Seniors News and Research

RSS

Majority of Republicans support Medicare negotiation on drug prices

A new West Health/Gallup survey finds nearly all Democrats (97%) and the majority of Republicans (61%) support empowering the federal government to negotiate lower prices of brand-name prescription drugs covered by Medicare.

4 Jun 2021

Wearable on the fingertips could reduce incidence of falls amongst seniors

Japanese researchers have developed and tested a prototype device -- wearable on the fingertips -- that incorporates the concept of 'light touch' to enhance the sense of balance. If widely implemented, the device should significantly reduce incidence of falls amongst seniors.

3 Jun 2021

Caring for an aging nation

Health care for the nation's seniors looms large as the baby-boom generation ages into retirement. President Joe Biden tacitly acknowledged those needs in March with his proposal to spend $400 billion over the next eight years to improve access to in-home and community-based care.

28 May 2021

Tips for older adults to regain their game after being cooped up for more than a year

Alice Herb, 88, an intrepid New Yorker, is used to walking miles around Manhattan. But after this year of being shut inside, trying to avoid covid-19, she's noticed a big difference in how she feels.

24 May 2021

As pandemic eases, many seniors have lost strength, may need rehabilitative services

Ronald Lindquist, 87, has been active all his life. So, he wasn't prepared for what happened when he stopped going out during the coronavirus pandemic and spent most of his time, inactive, at home.

21 May 2021

Medicare negotiation could save billions of dollars in lower commercial health insurance costs by 2030

As Congress considers legislation to reform prescription drug pricing, a new analysis conducted by the West Health Policy Center and released by its Council for Informed Drug Spending Analysis (CIDSA) estimates that the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3) could result in hundreds of billions of dollars in lower commercial health insurance costs by 2030.

20 May 2021

Seniors enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid can experience worse outcomes after ICU hospitalization

Seniors who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid are at risk for experiencing greater worsening of functional status following ICU hospitalization, according to research presented at the ATS 2021 International Conference.

20 May 2021

Aiding her dying husband, a geriatrician learns the emotional and physical toll of caregiving

The loss of a husband. The death of a sister. Taking in an elderly mother with dementia.

18 May 2021

Biden boasts about equitable senior vaccination rate by race without data to back it up

During May 3 remarks on the American Families Plan, President Joe Biden boasted that there was not much disparity in the vaccination rates for white Americans and Americans of color who are at least 65.

12 May 2021

Algorithms can assess unconsciousness under general anesthesia with accuracy and reliability

Anesthestic drugs act on the brain but most anesthesiologists rely on heart rate, respiratory rate, and movement to infer whether surgery patients remain unconscious to the desired degree.

7 May 2021

Fear of losing employer-sponsored health insurance keeps 1 in 6 workers in their jobs

One out of every six adult workers (16%) in the United States are staying in jobs they might otherwise leave out of fear of losing their employer-sponsored health insurance, according to a new West Health-Gallup survey of more than 3,800 U.S. adults.

6 May 2021

Democrats disagree about how to spend potential prescription drug windfall

One of the few surprises in President Joe Biden's social safety-net proposal, the American Families Plan, was something that didn't make it into the final version: any mention of reining in the price of prescription drugs.

4 May 2021

Low doses of ionizing radiation may be a promising therapy for people with Alzheimer’s disease

Individuals living with severe Alzheimer's disease showed remarkable improvements in behavior and cognition within days of receiving an innovative new treatment that delivered low doses of radiation, a recent Baycrest-Sunnybrook pilot study found.

3 May 2021

As vaccine demand slows, political differences go on display in California Counties

Demand for Covid vaccines is slowing across most of California, but as traffic at vaccination sites eases, the vaccination rates across the state are showing wide disparities.

3 May 2021

A ‘dose of hope’? Fact-checking President Joe Biden’s first speech to Congress

In his first speech before Congress, President Joe Biden argued it was time to turn the coronavirus pandemic into a historic opportunity to expand government for the benefit of a wider range of Americans, urging investments in jobs, climate change, child care, infrastructure and more.

29 Apr 2021

Covid forces cohousing communities to examine shared values and relationships

Tensions were running high at PDX Commons, a cohousing community for adults 55 and older in Portland, Oregon. Several people wanted to keep visitors off-site until all 35 residents were vaccinated. Others wanted to open to family and friends for the first time in a year.

29 Apr 2021

Scientists receive prestigious grant to explore the effects of prior knowledge on learning and memory

The Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) has awarded a team of scientists at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI) a prestigious grant to determine why having prior knowledge on a topic affects how we learn new, related information as we age.

27 Apr 2021