7/27/2012 – The Father Is Child of the Man

The Stanford Longevity Center has shown that, as people age, their social circles shrink, often to as few as five people. While this allows older people to focus more on those they really care about, it also increases the burden on their children.

Read the full article at The New York Times.

7/27/2012 – Comparing Medicare and Employer Health Insurance

People with traditional Medicare coverage are less likely to skip needed care or encounter problems in getting care due to cost, and are more satisfied with their coverage, than are younger people with employer-sponsored health insurance, a study published online in the journal Health Affairs finds.

Read the full article at The New York Times.

7/25/2012 – More Older People Treated for Depression

For years, mental health specialists lamented that depression was seriously underdiagnosed and undertreated in the elderly. Laypeople saw it not as a disease but as an inevitable part of aging. Doctors missed it because depression didn’t always look the way it did in younger patients — less sadness and weepiness, more physical symptoms and disengagement. Older people themselves often rejected help because mental illness carried a stigma.

Read the full article at The New York Times.

7/24/2012 – Survey shows Americans worried about retirement

Many more households are struggling to make ends meet than in 1997, when consumer confidence was high and unemployment was low, says a survey released Monday by the Consumer Federation of America andCertified Financial Planner Board of Standards. “Today the economy is in a far different place, and Americans are worried about their financial future,” says Kevin Keller, CEO of the CFP’s Board.

Read the full article at USA Today.

7/21/2012 – Our Ridiculous Approach to Retirement

Seventy-five percent of Americans nearing retirement age in 2010 hadless than $30,000 in their retirement accounts. The specter of downward mobility in retirement is a looming reality for both middle- and higher-income workers. Almost half of middle-class workers, 49 percent, will be poor or near poor in retirement, living on a food budget of about $5 a day.

Read the full article at The New York Times.

7/19/2012 – Who’s Watching Mom?

A new study by researchers at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine offers an eye-opening look at agencies that supply caregivers, companions, homemakers, personal care attendants and non-nursing home health aides to people who need help living independently at home. (Medicare-certified home health agencies, which are federally regulated and provide licensed nurses, were not included in the report.)

Read the full article at The New York Times.

7/19/2012 – Facing Foreclosure After 50

Once viewed as the most fiscally stable age group, older people are flailing. On Wednesday, AARP released what it described as the most comprehensive analysis yet of why the foreclosure crisis struck so many Americans in their retirement years. The report found that while people under 50 are the group most likely to face foreclosure, the risk of “serious delinquency” on mortgages has grown fastest for people over 50.

Read the full article at The New York Times.

7/18/2012 – Survey: Medicare patients happier than those with private coverage

Elderly Americans on Medicare are substantially happier with their insurance coverage than their younger counterparts who rely on commercial insurance, according to a new national survey.

Read the full article at the Los Angeles Times.

7/16/2012 – Forgetful elderly at greater death risk, researchers say

Elderly people who suffer from a marked decline in memory function that falls short of dementia are more than twice as likely to die within five years than are those with normal cognition, researchers told the Alzheimer’s Assn. International Conference meeting this week in Vancouver, Canada.

Read the full article at the Los Angeles Times.

7/15/2012 – Thriving Gut Bacteria Linked To Good Health

A study published in the latest issue of Nature finds diet may be key to promoting diverse communities of beneficial bacteria in the guts of older people.

To evaluate this, researchers analyzed the microbiota, or gut bacteria, of 178 older folks, mostly in their 70s and 80s.

Read/listen to the full story at National Public Radio.