Alzheimers: A defining disease for aging baby boomers

Alzheimers: A defining disease for aging baby boomers

*Repost Brought to you by: Aetna

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, killing more than 93,000 people each year. The progressive and fatal brain disorder causes issues with memory, thinking and behavior. Currently without a cure, Alzheimer’s has a good chance of being one of the defining diseases for Baby Boomers as they age.

Age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Once someone reaches 65, their risk of developing the disease significantly increases. An estimated one in eight baby boomers will get the disease after they turn 65. At age 85, that risk increases to nearly one in two.

The disease currently affects more than 5 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. By 2040, when the Baby Boomer generation will be from 76 to 94 years old, Medicare costs related to Alzheimer’s are projected to account for more than 24 percent of total Medicare spending, or about $328 billion in 2014 dollars, recent analysis has shown.

Alzheimer’s is a family matter

It’s not just the person with Alzheimer’s that suffers, the caregivers — typically family and friends — often take the brunt of the disease. It is particularly hard because Alzheimer’s robs a person of their memories and independence, leading to a steady increase in the need for monitoring.

In 2015, 15.9 million family and friends provided 18.1 billion hours of unpaid care to those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Nearly 60 percent of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers rate the emotional stress of caregiving as high or very high; about 40 percent suffer from depression.

A majority of caregivers report they are “somewhat” to “very” concerned about maintaining their own health since becoming a caregiver. One in five care contributors cut back on their own doctor visits because of their care responsibilities. Most people survive an average of four to six years after being diagnosed, but many can live for as long as 20 years with the disease.

Family members and friends providing care for someone (other than their children) have to squeeze in an average of more than 24 hours a week to take care of their loved one, according to AARP research. Caregiving is particularly time-intensive for those caring for a spouse or partner, which requires an average of 44 hours a week. That doesn’t leave much time for any of the other priorities you might have in your life. A good game plan can help get things under control.

Where can you find help for Alzheimer’s?

Non-profits like the Alzheimer’s Association and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America offer good information on resources and support networks for patients and families. You can also search by zip code and/or state to find area resources.

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From the Desk of SBS:

As you read above, "1 in 8 Baby Boomers are susceptible to acquiring Alzheimer's and that increases to 1 in 2 around the age of 85. Along with that, care-giving for this disease requires an average of 44 hours a week." If this were to happen in your family, what would your game plan be? 

Senior Benefit Services has representatives all over the U.S. that would love to sit down with you to help you start planning. We are a brokerage that represents many reputable companies (such as above) and we offer a variety of insurance plans including: 

• Long Term Care
• Short Term Care
• Home Health Care
• Nursing Home Care

When something such as Alzheimer's arises in your life, we want your biggest worry to be enjoying those precious moments with your family - not worrying about the financial side of it.  
We're just one phone call away: 800-627-2768
Visit us Online at: www.sbsteam.net

Health Insurance Rates and Premiums Demystified

No matter what you call them, health care premiums, rates, “bills,” are made up of the same things. Like many other critical services, health care costs are based primarily on how much the service costs and how much people use it. But, like anything as complicated as health care, there’s more to the story.

Rates submitted by health plans, and how those rates impact the premiums people pay, will receive significant attention. To fully understand why premiums may go up or down in 2017, consider the following factors:

Rates reflect medical costs: Medical costs make up most of the costs that go into the premiums people pay. By law, health plans must spend at least 80 cents out of every $1 of premiums on medical costs. Medical costs are higher in some places than others. Costs are higher when doctors and hospitals charge more, or when people go to the doctor more often, have more tests or fill more prescriptions. Medical costs also go up when drug prices go up (prescription drugprices jumped by more than 10 percent in 2015 alone) and often when new treatments are found.

On average, the people in plans on the public health insurance Marketplace or Exchange have been older, sicker and use more health care than people in other plans. This has been especially true for people who don’t join a plan at the start of the year, but wait and join later. This is one reason Exchange plans can cost more than plans offered through employers.

For all plans, medical costs continue to increase faster than the general rate of inflation and wage growth, and continue to be the driving force behind rate increases.

Risk pool and changes to government programs: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) included financial protections to maintain a stable marketplace and affordable premiums. However, two of the three programs that provided this financial protection now are set to end in 2016. When these programs go away, premiums need to rise even more.

So how do we make premiums more affordable? At Aetna, we’re working in many ways to help hold down our members’ costs. We’re working in new ways with many doctors, hospitals and health care systems so they get paid for the quality of care, not the quantity of services. We’rereaching out to members earlier to address potential health issues, so they can enjoy more healthy days. We’re emphasizing preventive care and cost-effective treatment locations in our benefit plans. And we’re giving members better online tools to understand their plans, find doctors and hospitals and estimate how much care will cost them. We’re even creating new kinds of health plans, such as our Leap plans that help remove barrier to care for people with chronic conditions. All of these things help hold down costs for people.

That’s not all. You can start by reading what Aetna is doing to build a better health system.

Brought to you by AETNA. Read More @: https://news.aetna.com/2016/06/health-insurance-rates-and-premiums-demystified/

Tags: affordable care act, consumers, health care costs, health plan rates, insurance rates, medical costs, personal health, quality care

Benefits of Being Happy:

Happier people more likely to live longer...

"We can train ourselves to have more positive emotional qualities like happiness, kindness and mindfulness."

Happier people have an unusual amount of activity in one area of their brains – the left prefrontal cortex, scientists have found. Happier people are more likely to live longer and tend to be healthier, more successful and more socially engaged than people who describe themselves as less happy.

In the field of psychology, there’s been a lot of emphasis on figuring out people’s problems – what causes depression, anxiety or stress. It wasn’t until the 1990s when Dr. Martin Seligman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, realized we were missing a big piece of the puzzle. He asked the important question we’d all been missing, “What makes people happy?” It’s because of his question, that Dr. Seligman is considered the founding father of positive psychology.

“If we exercise that part of our brains, just like exercising a muscle, we can train ourselves to have more positive emotional qualities like happiness, kindness and mindfulness,” says Hyong Un, M.D,of Aetna Behavioral Health.

Want to be happier? 

To see for yourself try practicing one, or even all four, of these proven methods suggested by Dr. Un. You might be happy that you did.

1. Savor

Notice the good stuff. Good things happen to all of us, but so often we’re busy rushing through our day that these moments aren’t appreciated. Dr. Fred Bryant, a researcher at Loyola University in Chicago, coined the term “savor.”  He found that people who regularly pause to savor positive moments are more satisfied with life and are happier. You can savor the past, present or the future.

2. Gratitude

According to one study, simply having an attitude of gratitude can increase happiness by 25 percent. Being gracious can lead to optimism and self-confidence, while also deepening our relationships with one another.

3. Optimism

Optimism is linked to increased happiness. People who are optimistic are more likely to tackle their problems and persevere until they meet their goals. This results in increased feelings of success, improved self-esteem and productivity.

4. Generosity

Being generous leads to all kinds of great results. In one study, Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky divided participants into two groups. She asked one group to commit five random acts of kindness per week for six weeks. The control group went about their lives as usual. The control group reported back feeling more stressed and less happy. But the random act of kindness group reported a 42 percent increase in their happiness levels.

“Life can throw a lot of curveballs,” Un says. “Positive thinking can’t prevent bad things from happening. But if we are essentially a happy person inside, it can help us make it through the rough spots.”

Brought to you by: Aetna

Read more: https://news.aetna.com/2016/05/happier-people-more-likely-to-live-longer/#.V1cDaI2OklE.facebook

Conservative lawmakers, Aetna CEO 

suggest Advantage plans could help save 

Medicare

By Shannon Muchmore and Bob Herman  | March 16, 2016

(Story was updated at 4:27 p.m. ET) 

Lawmakers, health policy experts and the chief executive of one of the nation's largest insurers believe Medicare Advantage could help keep the Medicare program solvent.

On Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee's Health Subcommittee held a hearing on Medicare's future. The Medicare board of trustees said in its most recent annual report that Medicare will be able to cover its costs until 2030, but suggested congressional action to strengthen the program's future.

Robert Moffit, a senior fellow at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, suggested increasing the age of eligibility for Medicare, implementing means testing, expanding direct contribution abilities and combining Medicare Parts A and B.

Health Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) said he agreed with many of those proposals and that changes had to be made to account for the increasing elderly population.

“Despite major improvements and innovations in the healthcare sector that have transformed how care is delivered, traditional Medicare has barreled through the last 50 years on the same trajectory of increased costs and little innovation,” he said.

Medicare reforms pop up every year in Congress during budget battles, butlittle is actually done. Conservatives traditionally have supported a premium-support model for Medicare, while liberals have championed a morestreamlined approach. Single-payer, or Medicare-for-all, also has wide support from many left-leaning economists and supporters, although the industry has opposed that model.

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said Wednesday he has another idea.

Medicare Advantage, the private managed-care version of traditional Medicare, will be “the solution to entitlement reform around health benefits,” he said at the annual Barclays Global Healthcare Conference.

Aetna has more than 1.36 million Advantage members, according to March figures from the CMS, and it stands to become the largest Medicare insurer in the country through its $37 billion buyout of Humana.

Bertolini's comments came after he was asked his thoughts about last summer's speed-dating among health insurers. If federal and state regulators approve Aetna's acquisition of Medicare powerhouse Humana, which remains a big “if,” the combined company would have a presence in markets that make up more than 90% of the eligible Medicare population. It would allow Aetna to offer a “nationally portable” Medicare Advantage product that the government believes can help slow down the growth of Medicare's costs, he said.

“I think Medicare fee-for-service is a moving target,” Bertolini said, adding that Medicare Advantage would then become “more of a default program.”

Medicare Advantage already enrolls more than 18 million people and has garnered support from Democrats and Republicans alike, although serious issues have been raised about the program.

For instance, some observers have said Advantage plans are acting “unethically” by inflating patient risk scores conducted during home visits to gain higher payments, but then aren't pursuing follow-up care. Federal policy moves to save Medicare revenue at large players also have caused consternation.

At Wednesday's House committee hearing, Katherine Baicker, a health economics professor at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, said Medicare Advantage plans should be key to keeping Medicare available for future generations.

A "one size fits all" Medicare program will be increasingly difficult to maintain, she said. “A thriving and competitive Medicare Advantage program can be a vital contributor to high quality beneficiary care in a sustainable healthcare system.”

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the subcommittee, pushed back on the ideas brought forth by his Republican counterparts, saying those plans could “have devastating effects.” He also said Medicare Advantage plans are being overpaid and allowed to cherry-pick healthier beneficiaries.

Stuart Guterman, a senior scholar in residence at AcademyHealth, agreed and said the elderly and disabled are the “least prepared to bear that additional burden.”

“Policymakers are confronted, therefore, with the question of how to continue to slow the growth of total Medicare spending when the spending per beneficiary already is increasing so slowly,” he said.

Harvard's Baicker said more radical changes are needed because the system is out of balance.

“I think something fundamental about the system has to change to preserve the viability of the program,” she said.

Want to see more? Visit this link from modern healthcare: http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160316/NEWS/160319921/conservative-lawmakers-aetna-ceo-suggest-advantage-plans-could-help