Baby Boomers U. S. (The Blog) » Healthcare

Baby Boomers and Aging Parents

Joe Hauckes — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:53:08 +0000

This is a Guest Post by Vera Kessler of Beth Abraham Family of Health Services.

No one told U.S. baby boomers what life had in store for them. According to a
Pew Research Center report, approximately 9.75 million baby boomers are
simultaneously juggling the responsibilities of caring for both their children
and their aging parents, often while working full time. The result: many are
driven to bankruptcy, others end up with severe emotional and physical
breakdowns and countless more head for divorce court.

What can be done to help?

One solution that’s gaining increasing popularity with people seeking care
for their parents is medical model adult day health care centers (ADHC). ADHCs
are community-based long-term care programs that provide comprehensive health
care services during the day to frail elderly, chronically ill and disabled
adults who are 18 years old or older. Patients are offered nursing care,
personal hygiene care, rehabilitation and social work services, as well as an
opportunity for therapeutic recreation. Transportation is provided to and from
the patient’s home and the ADHC.

In additional to providing daytime respite for family members who need to rest,
run errands or tend to their household, ADHCs give people the opportunity to go
to work so that their income is not forfeited because they have to stay home
and care for a loved one. They also don’t have to miss time from work to
take their loved one to doctor’s appointments, since many ADHCs arrange
appointments with a patient’s primary care physician, as well as
transportation to and from the doctor’s office. Some organizations, like
Beth Abraham Family of Health Services (BAFHS) also provide an evening program
that offers an alternative for family members who prefer to take their respite
from caregiving toward the end of the day, allowing them an opportunity to
spend time with their spouse and children before resuming care for their parent
at night. BAFHS also offers an ADHC program for Alzheimer’s patients that
focuses on cognitive stimulation, music therapy and modified exercise.

With approximately 4,000 ADHCs in the country, a study financed by the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation concluded that this number falls seriously short of the
estimated 8,520 centers needed nationwide. And, with an increasing number of
families seeking to keep their loved ones out of nursing homes for as long as
possible, the demand for ADHCs continues to grow.

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Heath Insurance or $1000 Fine?

Joe Hauckes — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:10:50 +0000

I’ve been self-employed for most of my adult life and have had health insurance for most of it. Until recently.

Even though I am a one man operation the cost of insurance has far outpaced my ability to keep up. Profits have gone South and investments are even lower than a Snakes Belly. So, I am no longer insured. I just can’t afford it.

But now, with this so called Health Care Reform push by the Government that will make sure everyone can get health insurance, I will find myself being fined anywhere between $1000 and $3800 for NOT being able to afford paying for health insurance of my own.

Talk about being between a Rock and a Hard Place.

Personally, I don’t think there is as much a need for Health Care Reform as a need to Curb the Insurance Companies, the Drug Manufacturers, the For Profit Hospitals, etc and all the lobbyists that represent them.

If the Government would deal with the Companies who Profit from Illness and have little to gain by curing people and everything to gain by making us think we are on deaths bed and need their stuff…

Not to mention the economy (the Banks and Wall Street are thumbing their noses at us stupid tax payers at this very moment) and getting that on the right track.

I may be able to afford to pay my health insurance premiums if just these two little things were under control.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

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This Weeks Good Reads-Week One

Joe Hauckes — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:34:39 +0000

Every week I come across an article or two that I find very helpful to me as a Baby Boomer and think may be of some interest to you, the community, as well.

They may be from an online news source, another Blog or Website or something I found surfing around the Internet. They could even be something that was sent in by a reader of the Blog or a member of the Baby Boomer’s Forum.

Enjoy!

Are You Ready for Surgery, Illness or Death? by John Reddish… With all the questions floating around recently about healthcare and all the implications involved, John has written a very informative piece on some specific steps to take to insure your affairs are handled the way you want. While not “professional” advice, it is well worth taking his points into consideration to prepare for the worst.

Misleading Petition from AARP on Healthcare by Al Rodbell… In this opinion piece, Al makes some really good points about how AARP is an Insurance Company rather than an Organization for the over Fifty (Baby Boomers) group of retired or semi-retired people most affected by the new Health Care Reform bill being pushed through the US Congress and Senate.

I hope you found this weeks choice(s) helpful and enjoyable. What did you think? Do you have any suggestions for next week?

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Blame the Baby Boomers

Joe Hauckes — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:02:14 +0000

I guess it’s our fault for getting old!

Baby Boomers are being blamed for just about all the ills of the world these days. I guess it could be because we were so active in our youth and wanted to contribute to society. It had to come back to haunt us.

Want some examples?

The environmental problems are our fault for driving those gas guzzling muscle cars like the VW Bug & Vans of the 60′s & 70′s. Not the industrial revolution of the 1800′s that put all the industrial waste into the air, water and ground. (The early 1900′s get a bye because it was progress.)
The financial fiasco is our fault because we invested in things like 401k’s and education instead of in the bloated Internet bubble, recent housing market, and the big investment firms because we knew Social Security wasn’t very secure.
Speaking of Social Security, it probably won’t be around for our kids and grandkids because we are getting old enough to collect it, even though our generation contributed more to the fund than both the previous and subsequent generations combined. Or the fact that the Government uses the funds for anything and everything up to and including the “New Healthcare” system.
The financial recovery will take years longer than expected because we will drain the economy even further by retiring (or not retiring & keeping the gen-X & Yr’s from getting jobs) and using Social Security, using Medicare and drawing from our 401k’s to pay bills.
Healthcare needs an overhaul because the Government know’s we will need it to pay our medical bills because as we get older we may get sick. Or worse yet, we may live too long and continue to need medical care and Social Security.

Better we just die and save the healthcare system now, maybe the Government will leave Medicare and Social Security alone for our kids and grandkids.

Tha’t My Opinion and I’m sticking to it!

What are your thoughts? Please share in comments.

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Where is the REAL Healthcare Bill?

Joe Hauckes — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:04:37 +0000

Medical Symbol

Since Obama took office in 2009, he has been pushing this Heal Care bill through Congress, the Senate and blitzing the public airwaves with how great it will be for everyone.

Young and Old.

I have heard all the hype, and all the counter arguments for this bill, the only thing I can’t find is “THE BILL” itself.

I’ve been looking around to see what is being presented as the be all and end all of healthcare. Social Medicine without being paid for by the Government, but by the individual with a $1000 fine if we don’t comply with buying and paying for our own insurance coverage.

Why is it so difficult for a U.S. Citizen to find anything from the actual bill? It involves each and every person in the United States as well as large and small businesses.

Why then is it so difficult to find? Are they (the Government) trying to pull the wool over our eyes, keep us in the dark and just get this bill passed?

Why?

I don’t know, but I am making it my personal quest to find out what this is all about and how it will affect us all.

If you know where I can find an actual copy of the bill being pushed through Washington, please let me know.

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