Healthy Aging in Cities: A Current Awareness Report

Reassignment of Medicare Benefits

2009-11-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

The Office of the Inspector General of the DHHS examines the practice of "reassignment", a mechanism by which Medicare practitioners allow third parties to bill and receive payment for services that they rendered. They found that 77% of practitioners have at least one reassignment.

Full report is available

How Sensitive Are Retirement Decisions to Financial Incentives: A Stated Preference Analysis

2009-11-09T07:06:00.000-08:00

Institute for the Study of Labor examines the effects of financial incentives on the retirement age, using a survey conducted in the Netherlands.

Full report is available

Social Security and the Joint Trends in Labor Supply and Benefits Receipt Among Older Men

2009-11-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

Center for Retirement Research at Boston College demonstrates an increase in older American men who worked without receiving Social Security retirement benefits and a decline in those who claimed benefits without working during the period 1980-2006.

Full report is available

The Role of Information for Retirement Behavior: Evidence Based on the Stepwise Introduction of the Social Security Statement

2009-11-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

Center for Retirement Research at Boston College looks at the effect of statements from the Social Security Administration (which outline estimated benefits upon retirement at ages 62, 65, and 70) on individuals' decisions about retirement.

Full report is available

Medicare Part D and the Financial Protection of the Elderly

2009-11-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

Center for Retirement Research at Boston College examines the impact of the expansion of Medicare Part D, finding that the program crowded out other forms of prescription drug coverage.

Full report is available

Community Partnerships for Older Adults: Local Solutions for National Long Term Care Challenges

2009-11-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

Community Partnerships for Older Adults, a program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, presents a report which outlines their program goals, and the progress already made. The paper also presents details on the current state of long term care nationally.

Full report is available

Debt of the Elderly and Near Elderly, 1992–2007

2009-11-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

Employee Benefit Research Institute reports on an increase in housing and consumer debt of those in or near retirement age. 63% of families, whose "head" was aged 55 or older have some level up debt in 2007 (up 3% since 2004).

Report is available

Is Posner Right? An Empirical Test of the Posner Argument for Transferring Health Spending from Old Women to Old Men

2009-11-04T07:33:00.000-08:00

Institute for the Study of Labor looks at the concept of "life satisfaction", to determine if widowhood creates lower satisfaction with life. The paper tests a theory by Posner, which suggested health spending be switched from women to men, in order to afford longer life to the men, and higher life satisfaction to the women.

Full report is available

Rural Seniors Have Fewer Options for Healthy Diets

2009-11-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

Southern Rural Development Center examines the nutritional choices faced by the elderly in rural settings. The report discusses some aspects of the plight of rural elderly to conditions facing seniors in the urban setting.

Full document is available

The State of Aging and Health Among Older Latinos in Los Angeles 2009

2009-11-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

The Los Angeles Area Agency on Aging and the Los Angeles Partnership for Evidence-Based Solutions in Elder Health presents the health priorities of Latino seniors and the members of the baby-boom era who will reach age 65 in the next 20 years. The report demonstrates that poor lifestyle behaviors are a primary contributor to death, reduced quality of life, and loss of independence. It also looks at the impact of chronic health and social conditions to this community.

Full report is available

Fixing Social Security: Adequate Benefits, Adequate Financing

2009-11-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

National Academy of Social Insurance's report demonstrates that Social Security can in fact be made more adequate and solvent for the long term. The report presents options for balancing programs finances and making it an adequate resource.

Full report is available

Coming Home®: Affordable Assisted Living

2009-11-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

The results of a program supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Coming Home® was an attempt to demonstrate that assisted living can be created as a viable alternative to institutional long-term care for people with incomes as low as the federal SSI payment.

Full report is available

Chronic Health Conditions: Changing Prevalence in an Aging Population and Some Implications for the Delivery of Health Care Services

2009-10-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Program at McMaster University looks at the effects of chronic disease on health care resources for the future. If rates remained constant, almost all conditions associated mostly with old age would rise by more than 25 percent and that health care requirements would grow more rapidly than the population.

Full report is available

Aging, Family Structure, and Health

2009-10-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

Population Reference Bureau discusses the effect of social and family connections with health. Though many older adult attempt to remain socially active, family relocation and death of friends can make them disengage socially.

Link to Full text

Public Policy, Financial Decisions, and the Health of Older Adults

2009-10-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

Population Reference Bureau examines the problems facing older adults who are faced with more difficult financial decisions regarding retirement.

Link to full text

Price Negotiation for the Medicare Drug Program: It is Time to Lower Costs for Seniors

2009-10-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare's Data Analysis Brief analyzes drug prices negotiated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and compares them to Medicare. They found that Medicare Part D could save billions of dollars through the use of additional negotiation techniques.

Data Analysis Brief is available

Improving road safety for pedestrians and cyclists in Great Britain

2009-10-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

The House of Commons of the United Kingdom presents the proceedings and report of a committee that looked at pedestrian and cyclist safety in the UK. Pedestrians and cyclists are among the most vulnerable road users, having a higher rate of fatality per distance travelled than for any other mode of transport except for motorcyclists. In 2007, over 30,000 pedestrians and 16,000 cyclists were injured, with 646 pedestrians and 136 cyclists killed.

Full report is available

Census Bureau Launches 2010 Census Campaign With New Web Site

2009-10-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

U.S. Census Department has unveiled the 2010 Health People website. The website includes videos for a variety of audiences, an explanation of the census process, and a preview of the census form.

Press release

NIA Extends Research on Health, Economics of Older Americans

2009-10-29T07:45:00.001-07:00

The National Institute on Aging announced the award of four grants totaling more than $19 million over the next two years to expand the Health and Retirement Study, the nation's premier long-term study and data resource on the combined health, economic, and social factors influencing the well-being of Americans over age 50.

Press release is available

NIA Extends Research on Health, Economics of Older Americans

2009-10-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

“State Facts” Highlight Opportunities and Challenges Facing Direct-Care Workforce

2009-10-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

PHI National has released has released 6 fact sheet which look at the direct-care workforces in the states of Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Massachusetts, Iowa, and Vermont. Also available is a fact sheet on home care workers in New York City. Fact sheets on Connecticut and Maine will follow.

Link to reports

Aging nations and the future of cities

2009-10-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Laboratoires d’Etudes et de Recherches Economiques examines the economic affects of an aging population on cities; taking into account migration of seniors into or out of an urban environment.

Full report is available

The 2009 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, and Home Care Costs

2009-10-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

MetLife Mature Market Institute presents the results of data for 2009 on:

daily private-pay rates for rooms in licensed nursing homes

monthly base rates for assisted living communities

hourly rates for home health aides

daily rates for adult day services

Full report is available

Ageing and Well-Being in an International Context

2009-10-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Policy Research examines ways in which the health and well-being of older adults can be incorporated into the areas of relationships, work, learning and the built environment.

Link to full text (available with free registration)

Health Investment over the Life-Cycle

2009-10-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

Institute for the Study of Labor examines the motives for expenditures on medical care within the life-cycle.

Full report is available