A New Nursing Home Population: The Young
Young people ages 31 to 64 now make up 14 percent of the nursing home population, an analysis of federal data from the Department of Health and Human Services by NPR’s Investigative Unit found.
Justice Increases Efforts To Enforce Olmstead Ruling
Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, is making a “paradigm shift” in his division to focus more on care-at-home cases.
Families Fight To Care For Disabled Kids At Home
In states like Illinois, parents can provide at-home care for children with severe illnesses and Medicaid foots the bill. But the funding disappears the minute they turn 21, forcing families to make a painful choice: Find the money to pay for sometimes exorbitant health care costs or send their children to a nursing home.
Caring For Elderly And Disabled Is A Family Affair
A new study says almost one out of three adults in the U.S. currently serves as a caregiver. The time and energy they put into caregiving becomes like an unpaid job.
Why A Little City In Wisconsin Is The Best Place To Die
Nearly all adults who die in La Crosse, Wisconsin, have filled out “advance directives” – explicit instructions on what treatments they do and don’t want at the end of life. The medical ethicist who started the program says “We believe it’s part of good patient care.”
Celebrating A Visionary On Healthy Aging
Dr. Gene Cohen, a geriatric psychiatrist who believed that old age can be a time of creativity, died this week.
A Forgotten Health Debate: Funding Long-term Care
Donna Taylor’s father planned ahead – he had insurance and savings to pay for health coverage when he retired. But when he got sick and couldn’t walk, he found he did not have enough coverage to pay for care for himself and his disabled wife.
Study: Young Docs Stumped By Health Care System, Too
Fewer than half of all graduating medical students say they have a good sense of how to navigate health care systems or the economics of practicing medicine, according to a new study.
For Federal Workers, Insurance Plan Offers Many Choices
As part of our series co-produced with NPR, Are You Covered? A look at Americans and Health Insurance, today we profile Rhonda Dorsey and her daughter Toni, 13, who feel lucky to have health care coverage that helps to pay for Toni’s diabetes medicine.
Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option
In the heated, political back-and-forth of the health care debate, doctors’ voices aren’t always heard. A new, comprehensive nationwide survey finds that 73 percent of doctors support the inclusion of a public option.
Taxing ‘Cadillac’ Health Plans Has Widespread Effects
One funding option before Congress is to tax expensive health insurance plans. But it’s not as simple as taxing the rich to help the poor. Many other Americans benefit from such plans, from union workers to big city residents to those employed by small businesses. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
Transitional Care Cuts Hospital Re-Entry Rates, Costs
A study published earlier this year finds 1 out of 5 older patients who are discharged from a hospital will return within a month, costing Medicare about $17 billion a year. A program in Philadelphia assigns nurses to follow up with discharged patients in order to prevent readmission. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
Obama Backs Helping Hand For Long-Term Care
The Obama administration has endorsed a new government social insurance program that would help people put aside money to pay for the high costs of long-term care.
Alzheimer’s Patients Struggle Without Insurance
Alzheimer’s is thought of as a disease of the elderly, but hundreds of thousands of cases are in men and women under 65. Because the disease makes it difficult to work, these people often lose their jobs – and their health insurance.
