Medicare Part D was signed into law in December 2003 by President George W. Bush, and retirees began to sign up for these Medicare-approved private prescription drug plans in 2006. Part D gave retirees the option to purchase prescription drug coverage through Medicare. Since then, 51 million people have enrolled in prescription drug plans. Enrollment […]
According to ExperienceWorks, an organization that helps older adults find work, by the year 2020, nearly 25% of workers will be age 55 or older. Older women, veterans, and workers with special needs will make up an increasing percentage of the workforce, and many will be staying in the workforce far beyond “retirement age” due […]
Oftentimes, family members become frustrated if they face resistance from their elderly relatives when they suggest having help or considering another place to move. In many cases, this resistance comes from fears that seniors have while they face the challenges of staying active and independent as they age. Understanding and acknowledging these fears can help […]
The Hospice movement was started in Britain in 1967 by a physician, Cicely Saunders, who advocated pain management for the dying. Her philosophy was that dying people needed dignity, compassion and respect. and “abolished the prevailing ethic that patients should be cured, that those who could not be cured were a sign of failure and […]
Updated August 2025 Data from the Census Bureau’s 2022 Population Survey reveals that 28% of Americans who are 65 or older live alone (but not in a nursing home or assisted-living facility), including about 6 million men and 10 million women. About 11% of American households consist of a person age 65 or older who […]
Updated July 2025 The Journal of General Internal Medicine published a report in 2012 that looked at data from more than 3,000 people covered by Medicare to gauge the impact of health care cost on seniors. Researchers measured how much Medicare-eligible seniors had spent out of pocket on healthcare in their last five years alive, […]
Good nutrition is important for everyone, and good nutrition for older adults is especially crucial to maintaining their health and independence and improving recovery time from illnesses and injuries. How older adults get their nutrition varies widely. On the federal level, there are Nutrition Programs authorized and funded in part by the Older Americans Act. […]
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of four older adults (those aged 65 or older) falls each year.1 In 2013, 2.5 million nonfatal falls among older adults were treated in emergency departments and more than 734,000 of these patients were hospitalized. In 2020, 14 million older adults in the United […]