Put Preventative Care on the Calendar

Those famous birthday landmarks: 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80... 

Some see them as milestones, others see them as wrinkles, however your doctor sees them completely different. With age, comes the increased risk of certain types of health conditions. In fact there are screenings, tests, and vaccinations that are highly encouraged based solely on age. But who can keep track of them!?

Let me introduce you to the Aging for Healthcare Research and Quality Electronic Preventative Services Selector (AHRQ ePSS). Based on five questions (including your age), this program will give you a printable list of health promotion and prevention recommendations unique to you. 

 Consider that in 2012, a scant 3 percent of current health care spending in the United States is now focused on prevention and public health, while a whopping 75 percent of health care costs are related to preventable conditions. The United States can — and must — do better, especially considering that its per capita health care spending is twice the average of other industrialized nations even as it still ranks a dismal 24th out of 30 for life expectancy.

Obamacare will radically change this, offering free (yes, free) preventative care. 

Today people are living longer but are also spending more time living with chronic ailments. Over the course of the 20th century, global life expectancy soared by 30 years, 25 of which stemmed from public health advances such as improved sanitation, environmental advances, vaccine campaigns, and tobacco control. 

So at your next milestone, put preventative care on your calendar. You and your loved ones can be the start of a new statistics of people who choose to max out their preventative care and take care of things early. It's never too late to start. 

The Bright Side of Obamacare: Understanding Obamacare for those 55+

Obamacare has gotten a lot of flack in the news lately due to the fumble of Healthcare.gov. 

Nevertheless, the more I looked into the services it will actually cover for those 55+, the more I found the bright side:

1. Free Preventive Services: 
Preventative screenings, like cholesterol levels and diabetes screenings, help catch problems early while they are most easily treatable and less costly. In the past, deductibles and coinsurance kept many on Medicare from taking advantage of these potentially lifesaving services. For example, in 2008, 17% of women over age 65 hadn't received a mammogram for two years and one-third hadn't gotten a cholesterol screening. A free services, means little to no excuse for not getting these screenings.


2. Free Wellness Exams: Obamacare provides a free annual wellness exam, where you can meet with your doctor and create a personalized prevention plan to improve your health. In the first 7 months of 2012, 1.6 million seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare took advantage of this new benefit. This wellness exam goes hand in hand with preventive screening, and can catch things much sooner while they are easily treatable.

3. Managing Multiple Medications— The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists reported that last year, 65-69 year-olds took an average of 14 prescriptions a year, while 80-84 year olds took an average of 18 prescriptions. Taking multiple medications can result in adverse drug reactions, cumulative side effects, and is estimated to cause 28% of senior hospitalizations and 32,000 hip fractures each year. Under Obamacare, all Part D plans must offer medication therapy management services to seniors most likely to experience problems.Obamacare began eliminating the donut hole in 2011 and will completely end the gap in coverage by 2020. Already, seniors and people with disabilities have saved $4.1 billion (an average of $768 for every person who enters the donut hole) because of this change – and seniors are expected to save between $3,000 and $16,000 in drug costs through 2021 depending on the number of prescriptions they take. 

4. Help for Low-Income Seniors— Over 9 million low-income seniors and people with disabilities are covered byMedicare and Medicaid. Obamacare provides additional assistance to them, for example, eliminating Part D Prescription Drug cost-sharing for those receiving home- and community-based care (low-income nursing home residents were already protected under the law). Low-income seniors living with multiple chronic conditions will get new help through health homes designed to help them coordinate their care, and there will be additional long-term care options available to help them stay in their homes. A new Federal Coordinated Health Care Office is already working to help low-income seniors obtain all their eligible benefits – including new preventive services and wellness exams. 

5. Eliminating Overpayments to and Improving Medicare Advantage plans— Private insurers argued that they would be able to provide the same benefits as traditional Medicare at less cost. Once they were allowed into Medicare, however, the results proved quite different. Instead of costing less, private Medicare Advantage plans cost more than traditional Medicare. In 2009, the year before Obamacare was enacted, it was estimated that Medicare paid Medicare Advantage plans $14 billion more ($1,000 more for each person they enrolled) than if care had been provided through traditional Medicare – and about one-sixth (16.7%) of total payments went to profits and administration. Even seniors who didn't enroll in  plans paid more as a result because Part B premiums are based on total Medicare costs, which include those over-payments. Since Obamacare was enacted in 2010, Medicare Advantage premiums have dropped by 16% while enrollment is up by 17%.