#PROAGING: Republican Budget Realigns Medicare But Ignores Long-Term Care
The macro-economics of aging over the next 40 years do not look great: the first Baby Boomers reached the age of Social-Security eligibility 15 months ago, but the crest of this so-called ‘Silver Tsunami’ will not come until about 2030. It will not recede for another couple of decades. The issue is not the number of people so much as the economy’s ability/preparation to deal with the number. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, “The baseline 2010 Retirement Readiness Rating™ finds that nearly one-half (47.2 percent) of the oldest cohort (Early Baby Boomers) are simulated to be “at risk” of not having sufficient retirement resources to pay for “basic” retirement expenditures and uninsured health care costs. The percentage “at risk” drops for the Late Boomers (to 43.7 percent) but then increases slightly for Generation Xers to 44.5 percent.”
The combination of retiring Boomers with lengthening life expectancies with a general political trend to cut taxes for all while reducing services only to the poor has meant that the costs of long-term care are growing, while the will to adjust expectations or fund federal programs is shrinking. The FY2013 budget proposed by Senators Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) earlier this month has not much quelled fears of how Medicare will deal with the spread between long-living retired Boomers and the costs they will impose on an already stressed healthcare ‘system’.
| Category Affordable Housing, Aging, Assisted Living, Boomers, Community, Independent Living, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Retirement Living, Senior Housing, Study, Technology for Aging | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SocialNetworks: Senior Living Communities See ROI On Social Media
Outreach to older Americans through social media might have once seemed a bit like trying to create an oasis in a desert: a great deal of effort lost in the sand. But survey after survey has demonstrated how use of social media has become an important part of the lives of millions of seniors. Which means numerous businesses that target seniors and their families have begun to develop strategies to reach out to those ever-growing constituencies and markets.
The folks at Glynn Devins Marketing have shared a keynote address that traces a case study they did with a local (Kansas) retirement community demonstrating the success of a drive on Facebook to increase ‘Likes’ and to offer donations as ever more people share their contact with that retirement community.
| Category Advice, Aging, Blogs, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Communications, Facebook, Facebook, How-to, Marketing, Measurement, Public Relations, Report, Resource, Retirement Living, Senior Housing, Seniors Life, Social Media, Social Media | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#ProAging: Mandated Cuts In Medicare Stifle Expansion Plans
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This past October 1st, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) put into effect new regulations concerning the payment or reimbursement of services to skilled nursing facilities and certain types of housing for older Americans. The reductions in payments were targeted at 3-4%. As the regulations were being finalized late this summer, we posted reactions from many facilities saying they would have to cut staff and/or services to comply with the ruling.
How are the cuts now playing out in the planning of elder care in America?
| Category Aging, Assisted Living, Community, Health, Healthcare, National/International, Nonprofit, Nursing Home, Politics, Report, Resource, Retirement Living, Senior Housing | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD