In Brief
By Andy Humm
And Now: How to Fill the Doughnut Hole?
Now that the Medicare prescription-drug program (Part D) is in full swing, many of those who signed up for it are hitting the gap in coverage called the “doughnut hole.” Enrollees who pay their premiums get coverage of 75 percent of the first $2,250 in yearly drug costs, but then the payments disappear entirely until pharmaceutical costs top $5,100 for the year — at which point the plan cuts back in to cover 95 percent of the total.
Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore’s commissioner of public health, told the Los Angeles Times there is “a huge amount of evidence” that “seniors skip medicines when the price is too high.” The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 7 million seniors will find themselves trapped in the gap. To bridge it, you have to purchase a managed-care plan with much higher premiums. (In a typical Part D, enrollees pay around a $250 deductible and a monthly premium of $13.75.)
The Republican majority in Congress, which crafted Part D, wants Americans to take more responsibility for their own medical care as costs rise. Democrats are campaigning nationally on the idea of letting the government buy drugs in bulk at a discount — a policy specifically forbidden by current law.
In Albany an “Affordability Campaign” coalition of consumer groups and older people is pushing the Republican-controlled State Senate to pass a bill allowing just that — state purchase of prescription drugs at bulk. The Democratic-controlled Assembly has already passed such legislation.
Age and the Tony Awards
While the Oscar often goes to a rising star — Hilary Swank, 32, has two already — the 2006 Tony Awards rewarded age and experience.
At 72, playwright Alan Bennett won for The History Boys, as did cast members Richard Griffiths, then 58, for Best Actor, and Frances de la Tour, then 61, for Best Supporting Actress. At 61, also, Ian McDiarmid of Faith Healer picked up a Tony, his first, as Best Supporting Actor, beating out some competitors in their 20s. Another Tony without age is a Mr. Benedetto, or Bennett, 80 years young this past August 3.
30 Minutes a Day, Five Days a Week
The Center for the Advancement of Health, in Washington, D.C., has brought out a new report on exercise for older people, having found that one-third of those over 65 in a month’s study abstained from leisure-time physical activity, and more than half over age 75 were sedentary, making them much more vulnerable to heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and the loss of bone and muscle mass that causes falls.
Nancy Whitelaw, director of the National Council on Aging’s Center for Healthy Aging, backers of the study, told HealthDay News that 30 minutes of exercise five days a week can be done via walking, swimming, bicycling, etc. Equally important: a diet concentrating on fresh fruits and vegetables rather than processed junk.
If 30 minutes a day sounds daunting, try 10, Ms. Whitelaw says.
Many older people with high blood pressure come to fear exercise. But Johns Hopkins researchers have, says the UPI, found that “a moderate program of physical exertion had no ill effects on the heart’s ability to pump blood, nor does it produce a harmful increase in the heart size.” Exercise in fact increases the heart’s efficiency.
Want more? The Saga insurance company reports that people over age 50 who use the gym regularly have just as much of a chance of scoring a date there as those under 50. The company is subsidizing two-week free memberships at a network of gyms to encourage their policy holders to take up regular exercise.
Putting the Lie to a Stereotype
The longer you can safely drive, the longer you are likely to thrive, according to a report in the American Journal of Public Health. Folks who never drove or have given up their licenses are four times as apt to end up in a nursing home or assisted-living facility. Not being able to drive imposes psychic and physical burdens, such as not being able to shop for necessities.
Though old people are stereotyped as hazards on the highways, the National Safety Council has determined that, in 2004, drivers under age 34 were in 50 percent of all accidents, whereas drivers over 65 — 14.5 percent of all American drivers — incurred just 7.3 percent of accidents.
Older Workers Can Be a Bargain
Almost two-thirds of Americans age 51 to 70 are preparing for a new line of work in “retirement,” with 60 percent of that two-thirds doing it to stay mentally alert and 47 percent citing the need for income. Retail businesses large and small, says the Washington Post, are snapping up many of these individuals, paying an industry average of $10.58 an hour and getting an experienced person to boot. The downside for companies is that older employees consume more healthcare services.
Part of the reason firms are hiring older workers is simply because there are more of them than of younger people. CVS, the pharmaceutical giant, has gone from having 7 percent of its workforce over age 50 in 1990 to 18 percent today. Those employees have proved a good resource in dealing with older customers who share many of the same maladies and want advice on what to buy to treat them.
Don Harrison, a Home Depot spokesman, says: “The experience they bring, the customer service, the work ethic, you just can’t beat it.” Oldters are also more flexible about the hours they will work.
In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the Winston-Salem Journal reports that UBS Financial Services has been taking on employees over 50 who were laid off or took early retirement from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and other local firms. Though these “new” hands had no expertise in the field, UBS got them up to speed through a six-month training program.
“[W]e want advisers who have been through, or are dealing with, the same life experiences as our clients,” said Patrick Crowley, manager of the UBS office there. Younger people still dominate the field overall.
Match Point
Ivana Trump, 57, ex-wife of The Donald, is reportedly dating Italian model Rossano Rubicondi, age 37 or so. “Having a younger man is not for everybody,” the lady says. “I don’t want to offend older men, but a younger guy is more flexible. It’s a different energy. If we were with older guys, we’d kill them” — grouping herself with Joan Collins, 73, who is married to Percy Gibson, 41.
The ex-Mrs. Trump added: “Someone once asked me, ‘With Rossano, this younger guy, what’s going to happen in five, ten years time?’ I say: ‘If he dies, he dies.’ ”
