Archive for the ‘Age and Aging’ Category
Friday, February 5th, 2010
Millennials’ Lukewarm Support For Health Care Bills
Source: Pew Research Center
Millennials may stand to gain more from an expansion of government health insurance than people in any other age group. Fully a third (33%) of those younger than age 30 say they are not covered by health insurance; that compares with 19% of those in Generation X, and smaller percentages of Baby Boomers (12%) and those in the Silent Generation (3%).
Yet Millennials’ support for the health care proposals before Congress has been lukewarm at best. Millennials do favor many of the individual components in these proposals — for example, 65% favor the so-called “public option.” But small percentages of young people expect their own health care or insurance coverage to improve if health care legislation passes. And as is typically the case with major policy issues, Millennials have largely tuned out of the health care debate: They are far less likely than those in older age groups to report they have heard a lot about the issue.
Posted in Age and Aging, Government and politics, Health and healthcare, Social and cultural issues | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Focus on Fire Safety: Older Adults and Preparedness for Fire
Source: U.S. Fire Administration
Adults age 65 and older are at a higher risk of death from fire than any other age group. According to the USFA report Fire in the United States Fifteenth Edition, older adults account for approximately 32 percent of all fire deaths. Fire prevention and planning are key elements in reducing the risk of deaths and injuries from fire. In the event of a fire, remember that every second counts, so you and your family must always be prepared.
Escape plans help you get out of your home quickly. In less than 30 seconds, a small flame can get completely out of control and turn into a major fire. It only takes minutes for a house to fill with thick black smoke and become engulfed in flames. Developing and practicing a fire escape plan and installing and maintaining smoke alarms are ways in which you can prepare for the possibility of a fire occurring in your home. Being prepared in the event a fire occurs may increase your chances of survival.
+ Fire Prevention and Home Fire Safety for Seniors
Posted in Age and Aging, Safety | No Comments »
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
Safe at Home? Developing Effective Criminal Background Checks and Other Screening Policies for Home Care Workers
Source: AARP Public Policy Institute
This PPI report focuses on federal and state approaches to background check screening of home care workers to protect vulnerable adults from harm.
States increasingly require criminal background checks for home care workers to protect vulnerable adults from harm. While 46 states mandate some type of background check for Medicaid-funded workers, there is no uniform protocol for screening and disqualifying candidates. Developing sound policies and practices is challenging due to costs, database problems and time constraints. There has been no robust scholarship on the relationship between criminal behavior and the risk of elder mistreatment. Research is only beginning to provide a scientific basis for screening policies.
The paper offers an up-to-date assessment of practices, policy considerations and research, and guidance on moving forward, including:
- Implementing promising state-level practices to increase accuracy, speed, cost-effectiveness and fairness to job applicants
- Using multiple, complementary screening tools – not just criminal background screening
- Recognizing that self-directed programs – in which participants recruit, hire and supervise their own workers – may require a different approach.
+ Summary (PDF; 47 KB)
+ Full Report (PDF; 859 KB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Government and politics, Health and healthcare, Labor, Legal and law enforcement, Safety | No Comments »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Increased Ambulatory Care Copayments and Hospitalizations among the Elderly
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
In conclusion, increasing copayments for ambulatory care reduced the use of outpatient care among elderly enrollees in managed-care plans, but this decline was offset by an increase in hospitalizations, particularly among enrollees with low socioeconomic status and those with chronic disease. Increasing copayments for ambulatory care among elderly patients may have adverse health consequences and may increase spending for health care.
Posted in Age and Aging, Health and healthcare, Health insurance | No Comments »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Fact Sheet: Trends in volunteerism among older adults (PDF; 146 KB)
Source: Center on Aging and Work at Boston College
Estimates of the extent to which older adults currently participate in volunteer activities vary. One survey reports that about 30% adults aged 45-54 volunteered at least once in the preceding year, while another survey reports volunteer work by over 50% of adults over age 50.
Findings include:
- Over 40% of older adults expect to increase the amount of time spent in volunteer work in the next five years.
- Volunteer tasks vary by age groups, with volunteering time to managerial or professional tasks peak in the early retiree years (55 to 64).
- Boomers are most likely to continue volunteering if the activity that they perform is professional or managerial (74.8% retention).
- Women are somewhat more likely than men to say they expect to do volunteer work when they are older (83% of women vs. 77% of men).
Volunteers contribute their time to a wide range of secular and religious organizations, in such activities as mentoring, coaching, tutoring, office services, and management assistance. Older adults are more likely to continue to volunteer with organizations that offer opportunities to contribute managerial or professional skills, as well as flexible work schedules.
Posted in Age and Aging, Labor, Nonprofits | No Comments »
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Illicit Drug Use among Older Adults
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (HHS)
+ An estimated 4.3 million adults aged 50 or older, or 4.7 percent of adults in that age range, had used an illicit drug in the past year, based on data from 2006 to 2008
+ Marijuana use was more common than nonmedical use of prescription-type drugs for adults aged 50 to 54 and those aged 55 to 59 (6.1 vs. 3.4 percent and 4.1 vs. 3.2 percent, respectively), but among those aged 65 or older, nonmedical use of prescription-type drugs was more common than marijuana use (0.8 vs. 0.4 percent)
+ Marijuana use was more common than nonmedical use of prescription-type drugs among males aged 50 or older (4.2 vs. 2.3 percent, respectively), but among females, the rates of marijuana use and nonmedical use of prescription-type drugs were similar (1.7 and 1.9 percent)
Posted in Age and Aging, Mental health and substance abuse | No Comments »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Improving dementia services in England – an interim report
Source: National Audit Office
“Dementia” describes a range of progressive, terminal brain diseases, affecting an estimated 600,000 people in England. Age is the main risk factor, and people with dementia need a complex mix of health and social care services. In many cases unpaid family carers deliver the bulk of care, affecting their own physical and mental health. The number of people with dementia in England is expected to double within 30 years, and estimated costs are expected to increase from £15.9 billion in 2009 (of which around £8.2 billion are direct health and social care costsa) to £34.8 billion by 2026.
In 2007 we concluded that dementia services in England were not providing value for money to taxpayers or people with dementia and their families. The Committee of Public Accounts (the Committee) reported in January 2008 that the Department of Health (the Department) had not given dementia the same priority as cancer and coronary heart disease, and dementia had not therefore had the same focus for improvement. The Department agreed that it had not previously identified dementia as a priority, but said it would do so through the development of a National Dementia Strategy (the Strategy). The Committee asked for an update on progress by the end of 20084. The Department’s Strategy, Living Well with Dementia, was published in February 2009, with a brief Implementation Plan that lacked a timetable or milestones for delivery. A more detailed Implementation Plan was published in July 2009. Figure 1 on pages 6 and 7 details the timeline of developments since our 2007 report.
This report assesses the Department’s response to the Committee’s recommendations and the robustness of its Strategy and Implementation Plan, and evaluates the machinery in place to implement the Strategy, including the levers for change5. We used the Cabinet Office’s Capability Review framework6, which covers Strategy, Leadership and Delivery, as the basis for our examination and to identify the risks that need to be addressed if the Strategy is to be implemented successfully. Given the short period since publication of the Strategy, we did not expect to see changes at the frontline and did not audit services themselves. Appendix 1 summarises our methodology.
Posted in Age and Aging, Diseases and conditions, Europe, Health and healthcare, Mental health and substance abuse, Social and cultural issues, United Kingdom | No Comments »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Pension schemes and pension projections in the EU-27 Member States, 2008-2060
Source: European Commission Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs
This report presents the country fiches for each Member State on the pension projection – being the largest public expenditure item covered by the projection exercise released in the 2009 Ageing Report – prepared by the AWG members and by the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs on the basis of a harmonised structure. The 2009 Ageing Report was the third update since 2001 of the long-term economic and budgetary projections aimed at assessing the impact of ageing population. This projection exercise builds on, updates and further improves the previous exercises so as to enhance comparability across countries, consistency across expenditure items and the economic basis for the underlying assumptions. The country fiches follow the same structure and the same set of figures is provided by all countries. The first part of the country fiches provides a description of the pension system in the country. The second part provides and discusses expected development on the basis of the main projection outcomes. The pension projections were carried out on the basis of legislation and policies in the field of pension as of July 2008. In addition, this section addresses main drivers behind the pension projection and discusses the impact these factors have on expected development of pension expenditure. Finally, the technical characteristics of the pension models used by Member States were collected in an Annex to this report.
+ Direct link to document (PDF; 4.1 MB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Business and economics, Europe, Government and politics, International, Social and cultural issues | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Boomers and Technology: An Extended Conversation
Source: AARP and Microsoft
Boomers and Technology: An Extended Conversation is a unique, qualitative study of how the boomer generation thinks about technology, sponsored by AARP and Microsoft. The paper offers a fresh perspective on a generation often not considered when experts chart consumer appetites for technology, and it forecasts how boomers’ use of technology will evolve in the years ahead.
The insights used to produce the paper were gathered during May 2009 in San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, and New York, when more than 60 boomers dined and then voiced their opinions in a directed discussion led by author and futurist Michael Rogers. Together, they shared their thoughts on, frustrations with, and enthusiasms as well as hopes for modern technology. The participants all had broadband Internet access at home and were clear and ready communicators. They represented what technology marketers call “influencers”—the vocal consumers whose opinions shape others’ behavior.
Participants were encouraged to talk about the improvements they wanted to see in technology and to speculate about what they’d like to see next. As a result, the report includes both present attitudes and an extrapolation of the technologies boomers are likely to embrace in the future.
+ Full Document (PDF; 203 KB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Internet, Social and cultural issues, Technology, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Connecting and Giving: A Report on How Mid-life and Older Americans Spend Their Time, Make Connections and Build Communities
Source: AARP Knowledge Management
Key findings of the August 2009 telephone survey revealed that:
- The nature of civic engagement is changing, becoming more personal and more secular. Mid-life and older Americans are less likely to join organizations. Although membership in religious organizations remains a relatively popular activity, involvement in these organizations has declined.
- While the rate of traditional volunteering (i.e., volunteering through or for an organization) has held steady, the amount of time volunteers spend in service has declined as volunteering becomes more episodic. In 2003 and 2009, 51 percent of survey respondents reported volunteering in the prior year. Volunteers in the 2003 study, however, reported spending an average of 15 hours a month in volunteer service. In 2009, volunteers report spending an average of 6-10 hours per month in service—a decline of 5-9 hours per month over the 6-year time period.
- Informal volunteering (that is, volunteering on one’s own) has significantly increased since 2003. In 2003, 34 percent of respondents reported volunteering on their own (compared with 57 percent of respondents in 2009).
- Volunteering is a way of life for many AARP members. Fifty-three percent of AARP members report volunteering through an organization in the past year and spent 6-10 hours per month, on average, in volunteer service.
- Age continues to be highly correlated with volunteering. Generation X (currently between the ages of 29 and 44) has the highest rates of volunteering, while the Greatest Generation (age 81 and older) has the lowest rates.
+ Full Report (PDF; 303 KB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Nonprofits | No Comments »
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
Person-Centered Care For Nursing Home Residents: The Culture-Change Movement
Source: Health Affairs
The “culture change” movement represents a fundamental shift in thinking about nursing homes. Facilities are viewed not as health care institutions, but as person-centered homes offering long-term care services. Culture-change principles and practices have been shaped by shared concerns among consumers, policy makers, and providers regarding the value and quality of care offered in traditional nursing homes. They have shown promise in improving quality of life as well as quality of care, while alleviating such problems as high staff turnover. Policy makers can encourage culture change and capitalize on its transformational power through regulation, reimbursement, public reporting, and other mechanisms.
Posted in Age and Aging, Consumer issues, Government and politics, Health and healthcare | No Comments »
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Sustainability report 2009
Source: European Commission Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs
The crisis-related fiscal expansions and the ageing of the European Union’s population raise questions about the sustainability of the Member States’ public finances. As the share of working age people in the population falls and the share of the old increases, economies are faced with lower economic growth and higher costs associated with providing services for the ageing population. This results in pressure on the public finances; bold measures will be necessary to ensure that they return to a sustainable footing before the full effect of ageing is felt. Sustainability relates to the ability of a government to assume the financial burden of its debt currently and in the future. While there is no one clear-cut definition of a sustainable fiscal position, this chapter defines two sustainability gap indicators which are most widely used in the EU to measure the sustainability challenges that Member States face. These are: The S1 indicator shows the durable adjustment to the current primary balance required to reach a target debt of 60% of GDP in 2060, including paying for any additional expenditure arising from an ageing population. The S2 indicator shows the durable adjustment of the current primary balance required to fulfil the infinite horizon intertemporal budget constraints, including paying for any additional expenditure arising from an ageing population.
+ Direct link to Report (PDF; 4.6 MB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Business and economics, Europe, Government and politics, Social and cultural issues | No Comments »
Sunday, January 10th, 2010
Sizing Up The Market For Assisted Living
Source: Health Affairs
Assisted living has emerged as an important housing and long-term care option for older Americans. To date, development of this sector has occurred largely without government financing or regulation. In this study we used primary data that we collected on county-level assisted living supply to gain a fuller understanding of this sector nationally. Reflecting their reliance on private resources, assisted living facilities are located disproportionately in areas with higher educational attainment, income, and housing wealth. As this sector evolves, policymakers will have to contend with issues related to access to services, public financing, quality of care, and regulatory oversight.
Posted in Age and Aging, Health and healthcare, Social and cultural issues | No Comments »
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
Beyond Age Rating: Spreading Risk in Health Insurance Markets
Source: AARP Public Policy Institute
This AARP Insight on the Issues, written by Lynn Nonnemaker of AARP’s Public Policy Institute, discusses the ways that age-rated premiums, risk adjustment, and risk sharing can be used to ensure that individuals have open access to health insurance and that plans are compensated fairly for the costs of insuring both sick and healthy individuals, while encouraging plans to manage costs efficiently. The paper finds that age-rated premiums are expensive for older individuals, and that risk adjustment and risk sharing are effective at discouraging risk selection of healthier individuals while protecting insurers from large financial losses. The paper also reviews how risk adjustment and risk sharing strategies are currently being used in three settings: the Medicare Advantage program, the Medicare Part D program, and the Dutch healthcare system. Finally, the paper briefly discusses the role that risk adjustment and risk sharing may play in health reform.
+ Full Document (PDF; 96 KB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Business and economics, Consumer issues, Health and healthcare, Health insurance | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Study Spotlights Importance of Federal Medicare Funding to Propping-Up Seniors’ Deteriorating State Medicaid Benefits and Services
Source: American Health Care Association
Highlighting the importance of robust federal Medicare funding for seniors and the long term care providers they depend upon, a new Eljay LLC analysis of the nation’s deteriorating Medicaid financing system projects states will cumulatively under fund the actual cost of providing quality long term care by nearly $4.7 billion for 2009. In the context of ongoing health care reform, the Chair of the American Health Care Association (AHCA) said adequate Medicare funding in a final bill is “a literal lifeline” to the nation’s oldest, most vulnerable seniors.
+ Full Document (PDF; 383 KB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Business and economics, Government and politics, Health and healthcare, Health insurance | No Comments »
Monday, January 4th, 2010
Longevity of Railroad Retirement Beneficiaries
Source: U.S. Railroad Retirement Board
The most recent data reflected a continued improvement in longevity. Using data through 2006, the study indicated that, on the average, a male railroader retiring at age 60 can be expected to live another 21.3 years, or approximately 256 months. Studies done three, six and nine years ago indicated life expectancies of 20.7, 20.1, and 19.8 years, respectively, for this category of beneficiary. The study also indicated that a male railroader retiring at age 62 can be expected to live another 19.6 years (235 months), while the previous three studies indicated life expectancies of 19, 18.5, and 18.2 years, respectively. A male railroader retiring at age 65 can be expected to live another 17.1 years (approximately 205 months). The previous studies indicated life expectancies of 16.6, 16.1, and 15.8 years, respectively, for this category of beneficiary.
+ Full Report (PDF; 127 KB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Government and politics, Labor, Transportation and travel | No Comments »
Friday, January 1st, 2010
UNECE launches Policy Briefs on Ageing
Source: UN Economic Commission for Europe
Population ageing is one of the biggest challenges of our century. While working age adults currently make up the largest share of the population in the UNECE region and percentages of dependent children and older adults are relatively small, this situation is changing rapidly. In Europe, there are now 4.4 persons of working age per one person 65 or older. By 2025, there will be 3.1 and by 2050 only 2.1. To help its member States make the appropriate policy responses, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is launching a series of Policy Briefs on Ageing. Drawn from the latest insights in research, the Briefs highlight strategies for policymakers and offer good practice examples for the variety of policy contexts found in the UNECE region.
+ Policy Briefs
Hat tip: UN Pulse
Posted in Age and Aging, Europe | No Comments »
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Aerospace Workforce Imperiled by Funding Cuts
Source: Aerospace Industries Association
U.S. preeminence in aerospace is threatened by aging demographics and uncertainty over the future of the U.S. space program and adequate funding to support it, AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said Thursday in testimony before the House Committee on Science and Technology.
“While the Administration and Congress consider the future of NASA, we must ensure our continuing leadership in space exploration by investing in education and funding cutting-edge programs to attract young people to careers in NASA and industry,” said Blakey. “The vitality of our nation depends on a healthy, renewable aerospace workforce.”
According to an Aviation Week Survey, 13 percent of the aerospace workforce is eligible to retire. By 2013, retirement eligibility for some job functions like R&D program managers will be around 20 percent. In addition, NASA has already laid off some of their contractor workforce and could be forced into more layoffs depending on direction by the Administration and Congress.
+ Full Testimony (PDF; 134 KB)
See also: 45th Annual Year-End Review and Forecast (PDF; 99 KB)
Posted in Age and Aging, Business and economics, Government and politics, Industries, Labor, Science, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Ginkgo biloba for Preventing Cognitive Decline in Older Adults
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association
This study examined whether a twice-daily 120-mg dose of G biloba affected the rate of cognitive change over time in older adults. We found no evidence for an effect of G biloba on global cognitive change and no evidence of effect on specific cognitive domains of memory, visual-spatial construction, language, attention and psychomotor speed, and executive functions. We found also no evidence for differences in treatment effects by age, sex, race, education, APOE*E4 allele status, or baseline cognitive status (MCI vs normal cognition).
The observation of no significant effect modification by baseline cognitive status suggests that G biloba affected neither subtle preclinical cognitive changes associated with dementia prodrome nor cognitive changes associated with normal aging. Consistent with this conclusion is the alternative analysis in which the baseline was shifted to study year 6. By censoring the early period of the study, participants with early dementia or dementia prodrome who had reached a study end point were excluded. Results of this analysis indicate that 3 to 4 years of prior G biloba treatment had no significant effect on cognitive decline over the subsequent 2 to 3 years in older adults who were most likely not in a dementia prodrome at the beginning of the trial.
Posted in Age and Aging, Diseases and conditions, Health and healthcare | No Comments »
