continue requiring residents to sign binding arbitration agreements as a condition of…
If you’ve listened to our AgingOptions radio programs or attended our AgingOptions events, you know the great emphasis we place on family communication when it comes to retirement. So many problems can be avoided in retirement if aging parents and their adult children can get on the same page about planning for the future! Yet…
Here at AgingOptions we’ve long believed that the traditional health care system in the U.S. is not particularly kind to seniors. Now this article just published on the website Kaiser Health News gives us more reason to believe that older Americans are not always well served by traditional medicine. The article describes how seniors who…
Elder financial abuse is even more widespread and more costly than experts had believed – and the incidence of abuse appears to be rising fast. That’s the conclusion from a surprising and disturbing study we read about late last year on the financial website of Time magazine. You can click here to read this important…
It’s the illness people say they fear the most: Alzheimer’s disease. That fear is well-founded, since today over 5 million Americans – and many times more family members and loved ones – are wrestling with the devastation caused by this insidious, unpredictable ailment. Caregivers agree that of all the afflictions they have to deal with,…
So you think you’re ready for retirement? You have your financial plan in place and you’re pretty certain you know what you need to know about Medicare and Social Security? That’s a good start, but it’s not enough. This recent article on the financial website Kiplinger tells us that no one is really ready to…
You’ve read the articles and heard the discussions about how difficult it is these days for family caregivers – those spouses and adult children who are responsible for the daily care of a loved one in declining physical or mental health. Most of those discussions seem to assume that most caregivers are wives and daughters.…
It’s no secret that healthcare costs in America are on the rise – so much so that the price tag for health-related expenses now makes up 17 percent of the entire U.S. gross domestic product. With so much money on the line, managing our own healthcare expense is critical, especially for the 58 million Americans…
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