Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Bulletin - June 28. In light of a lack of support from their own party, House Republican leaders have decided to put off a vote on this bill until after July 4. According to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, only 17 percent of those surveyed say they approve of the Senate's health care plan, the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Fifty-five percent say they disapprove.
June 26, 2017 -- AARP, The giant association of retired people, has finally seen the Senate's new health care bill. And they don't like anything about it. They and a host of other organizations have sent a fiery letter to Sen. Mitch McConnell - there appear to be about 100 organizations who signed this letter.
Whatever your politics, we feel that it is important that you understand the issues in this bill, which has so many ramifications for people of retirement age. Pro or con, it is very important that you let your senators know how you feel.
Here are some of the concerns expressed by the AARP on their website: ("Senate Unveils Health Care Bill - and It's Bad!")
- “This new Senate bill was crafted in secrecy behind closed doors without a
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Published on June 26, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
May 31, 2017 -- We all know that walking is good for us. But that doesn't mean we all do enough of it, instead relying on our cars, or even golf carts, to get us to all of our daily business. We just came across two great articles that give us even better reasons to start walking more, so we can enjoy our retirements in better health and happiness. Plus another piece of news came in too, which found that eating chocolate regularly is good for your heart. Good news there!
The first came from NextAvenue.org, and it extolled the virtues of "mindful walking" as a way to improve brain health and reduce stress. The article quotes two experts, Dr.Lynn Koerbel from the Oasis Institute for Mindfulness-Based Professional Education and Training, and Deepak Chopra, founder of
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Published on May 30, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
April 4, 2017 -- Most people including your editor would be very pleased to live to 100. That assumes of course we have most of our wits about us and are able to escape afflictions that cause a lot of pain or difficulty managing daily life. So it seems worth asking - what are the keys to living to age 100?
The number of Americans who are 100 or over is increasing rapidly. The number went from 32,000 in 1980 to 77,000 this year. We baby boomers will swell those ranks even further, starting in 2046. The absolute best advice for living to centenarian status is simple - choose your grandparents wisely!
Your editor's mother lived to 102 and was doing
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Published on April 4, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Update May 5: The latest version of this bill was narrowly passed in the House on May 4. The bill has most of the same features as the original, with some additional money thrown in to help people with pre-existing conditions, whose insurance can now go to market rates. The bill allows rates on people aged 50 -64 to increase dramatically. Now it is on to the Senate, which will probably produce its own version.
March 22, 2017 - The Republican controlled Congress and our new President have come out with their proposed replacement to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Unfortunately for its proponents, the new bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), has run into considerable headwinds. The American Medical Association (AMA), hospital groups, the Heritage Foundation,the AARP, as many as 18 Republicans in the House and Senate, several Republican governors, and virtually every Congressional Democrat do not like the bill. In this article we will review how the proposed bill would affect baby boomers 50-64 who are not eligible for Medicare. Unfortunately, many of the folks in this group are retired (often involuntarily) and have very low incomes.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 14 million Americans of all ages would lose health insurance coverage in 2018 under the bill, rising to 24 million by 2026. On the plus side, about a third of a trillion dollars would be saved during that period, mainly because subsidies to lower income folks would be replaced with less generous tax credits. Although younger people would probably see net health premiums (after tax credits) go down with the Republican plan, people age 50-64 would see increases in premiums that are so high
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Published on March 18, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Update March 18 - We just provided an update on how the new TrumpCare replacement will affect people age 50 - 64 - "Obamacare Replacement Will Hammer Pre-Retirees"
March 1, 2017 -- Judging by the number of Comments and questions we are seeing on this Blog, baby boomers are uneasy about what might happen to their healthcare insurance under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA - Obamacare). Given all the headlines and conflicting plans and positions, those concerns seem to be well founded. In this article we will air some of the most frequent questions and concerns aired on the Topretirements.com Blog. In some cases we provide answers provided by other Members. We also have some good resources to recommend where you can research this topic in greater detail.
First, a little update on where we stand
The President, the Republican controlled Congress, and the new Secretary of the Health, Education and Welfare have all said they are going to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA - Obamacare). Democrats, on the other hand, favor improvement/repair rather than repeal. The subject is confusing: according to one poll, one-third of Americans don't realize that the ACA and Obamacare are the same thing. Republicans have floated at least one replacement plan in rough form, but they appear to have no consensus among themselves, in fact conservative Republicans say they won't go along with many of the provisions in that plan. What will happen,
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Published on February 28, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
January 22, 2017 -- The AARP is a solid defender of Medicare and Social Security, as you might imagine. In their most recent Special Report the organization highlights some of the issues and dangers that Medicare faces as the Trump administration and Republican controlled Congress take over. We recommend reading the entire AARP Special Medicare Report - it raises important issues that every retiree, and every American, needs to be informed on. We certainly know the issue resonates with Topretirements members, who from our surveys say they like Medicare.
Conflict between the new President and conservative Republicans - and surprising potential allies
Trump promised on the campaign trail in New Hampshire that he would protect Medicare: "Every Republican wants to do a big number on Social Security. They want to do it on Medicare. They want to do it on Medicaid. And we can’t do that. It’s not fair to the people who have been paying in for years.”
With the inauguration behind us the battle lines are a bit murkier. Speaker of the House Ryan has proposed that Medicare as we know it would be replaced by fixed payments with which beneficiaries would be able to buy
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Published on January 21, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
By Liz Szabo at Kaiser Health News. (Reprinted with permission)
Nov. 21, 2016 -- A new study finds that the prevalence of dementia has fallen sharply in recent years, most likely as a result of Americans’ rising educational levels and better heart health, which are both closely related to brain health.
Dementia rates in people over age 65 fell from 11.6 percent in 2000 to 8.8 percent in 2012, a decline of 24 percent, according to a study of more than 21,000 people across the country
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Published on November 26, 2016
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
June 12, 2016 -- All over the country there is a craze raging with a very funny name - pickleball. You have probably heard about it, maybe because it is very popular in active adult and retirement communities. But the question is, should it be your next sport? This article will talk about the sport and help you determine whether you should give it a “whack”.
Pickleball got started in 1965 on a modified badminton court. Kids in gym class sometimes play it because it can be played indoors in a fairly limited space with minimum equipment. Since then it has expanded around the globe, but has really taken off as an activity in 55+ and active adult communities.
What is it the game and how is it played
Pickleball is played on a court that is roughly half the size
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Published on June 11, 2016
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
June 8, 2016 -- Congrats on your retirement, you earned it! Unfortunately a happy retirement doesn't happen automatically - a lot depends on how staying young and maximizing your happiness every day. This article will share the best research we've seen to help you to live longer and get the most out of every moment of retirement.
To write this article we have taken a "Best of the Best" approach. To do that we assembled a list of great articles from around the web on the "secrets" and "mistakes" surrounding retirement. From each one we have picked out what we think is the most important tip or two. The result is
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Published on June 7, 2016
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
May 17, 2016 — We have just updated Part I of our “So You Are Turning 65: Medicare and You 101” article. The revisions include up to date premium and deductible numbers for 2016, among other improvements. There had been a flurry of recent Comments made to this article…
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Published on May 17, 2016
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