“Stressful experiences can age brain ‘by years’, Alzheimer’s experts hear,” The Guardian “Stressful life experiences can age the brain by several years, new research suggests. Experts led by a team from Wisconsin University’s school of medicine and public health in the US found that even one major stressful event early in life may have an impact on later brain health. Stressful life experiences included things such as losing a job, the death of a child, divorce or growing up with a parent who abused alcohol or drugs. The results showed that a larger number of stressful events was linked to
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“How Much Should the Average American Save for Retirement?,” by Maurie Backman, The Motley Fool “The idea of retiring would be much less stressful for most of us if we could somehow pin down the right amount to save. After all, it’s hard to say what our living costs might look like five, 10, or 30 years down the line. Not only that, but because we all have varying goals and needs in retirement, it’s pretty much impossible to come up with a single number that will work well for all seniors across the board.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A.
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“What You Need to Know about the Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports,” by Peter G. Peterson Foundation “Are Social Security and Medicare Going ‘Bankrupt’? No, but both programs are on an unsustainable path. The Trustees warn that predictable demographic trends will cause a significant imbalance between funding coming in, and spending going out in the form of benefits.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): By any rational standard, Social Security and Medicare are bankrupt already. They run deficits every year forcing the federal budget to make up the difference and their future unfunded
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“Medicare’s hospital trust fund will run out of money in 2029,” by Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post “The trust fund that pays Medicare’s hospital expenses will run out of money in 2029, a year later than the most recent projection, according to a federal report. The Social Security program will remain solvent until 2034, a projection unchanged from last year. The annual report from the Social Security and Medicare board of trustees provides a snapshot of the long-term solvency of the federal government’s two biggest entitlement programs.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Oh,
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“How the Medicaid Debate Affects Long-Term Care Insurance Decisions,” by Ron Lieber, New York Times “Something will have to give if we are to take the senators responsible for this bill at their word, and plenty of readers are taking them literally. So the question I’ve heard most in the last two weeks is this: How seriously should I consider getting some kind of insurance to cover my care in case big Medicaid cuts are on the horizon? . . . Given how strapped Medicaid is likely to become and how many more of us will live long enough to
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“NIC: Assisted Living Occupancy Plummets to Record Low,” by Mary Kate Nelson, Senior Housing News “Assisted living occupancy is continuing to fall nationwide, according to data released Wednesday by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). The average occupancy rate for assisted living properties across the country fell to 86.5% in the second quarter of 2017. That’s 0.7 percentage points lower than the average occupancy rate in the first quarter of 2017, and 1.4 percentage points lower than the average occupancy rate recorded a year earlier. The second quarter’s average assisted living occupancy rate is also tied for the
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