This Kaiser Health News article answers all of your basic questions about the individual mandate — yes, there is an individual mandate in the ACA and it does require you to have health insurance. If you or someone you know are part of the 26 percent of Americans who don't know about the individual mandate, read this article before October 1. (Note: If you already have health insurance through work or a federal or state policy, you are not affected.)
The Boomer Reporting Corps (BRC) is a unique older adult citizen journalism project spearheaded by the University of Maine Center on Aging and the Maine Community Foundation. In partnership with the University of Maine’s New Media Department, the BRC consists of a series of comprehensive workshops and specialized mentoring in journalism, photography, and multimedia designed specifically for older adult community volunteers interested in keeping members of their rural communities informed of key local issues. BRC programming was designed to help older adults who are already leading change in their communities to share local news by increasing their access to technology….
The American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, with other ABA cosponsors, is presenting a webinar entitled “When Adult Guardianship Crosses State Lines: A Uniform Act to Address Jurisdictional Issues.” The webinar will be on Tuesday, July 30 at 1:00-2:30pm ET. The webinar will cover the basics of the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act passed by 37 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. The Reporter for the Act, along with a prominent probate attorney, will explain the Act’s provisions on initial jurisdiction, transfer of cases to another state, and out-of-state recognition and enforcement of orders; as…
Three government agencies —the Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services— have developed a retirement toolkit to enable workers to better plan for their retirement. The toolkit includes a list of publications and interactive tools to help in your planning, plus information on how to contact the agencies with specific questions. The toolkit stresses that it is important to start early and be well-informed so you can make timely decisions and, if necessary, make changes while you still have time before retirement.
Clinicians and researchers now have a new and simple way to find appropriate instruments to evaluate the cognitive status of older patients in the primary care setting. The Instruments to Detect Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults Database from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health contains detailed information about more than 100 published instruments for detecting Alzheimer’s disease and other types of cognitive impairment. Each instrument in the database was developed as a cognitive assessment for age-related dementia and has had at least three published studies using the instrument since its debut and at least…
Findings in the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) report, “Separate and Unequal: States Fail to Fulfill the Community Living Promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” released last week, show that progress in providing health and community based services for persons with physical disabilities and mental illnesses has lagged significantly behind efforts for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The report includes 12 recommendations to address this and the other findings.
Changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) privacy requirements will go into effect September 23, 2013. The new rule will enhance a patient’s privacy protections, provide individuals with new rights to their health information, and strengthen the government’s ability to enforce the law. See attached for more information.
A new report from AARP argues for improving family leave for working caregivers, citing the growing population of older Americans, increasing numbers of family caregivers on the job, and escalating demands and stress on caregivers. Keeping Up with the Times: Supporting Family Caregivers with Workplace Leave Policies points to three policy solutions to ease the burden on both caregivers and employers: unpaid family and medical leave, paid family and medical leave insurance, and earned sick time. “According to the report, close to three out of four women of prime caregiving age are in the workforce and 74 percent of adults…
CMS released a proposed rule outlining program integrity guidelines for the Health Insurance Marketplace (Marketplace) and premium stabilization programs. Through the Affordable Care Act, consumers and small businesses will have access to new Marketplaces where they can access quality, affordable private health insurance. Consumers in every state will be able to buy insurance from qualified health plans directly through these Marketplaces and may be eligible for tax credits to lower the cost of their health insurance. “In just a few months, consumers across the country will have access to a new Marketplace in their state where they can easily…
Jiroemon Kimura, who passed away at the remarkable age of 116 years 54 days, held a record that few of us ever have the chance of achieving: the world's oldest living person. Perhaps more significantly, though, Kimura-san achieved an even rarer accolade when, on December 28, 2012, he became the oldest man who ever lived. As the oldest male whose age could be reliably determined, Kimura succeeded Denmark's Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand "Christian" Mortensen, who reached 115 years 252 days in April 1988, and became the first man to ever exceed 116 years. Kimura was born in 1897, the…
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