Category: Health and Wellness Issues
January 22, 2017 -- The AARP is a solid defender of Medicare and Social Security, as you might imagine. In their most recent Special Report the organization highlights some of the issues and dangers that Medicare faces as the Trump administration and Republican controlled Congress take over. We recommend reading the entire AARP Special Medicare Report - it raises important issues that every retiree, and every American, needs to be informed on. We certainly know the issue resonates with Topretirements members, who from our surveys say they like Medicare.
Conflict between the new President and conservative Republicans - and surprising potential allies
Trump promised on the campaign trail in New Hampshire that he would protect Medicare: "Every Republican wants to do a big number on Social Security. They want to do it on Medicare. They want to do it on Medicaid. And we can’t do that. It’s not fair to the people who have been paying in for years.”
With the inauguration behind us the battle lines are a bit murkier. Speaker of the House Ryan has proposed that Medicare as we know it would be replaced by fixed payments with which beneficiaries would be able to buy
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Published on January 21, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
By Liz Szabo at Kaiser Health News. (Reprinted with permission)
Nov. 21, 2016 -- A new study finds that the prevalence of dementia has fallen sharply in recent years, most likely as a result of Americans’ rising educational levels and better heart health, which are both closely related to brain health.
Dementia rates in people over age 65 fell from 11.6 percent in 2000 to 8.8 percent in 2012, a decline of 24 percent, according to a study of more than 21,000 people across the country
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Published on November 26, 2016
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
June 12, 2016 -- All over the country there is a craze raging with a very funny name - pickleball. You have probably heard about it, maybe because it is very popular in active adult and retirement communities. But the question is, should it be your next sport? This article will talk about the sport and help you determine whether you should give it a “whack”.
Pickleball got started in 1965 on a modified badminton court. Kids in gym class sometimes play it because it can be played indoors in a fairly limited space with minimum equipment. Since then it has expanded around the globe, but has really taken off as an activity in 55+ and active adult communities.
What is it the game and how is it played
Pickleball is played on a court that is roughly half the size
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Published on June 11, 2016
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
June 8, 2016 -- Congrats on your retirement, you earned it! Unfortunately a happy retirement doesn't happen automatically - a lot depends on how staying young and maximizing your happiness every day. This article will share the best research we've seen to help you to live longer and get the most out of every moment of retirement.
To write this article we have taken a "Best of the Best" approach. To do that we assembled a list of great articles from around the web on the "secrets" and "mistakes" surrounding retirement. From each one we have picked out what we think is the most important tip or two. The result is
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Published on June 7, 2016
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
May 17, 2016 — We have just updated Part I of our “So You Are Turning 65: Medicare and You 101” article. The revisions include up to date premium and deductible numbers for 2016, among other improvements. There had been a flurry of recent Comments made to this article…
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Published on May 17, 2016
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
December 15, 2015 -- Hopefully at this point your children have been raised, your career is behind you, and you have amassed enough money to start enjoying a comfortable retirement. Now you have a new job: a happy and fulfilling retirement. But what is the best way to do that, and avoid wasting what are supposed to be your golden years?
One really good place to start is to examine the attitudes and behaviors toward retirement and aging of the people who have gone before us. You most likely know or remember some people who you admire for the way they lived their lives. This article will examine some of the life lessons we have seen firsthand or read about in famous
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Published on December 15, 2015
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
November 12 Update: Final Medicare Part B Premiums and Deductibles Announced
October 27, 2015 -- This is the open enrollment period for both Medicare and Obamacare. If you are retired and need health care before age 65, or you are 65 or over and eligible for Medicare, you need to pay attention, as these are, with some exceptions, the only times you can enroll or change your coverage. And there are many good reasons why you might want to change it.
Two different enrollment periods
Which open enrollment period you need to worry about depends on whether you are talking about Medicare or the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Medicare enrollment started on October 15 and runs through December 7. If you are 65 or over you need to enroll/make your changes by then or wait until next year (with some exceptions). The changes you make go into effect on Jan. 1, 2016.
Affordable Care Act enrollment for those not eligible for Medicare goes from November 1 to December 15 (much less time than last year). Changes go into effect Jan. 1, 2016.
What is an Open Enrollment Period
An open enrollment period is the time during which you can sign up for coverage for the upcoming year if you don't have it now. You can also change
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Published on October 26, 2015
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
July 28, 2015 -- There is at least one good thing about getting to the ripe old age of 65 - you are eligible for Medicare! It pretty much removes the worry of finding health and drug insurance coverage, and you get this benefit at a very low cost. But if you make some of these common mistakes, you might not be eligible for it when you want it, or it might cost you more money than it should.
We think this article will be useful for people who have not yet signed up for Medicare as well as those who are already in the program. It is part of our series on Medicare and health care insurance. See the bottom of this page for links to the rest of the series.
But before we launch into the worst Medicare mistakes, here is a tiny background about Medicare:
What is Medicare, and who is eligible?
Medicare is health insurance for people 65 years or older, under age 65 with certain disabilities, and any age with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or Lou Gehrig's disease. Medicare has four parts -- Part A, which is hospital insurance, Part B, which is medical insurance, Part C, which is Medicare Advantage Plans, and Part D, which
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Published on July 27, 2015
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
June 3, 2015 -- It is one of America's fastest growing sports, attracting legions of new players from baby boomer ranks. Compared to tennis it is easy to pick up, doesn't require as much stamina or range of motion, and is fun from the get-go. Yet all is not perfect in the state of pickleball.
Symptoms of the fallout occured in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat recently, which recounted issues concerning expansion of pickleball facilities at the large (3000 unit) Oakmont active adult community there. The article, "Oakmont in a Pickle over Pickleball", chronicles the troubles that occurred as the
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Published on June 2, 2015
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Updated October, 2016 -- So you have saved all the money you need for a comfortable retirement, scoured the world and found the best to place to retire - great. Unfortunately, all that great planning means nothing unless you have the good health to enjoy your retirement. To keep yourself healthy enough to enjoy your retirement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all adults age 18-64 get at least 140 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week. That seems like a lot of time, certainly more than the average person is willing to put in. Fortunately there are a lot of great ways to get that exercise without having to become a gym rat.
Some of the ideas in the book by psychologist Elizabeth Lombardo, "A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness" are pretty interesting and relatively painless. They make it easy because they incorporate a little bit of exercise into ordinary daily activities. Such as: Brushing your teeth - why not do some squats. Talking on the phone,
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Published on April 14, 2015
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