Advance Care Planning and Advance Directives (Living wills and health care proxies)
- Six reasons why you and your loved ones should create advance directives–health care proxies and living wills
- Five steps to get your affairs in order in case of emergency
- For your peace of mind and for the people you love, plan in advance for your care
- What care do you want if you become seriously ill? Talk to your doctor
Aging in place
- Aging in place: Safety at home
- PACE helps older adults stay in their communities
- Is aging in place right for you?
- Help a loved one age in place through hospital-church partnerships
- For-profit PACE programs: Cause for worry?
- Accountable health communities offer services and supports
- Talking to your kids about your stuff
Alcohol
- Alcohol abuse among older adults needs addressing
- Are you feeling its effects?
- Medicare covers alcohol screenings and counseling
- How to talk to a loved one about alcohol
Alzheimer’s — see Dementia
Ambulance services
Appeals
Back pain
Balance
Bankruptcy
Bladder control
Blood pressure
- Ten tips for checking your blood pressure at home
- Many older adults not taking drug pressure drugs as prescribed, increasing risk of heart disease, stroke, early death
Bone scans
CPR
Caregiving
- Caring for mom, dad, older adults: Ten key pieces of information you need
- Five ways to ensure the people you love are safe and healthy
- Coronavirus: How to keep an eye on your loved ones remotely
- Six reasons why you and your loved ones should create advance directives
- Sensors offer peace of mind to caregivers
- How to prevent elder abuse
- Health caring for mom: Three ways to let your mom know you love her
- Caring for both parents and kids: We’re all in it together
- HIPAA and why you need a health care proxy
- Caregiving: Coping and grieving after the loss of a loved one
- Five tips for talking to your loved ones about their health
- Caregiving: Keeping Parents Healthy–Water, Walking, Watching out for Delirium
- Learn CPR and help someone who suffers from a heart attack
- Making medical decisions for someone you love: Your rights
- How to help someone you love decide when to stop driving
- Six steps you should take to prepare for a weather emergency
- Caregiving: Understanding the emotional impact of dementia
- How to communicate with a person with dementia?
- Help for caregivers who leave their jobs
Caring for yourself while caregiving
- Respite care: Medicare may pay for you to take a break when caring for a loved one
- What it means to be a caregiver today: The data (Part 1)
- To help relieve stress, understand and recognize caregiver strain (Part 2)
- Five tips to relieve caregiver strain (Part 3)
- Policy: Support Family Caregivers: Why your voice matters now
- Policy: Help for caregivers who leave their jobs
Choosing a doctor
- How to choose a doctor
- New online resources to help you choose a doctor
- Four questions to ask yourself about your primary care doctor
- If your doctor leaves your Medicare Advantage plan mid-year, you may be able to switch plans
- Is it time to fire your doctor?
- What to do if your in-network doctor goes out of network?
Choosing a health plan
- Three reasons why you can’t choose a health plan that’s right for you
- Four things to think about when choosing between traditional Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan
- The risks of choosing a health plan with a small number of doctors and hospitals in its network
- Health plan networks limit access to care
- Three big differences between a private Medicare fee-for-service plan and traditional Medicare
Chronic Conditions
- Health plans may discriminate against people with costly conditions
- Diabetes is common among older adults: know the symptoms
- Do Prilosec and other PPIs increase people’s risk of dementia?
- How young is your heart?
- Can Parkinson’s disease be treated?
- Five Proven Ways to Prevent Insomnia
- Should we treat aging as a disease?
- Osteoporosis has been mistreated
- New JAMA study reveals exercise can reduce likelihood of disability in older adults
- Five things to know about gout
- Ten tips for checking your blood pressure at home
- Five ways to avoid heartburn without drugs and what to do if you cannot
- Can you hear me now? Hearing loss common for older adults
- Managing migraines
- Treating back pain: Often, hot and cold packs and time do the trick
- Watch your feet: foot care is critical and pain is treatable
- Three things to do to address hearing loss as you get older
- Medicare coverage for people with diabetes
- It’s time to fix the organ donor law, NOTA
Colonoscopy
Conflicts of interest
- Beware of researchers with conflicts of interest
- How much are drug companies paying nurses
- Drug companies can make out like bandits regardless of drugs’ value
- Pharma pays academics to justify high drug prices
- Are disease groups industry fronts?
Coronavirus
- Important resources for older adults
- Update on Medicare Advantage and other coverage
- Atypical symptoms for older adults
- Have you lost your sense of smell?
- It’s causing heart problems
- Have a plan if you get sick
- Get your flu shot early
- Four ways to develop immunity
- Watch out for Medicare fraud
- Beware of scams!
- Face masks and face shields
- Wearing a mask helps you
- For older adults, wearing gloves presents more risks than benefits
- Life for older adults after a vaccine
- Should you travel
- Minimizing the health risks of isolation
- How to keep an eye on your loved ones remotely
- Older adults take full advantage of Medicare telehealth benefit
- How to sleep better in these difficult times
- What to do before you leave the hospital
Death
Delirium
- Delirium common for older adults in hospital
- Urinary tract infections and delirium in older adults
- To prevent medical mistakes and delirium, stay on top of care needs when moving from one care facility to another
- Caregiving: Keeping parents healthy: Water, walking, watch out for delirium
Dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Memory: Be safe, exercise and eat well
- How does age affect your cognitive abilities?
- When does “old age” begin and should it matter?
- Do Prilosec and other PPIs increase people’s risk of dementia?
- Dementia declining as life expectancy grows
- Walkable communities good for your memory
- Lifestyle changes could help reduce risk of memory loss as we age
- Eat more plants…reduce risk of Alzheimer’s
- Exercise helps people with Alzheimer’s
- What are the signs of dementia?
- Safety at home for people with dementia
- Living well with dementia: The benefits of early diagnosis
- To help your memory, try learning a new language
- Change your diet, improve your health
- Alzheimer’s disease more prevalent among women and Hispanics
- Could robots keep older adults engaged and happy?
- Caregiving: Understanding the emotional impact of dementia
- How to communicate with a person with dementia?
- Coping strategies for people with dementia
- Keeping mentally and physically engaged may prevent dementia
- Living with dementia movement
Dental care
- Free or low-cost dental care
- Dental therapists: Why aren’t there dental therapists to provide lower-cost dental care?
- ER visits for dental care on the rise, but some states are finding ways to address the problem
- Dental care: The top health care service people skimp on, and why we should not
Depression
- Help spot depression in the men you love
- Medicare covers depression screenings
- Depressed? Ditch the concrete and go green
Diabetes
- Medicare coverage for people with diabetes
- Diabetes is common among older adults, know the symptoms
- A skin tattoo that measures the glucose level of diabetes
- Do you have diabetes? Contact lenses will soon measure glucose for diabetics
- Insurers drive up costs for people with diabetes
Diet and Nutrition: It’s important
- Eat less, live longer
- Change your diet, improve your health
- One tip for losing weight: Don’t focus on weight loss
- To support loved ones who are overweight, be kind
- Good news for anyone looking for help losing weight
- Home-delivered meals; more than good nutrition
- If you need nutrition counseling, Medicare may cover it in full
- Protein shakes: Muscle matters, but proteins shakes matter much less
- Salt: Could you be eating too little salt?
- Diet soda, no solution for weight loss
- Sugar: John Oliver explains the risks of too many spoonfuls of sugar
- Food with added sugar are not too sweet for our health
- Will skipping breakfast help you lose weight?
Doctor visits
- Five questions to ask your doctor to avoid overtreatment
- What happens when doctors share their notes with patients
- What care do you want if you become seriously ill: Talk to your doctor
- Don’t let your doctor intimidate you: A personal story
- Visiting the doctor costs more than you think
- The benefits of shared doctor appointments
Dogs
Driving
- How to help someone you love decide when to stop driving
- Is it still safe to drive? Have the doctor request a driving test
- Tips for driving safely
- Higher risk of car accidents for people on multiple meds
Drug costs
- Online pharmacies can save you money
- To save money on drugs, avoid chain pharmacies
- Four things you may not know about generic drugs
- Six tips for keeping your drug costs down if you have Medicare
- In 2014, 576,000 Americans with annual drug bills over $50,000
- Facts about prescription drug prices in the U.S.
- Drug prices continue to skyrocket
Drugs and Drug Safety: Drugs are expensive and often present risks
- Hundreds of new drugs are harmful or ineffective
- DailyMed: Know the potential harms of your prescriptions
- Are your drugs delivering good value?
- FDA backlog keeps generics from coming to market
- Opioid deaths on the rise
- Do Prilosec and other PPIs increase people’s risk of dementia?
- Medicare Part D drug plans: Three tips
- To save money on drugs, avoid chain pharmacies
- The Five “Rights” Rule for Taking Medication
- Four things that you may not know about generic drugs
- Six things to know about your over-the-counter medications
- Tylenol and other painkillers with acetaminophen can be toxic when overused
- Finish your Antibiotics!
- Opioids can kill you
- Seven questions for women to ask about meds
- Rheumatoid arthritis drug has dangerous side effects
- Common OTC drugs linked to cognitive impairment
- New cancer drugs may cause serious side effects
Durable Medical Equipment
- Oxygen: Medicare covers oxygen supplies equipment and supplies
- Wheelchairs: Two things to do if you or someone you know needs a wheelchair from Medicare
Elder abuse
- How to prevent elder abuse
- Doorman could be your best friend for preventing elder abuse
- Abuse of people 60 and older more common
Emergencies
- Two tips for keeping your emergency care costs down
- Choose your hospital emergency room carefully
- How to protect yourself against unexpected medical bills
- Two ways to make sure Medicare pays for ambulance services
- HIPAA and why you need a health care proxy
- Caregiving: Keeping Parents Healthy- Water, Walking, Watching out for Delirium
- Know the signs of stroke
- Another reason to exercise: it lowers your risk of stroke
- Learn CPR and help someone who suffers from a heart attack
- You may need health care, accidents happen
- Paramedics help people avoid emergency rooms
- With limited options, one in three people visit the ER every two years
End-of-life care
- Three things to consider about end-of-life care
- Honoring wish to die in peace
- Shared decision-making about health care can mean greater patient satisfaction
- For your peace of mind and for the people you love, plan in advance for your care
- Six reasons why you and your loved ones should create advance directives
- Four things to think about regarding Medicaid Estate Recovery
- Why you should ask your loved ones about end of life care
- Medicare proposes to pay for advanced care planning
Exercise, Staying active
- Exercise can slow down the aging of your heart and muscles substantially
- How to maintain your weight? Exercise can help
- This is your brain on exercise
- To stay healthy, exercise, and sit less
- Aerobic exercise may be best medicine for your brain and body
- Reduce your risk of heart disease. Exercise!
- Physical Therapy: Services you can benefit from and services to avoid
- Walkable communities good for your memory
- New JAMA study reveals exercise can reduce likelihood of disability in older adults
- Exercise! You can help your spouse
- Five exercises to improve balance for safety and health
- Walk as much as possible, especially in the hospital
- Another reason to exercise: it lowers your risk of stroke
- Exercise may be your best bet for bone health
- Five ways to ease your fear of falling
- Exercise helps people with Alzheimer’s
Falls
Financial advisors
Flu and flu shot
Foot care
Free resources
Gadgets/Tech
- Sensors offer peace of mind to caregivers
- Scientists spin artificial blood vessels in cotton candy machine
- Spying on cancer
- When will we begin 3D printing human organs?
- Hi-tech goggles can see cancer cells
- Smart pills win FDA approval to promote medication compliance
- A simple blood test may be able to predict Alzheimer’s disease
- Do you have diabetes? Contact lenses will soon measure glucose for diabetics
- A skin patch that can monitor your health wirelessly
- Could robots keep older adults engaged and happy?
Generic drugs
Glaucoma
- Get tested for glaucoma, save your vision
- Glaucoma: See a doctor if you experience loss of vision or have a family history
Gout
Health care buddies and the value of social interaction
- Improve your health with a buddy
- The value of saying hello
- Link found between having a purpose in life and better health
- Why we all need a sense of purpose
- Home-delivered meals, more than good nutrition
- Get paid to be a health care buddy
Health care costs and spending
- How much of your costs will Medicare pay for?
- One third of Social Security benefits spent on health care costs
- People with Medicare typically spend over $4,000 for care
- Visiting the doctor costs more than you think
- Health spending will top $10,000 a person in 2016
- Health care spending: The U.S. v. the rest of the world
Health care proxy
- HIPAA and why you need a health care proxy
- Making medical decisions for someone you love: Your rights
Health care system
- U.S. health care system performs poorly
- U.S. ranks behind Iceland and many other countries in how well it serves older adults
Health insurance industry
- Health care industry is geared up to fight Medicare for all
- Why mixing Medicare with commercial insurance is not the health reform we need
- Commercial health insurance fails to protect people from financial ruin
- Private health insurance drives up costs
- Do we really need commercial health insurance?
- How to get health insurance when you’re ineligible for both Medicaid and premium assistance in the state exchange
- Aetna, for-profit insurers do not serve public good
- Aetna under investigation for denying care without appropriate review of medical records
- Drug costs: A big chunk of your insurance premium
- Insurers drive up costs for people with diabetes
- If your health plan denies payment, fight back and appeal
Health outcomes
Health plan choices — Please see “Choosing a health plan”
Hearing
- Free and low-cost ways to address hearing loss
- Earwax can cause hearing loss, if left untreated
- Three things to do to address hearing loss as you get older
- Can you hear me now? Hearing loss common for older adults
- How to prepare for a visit to the audiologist
- Hear better with over-the-counter hearing aids
Heart health
- How young is your heart?
- Ten tips for checking your blood pressure at home
- Five ways to avoid heartburn without drugs and what to do if you cannot
- What is a silent heart attack?
- A medical device might make heart surgery even riskier
HIPAA
Home care/house calls
- Need home health care? Don’t count on Medicare
- Medicare begins rating home health agencies
- Medicare finding ways to cover house calls and save money at once
- Home care: How the Netherlands delivers good care at a good price
Hospice care
Hospital stays
- Plan ahead for a hospital visit: Talk to the people you love about these seven important items
- HIPAA and why you need a health care proxy
- Six reasons why you and your loved ones should create advance directives
- For your peace of mind and for the people you love, plan in advance for your care
- How to prepare for your hospital stay
- Six ways to help speed your recovery after surgery
- Seven things to do before you or someone you love leaves the hospital
- Pay attention after someone you love leaves the hospital
- To prevent medical mistakes and delirium, stay on top of care needs when moving from one care facility to another
- Choose your hospital emergency room carefully
- Walk as much as possible, especially in the hospital
- Does your hospital have enough nurses?
- Observation care: What you need to know
- Could your hospital make you sick? How to protect yourself against hospital-acquired infections
Housing options (see also, Nursing Homes, Community Living and Home Health Care)
- Housing options for older adults
- Is an assisted living facility right for you?
- Assisted living facilities may evict residents: Protect yourself and the people you love
- What’s a continuing care retirement community?
- Cohousing: Independence, companionship and community
Kidney disease and kidney stones
- Kidney disease prevalent, many unaware
- Kidney stones and five tips to prevent them
- For-profit kidney dialysis: Profits before people
Life insurance
Local resources
Long term care services and supports
- Long-term care at a glance; many of us will need it
- Three tips to plan for long-term care, including benefits and risks of long-term care insurance
- Costs of long-term care services and supports
- You’re never to young to start thinking about long-term services and supports
- Medicare, Medicaid and long-term care facts
- PACE helps older adults age in their community
- State scorecard on long term services and supports for older adults
- CAPABLE is a community aging in place innovation funded by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- Who provides long-term services and supports?
- Help for people getting long-term care
- Long-term disability insurance could be valuable
Mammograms
Marijuana
Medical debt
- How to avoid medical debt
- Medical debt is a problem in need of a smart solution
- Debt collection a serious concern for older adults
Medical devices
- US and European patients at risk without medical device registry
- Warning: Your hip replacement could kill you
- FDA-approved medical devices may not be safe
- A medical device may make heart surgery even riskier
- Medical device to remove fibroids causes cancer to spread
Medicaid
- Medicaid: Why it matters to all of us
- If you need health insurance and your income is low, the state you live in matters
- Four things to know if your income is low and you have Medicare
- Four things to think about regarding Medicaid Estate Recovery
- Beware of Medicare and Medicaid fraud and, if you see it, report it
Medicare for all
- Health care industry is geared up to fight Medicare for All
- New study finds Medicare for all generates overall savings of more than $5 trillion
- Mounting support for Medicare for All
- Medicare for All is the only realistic way to rein in health spending
- Insurers donate to Democrats in attempt to undermine support for Medicare for all
- Sanders and 15 other Senators introduce Medicare for All bill
- What is improved Medicare for all and why do we need it
- California may pave the way for improved Medicare for all
- Can we get to improved Medicare for all?
- Medicare for all controls spiraling health costs
Medicare benefits
- Medicare checklist: What to do?
- How much of your health care costs will Medicare pay for?
- People with Medicare typically spend over $4,000 a year for care
- What’s the Medicare Part B premium in 2016?
- Get the preventive care you need: Medicare pays for it
- Take advantage of Medicare’s annual wellness visit
- Medicare Part D drug plans
- Five programs that lower your costs if you have Medicare
- Six tips for keeping your drug costs down if you have Medicare
- Medicare covers depression screenings
- Need home health care? Don’t count on Medicare
- Three things to think about when getting mental health care
- Medicare coverage of nursing home care is very limited
- Nutrition counseling: If you need nutrition counseling, Medicare may pay for it
- Three ways to get physical therapy covered through Medicare
- Pneumonia vaccine: Medicare covers it
- Three preventive care exams that every woman with Medicare should get
- Smoking cessation counseling: Ready to quit smoking? Medicare will help
- Medicare covers alcohol screenings and counseling
- Weight loss-counseling benefit: Good news for anyone looking for help losing weight
- Don’t be misled by “five-star” nursing home ratings
- Beware of Medicare and Medicaid fraud and, if you see it, report it
- Medicare is more efficient than private insurance
Medicare choices
- If you want easy access to care and good quality you probably want traditional Medicare
- Four things to think about when choosing between traditional Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan
- Four things to think about when choosing a plan to fill gaps in traditional Medicare
- Four things to know if your income is low and you have Medicare
Medicare enrollment
- Three things to think about when enrolling in Medicare
- Medicare open enrollment: Consider changing health plans
- Should you enroll in Medicare if you have employer coverage?
- Is involuntary enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans the new norm?
- Two questions you should answer during the Medicare open enrollment period
- New BENES law would reduce Medicare enrollment mistakes
Medicare premium
Medicare prescription drug coverage, Parts B and D
- Medicare Part D in 2018
- Medicare Part D drug plans: Three tips
- Out-of-pocket costs for Part D brand drugs way up
- Out-of-pocket costs for Part D generics way up
- Medicare prescription drug costs falling
- Congressman Doggett takes lead on Medicare drug price negotiation bill
- CVS Caremark accused of $1 billion in Medicare drug fraud
- If your Medicare drug plan refuses to cover your medications, take these five simple steps
- New data on Medicare drug spending reveals Nexium is the biggest coster
- Medicare encourages doctors to use costliest cancer drugs
- Six tips for keeping your drug costs down if you have Medicare
Medicare supplemental insurance (Medigap)
Medicare Advantage plans
- Why enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan?
- The wrong choice of Medicare Advantage plan could kill you
- Don’t rely on Medicare Advantage plans to cover care from doctors you can trust
- Ten ways Medicare Advantage plans differ from traditional Medicare
- Inappropriate Medicare Advantage care denials appear widespread
- New study finds Medicare Advantage plan enrollees end up in lower quality nursing homes than people in traditional Medicare
- Medicare star ratings of Medicare Advantage plans a farce
- Medicare Medical Savings Accounts could cost you thousands
- Three big differences between a private fee-for-service Medicare plan and traditional Medicare
- Don’t trust your health plan’s provider directory
- Medicare Advantage plans bilking Medicare
- Medicare Advantage plans: Disenroll between January 1 and February 14
Medicare Handbook
Mental health
- Medicare coverage of mental health care
- Medicare covers depression screenings
- John Oliver: It’s time we rethink how we treat people with mental illness
- Urinary tract infections and delirium in older adults
- Caregiving: Keeping Parents Healthy- Water, Walking, Watching out for Delirium
- Three things to think about when getting mental health care if you have Medicare
- Beware: You can reveal your emotions in a look
- Depressed? Ditch the concrete and go green
Migraines
Money-saving options
- To save money on your care, consider using a free health clinic
- To save money on drugs, avoid chain pharmacies
- Four things you may not know about generic drugs
- Talk to your doctor about whether you really need vitamin C tablets
Nursing Homes, Community Living, and Home Health Care
- Cutting edge small nursing homes: Green Houses
- Before choosing a nursing home, check out Nursing Home Inspect
- Medicare coverage of nursing home care is very limited
- New study finds Medicare Advantage plan enrollees end up in lower quality nursing homes than people in traditional Medicare
- Medicaid covers nursing home care
- For-profit nursing homes more likely to deny residents hospice care at the end of life
- Four things to think about before moving into a nursing home
- Nursing homes can be cool places to live: The Eden Alternative
- Tiny houses: The next big thing for older adults?
- PACE helps older adults stay in their community
- Can a new kind of housing make us healthier?
- Where you live in later life? Your community matters
- Need home health care? Don’t count on Medicare
- Medicare begins rating home health agencies
- Home care: How the Netherlands delivers good care at a good price
- Older and living alone, the rise of elder orphans
- Community Aging in Place-Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE)
- Three tips to plan for long-term care
- Don’t be misled by “five-star” nursing home ratings
- Beware of chain nursing homes
Nutrition (see Diet and Nutrition)
Opioids
Osteoporosis
Over-the-counter medications
- Six things to know about your over-the-counter medications
- Tylenol and other painkillers with acetaminophen can be toxic when overused
Overtreatment
PACE: Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly
Pain
- Pain is prevalent and often severe among Americans
- Managing migraines
- Treating back pain: Often, hot and cold packs and time do the trick
- Watch your feet: foot care is critical and pain is treatable
- For knee pain, avoid arthroscopic surgery
- Managing arthritis pain
Parkinson’s Disease
Pensions
People with disabilities
Peripheral artery disease
Personal care
Pharmaceutical industry
- Will Pharma’s campaign contributions to House Democrats keep them from bringing down drug prices?
- Pharma is undermining the discovery of new drugs
- Pharma frequently not reporting postmarketing studies
- Pharma’s monopolies are the reason for high drug prices
- Hundreds of patient advocacy groups are Pharma shills
- Pharma profits from patenting OTC drugs
- How Pharma keeps generics off the market
- Pharmacy benefit managers can drive up your drug costs
- Pharma opera? Drug promotion on TV shows
- How effective are the drugs Pharma promotes most heavily?
- How much are drug companies paying nurses?
- Drug companies can make out like bandits regardless of drugs’ value
- Orphan drug act delivers big profits to drug companies
- Drug companies must now disclose most clinical trial results
- Why should drug companies have extra monopolies?
- Penalties on drug companies for fraud shrinking
- Should drug companies be allowed to advertise on TV?
- Drug companies keep drug prices sky high after drugs go off patent
- How to ensure the drugs you take are safe and effective
Physical, Occupational, and Specialized Therapy
- Three ways to get physical therapy covered through Medicare
- Physical Therapy: Services you can benefit from and services to avoid
Pneumonia
Prescription drugs: Facts, costs and coverage
- Sanders introduces market-based plan to rein in drug prices
- Sanders drug bill makes it easier for patients to afford their medicines
- Need a life-saving drug you can’t afford: Consider importing it
- Drug costs: A big chunk of your insurance premium
- Warning: Your drug copay may be higher than the drug’s cash price
- Online pharmacies can save you a lot of money; but, which ones are legit?
- Six tips for keeping your drug costs down if you have Medicare
- Medicare Part D drug plans
- How safe are the drugs you’re taking?
- One in three FDA-approved drugs have safety risks
- Is your doctor influenced by drug company money?
- Will your health plan cover the drugs you need?
- Biter pills: Once popular drugs pulled from the market
- Majority of cancer drugs FDA has recently approved don’t work
- Five ways to avoid heartburn without drugs and what to do if you cannot
- Facts about prescription drug prices in the U.S.
- High drug prices in U.S. unrelated to lower drug prices abroad
- NY to pay for some drugs based on value
- Drug costs eating into greater share of income
- Government’s Section 1498 authority to regulate the price of drugs
- “Right to try” experimental drugs is a bad deal for terminally ill patients
- With drug prices soaring, millions buy drugs abroad
- Pharma pays academics to justify high drug prices
Primary Care and Preventive Care: Get them right
- Six Reasons you need a primary care doctor in this age of specialization
- Do I need a Primary Care Physician?
- Four questions to ask yourself about your primary care doctor
- Paramedics help people avoid emergency rooms
- Visiting the doctor costs more than you think
- Don’t let your doctor intimidate you: A personal story
- Don’t trust your health plan’s provider directory
- Five questions to ask your doctor to avoid overtreatment
- Health plans must cover preventive care services in full
- The benefits of shared doctor appointments
- Seven questions to ask before scheduling a house call with a doctor you don’t know
- How to choose a doctor
- Get the preventive care you need: Medicare pays for it
Private health insurance
Proton-Pump Inhibitors (PPIs)
Provider directory
Purpose, Meditation and Feeling better: All good
- How young is your heart?
- Five ways to stay young
- Link found between having a purpose in life and better health
- Do you have a sense of purpose?
- Value of saying Hello
- Mindful meditation: A way to prolong your life without exercise
- Get a dog, improve your health
- Music: Can it be medicine for the mind and body?
Respite care
Retirement planning
- Seven questions to answer before you turn 65
- MyRA, a new retirement savings option from the U.S. Treasury
Retirement security
- American Savings Act would help promote retirement security
- In retirement, income gap worsens for women
- Is it fair to say we have a retirement crisis
- What’s a Guaranteed Retirement Account?
- MyRA, a new retirement savings option from the U.S. government
- New AARP polls reveal high anxiety among boomers around retirement security
Reverse mortgages
Safety
- Six steps you should take to prepare for a weather emergency
- How to prevent elder abuse
- Aging in place: Safety at home
- How can you help someone you love decide when to stop driving?
- Doorman could be your best friend for preventing elder abuse
- A skin tattoo that measures the glucose level of diabetes
- The microwave helmet that could save your life
Salt
Scams and Fraud
- Beware: Social Security scams abound
- Beware of Medicare and Medicaid fraud and, if you see it, report it
- Three tips to avoid a health insurance scam
- Should you trust your financial advisor?
- Financial scams: beware of strangers offering help
Screening Tests: Get the ones you need
- Health screenings may have risks
- Do you need a bone scan?
- Be sure to get your cancer screenings
- Colonoscopy: Do you need one?
- Do mammograms do more harm than good?
- Preventive care: Bone density tests and osteoporosis
- Three preventive care exams that every woman with Medicare should get
Second opinions
Shared decision-making
Skin care
- How to keep aging skin as healthy as possible
- No evidence oral beauty supplements improve skin
- Drug that treats high blood pressure increases risk of skin cancer
- Skin care products carry big risks
Sleep
- How to sleep better in these difficult times
- The hidden costs of sleep apnea
- Losing sleep over insomnia medications? How to get healthier shut-eye
- You likely need more sleep than you think
- If you’re often tired during the day, you could have sleep apnea
- Seven tips for getting a good night’s sleep
- Walk more, sleep better
- Five Proven Interventions for Insomnia
Social Security
- 2021 Social Security checks might not increase
- Social Security benefits will rise 2.8 percent in 2019, but checks may not
- Majority of House Democrats join the Expand Social Security Caucus
- The truth about Social Security
- What will your Social Security benefits be when you retire?
- One-third of Social Security benefits spent on health care costs
- When to claim Social Security benefits
- Social Security: What to know before claiming benefits?
- Beware: Social Security scams abound
- Social Security Trustees’ report confirms Social Security’s strength
- Social Security benefits barely rising in 2017
- Social Security a godsend for millions of older adults with no retirement savings
- Three ways government could help promote retirement security
- For a wealthy country, the U.S. offers stingy Social Security retirement benefits
- Millionaires pay into Social Security just a few weeks each year
- Policy: Five ways Congress could weaken Social Security
- Social Security critical for middle-class retirees
Sleep: You need it
- You’ll likely need more sleep than you think
- Seven tips for getting a good night’s sleep
- Insomnia: Five proven ways to prevent insomnia
- If you’re often tired during the day, you could have sleep apnea
Staying healthy
- Finish your antibiotics!
- Kidney stones and five tips to prevent them
- Six tips to reduce your chances of getting pneumonia
- Urinary tract infections and delirium in older adults
- Caregiving: Keeping Parents Healthy- Water, Walking, Watching out for Delirium
Stroke
Sugar
- John Oliver explains the risks of too many spoonfuls of sugar
- Foods with added sugar are not too sweet for our health
Supplements: Often a waste of money
- Avoid memory supplements
- Supplements: John Oliver vs. Dr. Oz
- Skip the pills, grab a spoon; why you should likely avoid B6 supplements
- Exercise may be your best bet for bone health, not calcium or vitamin D supplements
- Vitamin B12 supplements
- Should you take Vitamin C tablets?
- Vitamin E supplements: should you take them?
- Fish oil supplements: Are fish oil supplements just another red herring?
- Herbal supplements may not be what you think they are
- What are probiotics and should you take them?
Technology
Telemedicine or telehealth
- Coronavirus: Older adults take full advantage of Medicare telehealth benefit
- More people using telehealth
- Telehealth on the rise
- The benefits and risks of telemedicine
- Cognitive behavioral therapy through telemedicine can reduce anxiety
- Telehealth services do not save money
Therapy
- Medicare covers physical, speech and occupational therapy
- Physical therapy services you can benefit from and services to avoid
Tobacco
- Smoking cessation counseling: Ready to quit smoking? Medicare will help
- John Oliver: Tobacco companies suing countries to push smoking
- If you’re smart and driven, you’ll quit smoking
- Six tips for helping your loved one change unhealthy behavior
Traditional Medicare
- If you want easy access to care and good quality you probably want traditional Medicare
- Four things to think about when choosing between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans
- Three big differences between a private fee-for-service plan and traditional Medicare
Travel
Urinary tract infections
Vaccines
Vision
- Get tested for glaucoma, save your vision
- Glaucoma: See a doctor if you experience loss of vision or have a family history
- Protect your eyesight: Free or low-cost vision care
Weight loss
- Weight-management tips for older adults
- One tip for losing weight: Don’t focus on weight loss
- Weight loss: To support loved ones who are overweight, be kind
- Good news for anyone looking for help losing weight
- Will skipping breakfast help you lose weight?
- The obesity paradox: What does it mean for you?
- To lose weight, try eating dinner at lunch