Hands to Help Seniors
Patient Death In New Alzheimer’s Drug Aduhelm
by Richard Kuehn on 11/11/21
There was
much excitement when the FDA approved a new drug called Aduhelm to treat
patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Although there was some debate over its efficacy, the fact that there
have been no new drugs brought to market to treat this horrible disease in decades
had some filled with hope. However,
Biogen Inc., the pharmaceutical company who makes the drug, admitted this week
that there was one death linked to Aduhelm.
The company announced that a 75-year old who took the drug was
hospitalized and diagnosed with swelling in the brain before dying. It’s unclear that the brain swelling was
linked to the drug, however, there is sure to be an investigation due to the
fact that brain swelling, also known as ARIA-E, was cited as one of the most
common side effects during testing of the drug.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biogen-investigates-death-of-aduhelm-patient-11636479862
New Congressional Bill On Social Security Doesn’t Address The Funding Shortfall
by Richard Kuehn on 10/26/21
A House bill sponsored by Democrats called Social Security
2100 : A Sacred Trust does much to help seniors, boosting benefits in a number
of areas. Introduced by Rep. John
Carson, D-Conn. who serves on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee
is a bit perplexing as it is adding to a looming deficit and does nothing to address
how our nation will pay for it. Some key
issues in the bill:
Benefits would be set at 125% above the poverty line and
tied to current wage levels;
Both new and existing beneficiaries would get a 2% increase
in their benefit, on average;
The bill would repeal rules that reduce Social Security
benefits for workers and their spouses, widows or widowers who also have
pension income (called the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government
Pension Offset); and
Annual cost-of-living adjustments would be tied to the Consumer
Price Index for the Elderly, or CPI-E.
The latest estimates from the government are that by 2034,
Social Security benefits will drop to 78% of what has been promised, and this
new bill extends that date to 2038 to give Congress more time to come up with a
long-term solution to the program’s solvency issues. There is a provision for an increase in the
wages cap where workers have to pay Social Security Tax (up from $147,000 to
$400,000). However, this will likely be offset
from a provision in the bill which would only require Social Security
recipients to pay taxes on earnings above $35,000 ($50,000 for couples), up
significantly from $25K and $32K respectively.
This seems to me like Congress just kicking the can down the road—why not
try and solve this issue now?
Medicare Insurers Took $9.2 Billion In Federal Payments In One Year Via Controversial Billing Practices : By Derek Baine
by Richard Kuehn on 10/26/21
There seems to be no end to the tricks insurers will come up
with in order to suck more money out of Medicare. According to the findings of the Office of
Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, it analyzed
20 companies and investigators found that one received about 40% of the
questionable payments, or $3.7 billion, while enrolling only 22% of Medicare
Advantage customers. It wouldn’t name
the company, but BMO Capital Market looked at federal data and showed that the
enrollment share closely matches UnitedHealth Group Inc. during the period the
investors looked at.
In An Attempt To Calm Down Agitated Nursing Home Residents, Patients Are Often Unnecessarily Sedated : By Derek Baine
by Richard Kuehn on 10/26/21
I have witnessed first hand nursing home and assisted living
facilities giving seniors heavy medication in order to just keep them quiet,
sometimes even restraining them. The New
York Times recently wrote a story about this practice saying that 1 in 5
nursing homes prescribe Antipsychotics, which are extremely dangerous to give
to the elderly, particularly those with Alzheimer’s disease and
Parkinson’s. The story highlighted David
Blakeney, who entered a nursing home with severe dementia. He was restless and agitated and the facility’s
physician wanted to prescribe Haldol, a powerful sedative. “Add Dx schizophrenia for use of Haldol,”
read the doctor’s order, which essentially added another diagnosis of
schizophrenia despite the fact that there were no signs the patient had that condition. These types of drugs are commonly referred to
as chemical straightjackets and, unfortunately, they can nearly double the
chance of death from heart problems, infections, falls and other ailments for
seniors with dementia. But with nursing homes understaffed, it’s an easy
solution to just sedate more patients so they can be handled with less
staff. The patient in the Times article
died at the early age of 64 just eight months after being put on Haldol, but
not before suffering devastating weight loss, pneumonia and the amputation of
one of his feet due to severe bedsores.
This should not happen in this country.
If you have a loved one in a facility, regularly ask for a list of
prescriptions that they are on. This is
all too common.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/11/health/nursing-homes-schizophrenia-antipsychotics.html
Long Term Care Insurance Or LTC To Be Funded By The Government?
by Richard Kuehn on 08/31/21
Long Term Care or LTC Insurance is the only insurance policy
which will cover the care of services provided by companies like Family inHome
Caregiving, an in-home care company which I own. Many people come to Hands to Help Seniors looking for help in their senior years which isn't covered by the government. Unfortunately, LTC is very
expensive and few people have it. A 2019
study funded by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care
found that by 2029, more than half of the nation’s 14.4 million middle-income
older adults won’t have the financial resources necessary to pay for senior
housing or in-home care. The study
concludes that both public and private funds need to come to the rescue. There is hope. The Well-Being Insurance for Seniors to be at
Home (WISH) Act would create a federal LTC trust fund that would pay for
catastrophic long-term care for those who need it, and it would also allow
private insurance companies to offer affordable coverage plans for the initial
years of disability. The plan would be
fully paid for by a slight increase in the payroll tax (0.3% of income for both
workers and employers), or roughly $300 per year for a median-income
earner.
