Treating poor people as “passive” health care consumers
By Al Norman
In 2009, a state legislator who chaired the House Financial Services Committee on Beacon Hill introduced a bill that would "automatically enroll...
Massachusetts Care Act takes effect this month
If you are not a caregiver, chances are you will be one in the future, or maybe you know someone who is currently caring for their loved one. In 2015 in Massachusetts, family caregivers provided 786 million hours of unpaid care valued at approximately $11.6 billion annually. These family caregivers have a huge responsibility and, fortunately, there is a new state law to help them. AARP Massachusetts is thrilled to announce that the Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act is now law. The CARE Act recognizes the critical role family caregivers play in keeping their loved ones at home, and out of costly institutions. Currently, Massachusetts is the 38th state to enact the CARE Act.
Pushing health care to the states is no solution
The U.S. Senate recently found itself in a mad rush to beat the clock and repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) before Sept. 30. It was an act of desperation to support a bill that simply kicked the problem down to the states. Here is the background:
Alcohol consumption and the risk of developing dementia
Some of the detrimental effects of heavy alcohol use on brain function are similar to those observed with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although alcohol use may be a risk factor for AD, it is difficult to study this relationship because of similarities between alcoholic dementia and AD and because standard diagnostic criteria for alcoholic dementia have not yet been developed.
Brains and potatoes
One day in a bookshop, I overheard a six-year-old girl and her four-year-old brother discussing which is better, movies or books. He said movies. She said books. “Movies,” she explained, “turned your brain into a potato.”
Foreclosing on seniors
My friend Bob is 73 years old. He lives alone with his dog Moxie in a small town in western Massachusetts. For all his adult life, Bob has worked as a builder and carpenter. When things were going well, Bob had a construction crew that could repair anything from roofs to basements. Bob can no longer climb up ladders, or exert himself. His gait is unsteady, and he has survived a bout of cancer that doctors said would kill him years ago. His income now is $16,000 a year from Social Security, which puts him about 133 percent over the federal poverty level.
Legislative priorities
AARP Massachusetts is hard at work fighting for the interests of older adults across the Commonwealth, and is proud to announce our support of two bills currently under consideration in the legislature.
Local foundation helps with testing and treatment of Lyme disease
Region - Lyme disease is one of the most misunderstood and controversial diseases across our country. Getting properly diagnosis and treatment options are extremely difficult. I quickly found this out after losing my Mom, Jeanne to complications from untreated late-stage Lyme disease. Mom was full of life until she developed a rash on her upper back while spending the winter in Florida in early 2011. The non-blistering rash was quickly diagnosed as shingles and she was prescribed a steroid. Her health would never be the same after that.
Walking a mile in their shoes
I have been working in affordable housing for over 25 years. I know about aging and disabilities. I also know about reasonable accommodations and modifications. I know that not all limitations are obvious to others and I know that many disabilities cannot be seen.
Clean repeal, skinny repeal. It all came to nothing
How often do we get to see elected officials voting on Nothing?
That’s what it came to in Congress the other day. The U.S. Senate could not muster the votes to even discuss “repealing and replacing” the Affordable Care Act. But they exerted more pressure on their members, and finally managed to vote 51-50 to begin to debate some version of repealing the Affordable Care Act. They came up with a replacement bill that would have allowed insurance companies to offer cheap, “stripped down” policies that did not meet federal standards. But that bill lost by a vote of 43 to 57. With conservatives and moderates balking at the “replacement” bill, the leadership turned to a new option: repeal Obamacare. No replacement, just what they called a “clean repeal.”