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When the eye on older patients is a camera

In the middle of a rainy Michigan night, 88-year-old Dian Wurdock walked out the front door of her son's home in Grand Rapids, barefoot and coatless. Her destination was unknown even to herself.

23 Nov 2021

Researcher: Medicare Advantage plans costing billions more than they should

Switching seniors to Medicare Advantage plans has cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars more than keeping them in original Medicare, a cost that has exploded since 2018 and is likely to rise even higher, new research has found.

11 Nov 2021

Medicare’s open enrollment is open season for scammers

Finding the best private Medicare drug or medical insurance plan among dozens of choices is tough enough without throwing misleading sales tactics into the mix.

11 Nov 2021

Medicare enrollment blitz doesn’t include options to move into Medigap

Medicare's annual open-enrollment season is here and millions of beneficiaries — prompted by a massive advertising campaign and aided by a detailed federal website — will choose a private Medicare Advantage plan.

9 Nov 2021

‘Covid hit us over the head with a two-by-four’: Addressing ageism with urgency

Earlier this year, the World Health Organization announced a global campaign to combat ageism — discrimination against older adults that is pervasive and harmful but often unrecognized.

5 Nov 2021

Democrats plan to expand Medicare hearing benefits. What can consumers expect?

President Joe Biden's mammoth domestic spending bill would add hearing benefits to the traditional Medicare program — one of three major new benefits Democrats had sought.

5 Nov 2021

Virtual exercise program can be safe for people with osteoarthritis, research finds

New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting, found that a virtual exercise program can be safe for people with musculoskeletal conditions, improved their health outcomes, and helped them feel more socially connected, an important benefit during the pandemic when many people have chosen to avoid in-person exercise classes.

2 Nov 2021

Lehigh’s undergraduate students receive NIH Award for new sickle cell diagnostic device

Their tickets were booked. Their schedules were set. The students were finally going to test their product on real people. But in July, Sierra Leone's COVID-19 level spiked almost overnight, and Lehigh's Sickle Cell Anemia Diagnostic Device team lost yet another opportunity to conduct fieldwork.

1 Nov 2021

If Congress adds dental coverage to Medicare, should all seniors get it?

William Stork needs a tooth out. That's what the 71-year-old retired truck driver's dentist told him during a recent checkup.

29 Oct 2021

Democrats’ plans to expand Medicare benefits put pinch on advantage plans’ funding

"Did you think we wouldn't notice?" an older woman says, speaking into the camera. "You thought you could sneak this through?" an older man later adds. Others warn that Washington is "messing with" their Medicare Advantage health coverage and trying to raise their premiums.

28 Oct 2021

Medicare plans’ ‘free’ dental, vision, hearing benefits come at a cost

When Teresa Nolan Barensfeld turned 65 last year, she quickly decided on a private Medicare Advantage plan to cover her health expenses.

27 Oct 2021

Pharma campaign cash delivered to key lawmakers with surgical precision

The Biden administration and Congress are embroiled in high-stakes haggling over what urgent priorities will make it into the ever-shrinking social spending bill.

27 Oct 2021

Novel trial uses a virtual village to treat HIV-associated loneliness

A new clinical trial designed by Maile Young Karris, MD, internal medicine physician and infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego Health, seeks to discover whether people living with HIV can benefit from emotional support offered by a virtual community, and from physical support and services delivered by community volunteers.

21 Oct 2021

Hygienists brace for pitched battles with dentists in fights over practice laws

This year, the Illinois legislature was considering measures to expand oral health treatment in a state where millions of people live in dental care deserts.

19 Oct 2021

What will it take to boost vaccinations? The scene from Kentucky’s back roads

In the end it was the delta variant that drove Rose Mitchell, 89, down the winding mountain road to the Full Gospel Church of Jesus Christ to get the shot. Her pastor, Billy Joe Lewis, had told his congregation that, No, ma'am, a covid vaccine would not leave the "mark of the beast" nor rewrite their genetic codes.

18 Oct 2021

The public backs Medicare Rx price negotiation even after hearing both sides’ views

As Congress debates cutting prescription drug costs, a poll released Tuesday found the vast majority of adults — regardless of their political party or age — support letting the federal government negotiate drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries and those in private health insurance plans.

12 Oct 2021

A wrenching farewell: Bidding adieu to my primary care doctor after nearly 30 years

I hadn't expected the tears. My primary care doctor and I were saying goodbye after nearly 30 years together.

12 Oct 2021

Alzheimer’s drug targets people with mild cognitive impairment. What does that mean?

The approval of a controversial new drug for Alzheimer's disease, Aduhelm, is shining a spotlight on mild cognitive impairment — problems with memory, attention, language or other cognitive tasks that exceed changes expected with normal aging.

29 Sep 2021

An ad’s charge that price haggling would ‘swipe $500 billion from Medicare’ is incorrect

The advertisement opens with a doctor sitting across from his patient and holding a prescription drug pill bottle. "You want to continue with this medication?" the doctor asks while an older patient nods.

28 Sep 2021

MHRI aims to delve deeper into how musical intervention can affect health

If popular wisdom holds that music is good for the soul, science is increasingly seeking to better understand how music can affect the body, brain, and mind, as evidenced by the 2020 publication of the first World Health Organization report on health and music.

24 Sep 2021