grow older better

Tag: social security

  • 5 Misconceptions About People Over 65

    "old" lady with beer after a 36 mile bike ride"OLD" lady with a beer after biking 36+ miles over 10 PDX bridges!

     

     

     

     

    The 5 most common misconceptions about older people:

    1- Older people always get fat

    They can get fat – but so can a 3 year old! Do they have to get fat? Of course not. Metabolisms change but the changing of one's eating habits and the increasing of exercise will do wonders about weight.

    [I'll let you in on a secret – this works for all ages!]

    2- Older people are fragile and hunched over

    I hear people say this and I am not sure what they mean by fragile. Do they think bones just break, that older people fall all the time or are so weak they can't move around?

    Bones lose density; especially for post-menopausal women but there are ways to help that not happen. Now that we know more about osteoporosis I expect we will see fewer older persons who develop the hunched over position.

    As for fragility? Ski areas on Mt. Hood in Oregon offer free skiing for those over 71 or 72 depending on the area.  I've met skiers over 80 skiing away there.  Fragile?  Nope.  Maybe the regular skiing keeps them strong?

    3- Older people are poor and subsist on social security checks

    4- Older people are inactive

    5 – Older people are unhealthy

    I teach lifespan human development and many in my classes are nurses. A student once said that he never realized that older people could be healthy – his entire experience with persons over 65 was in a hospital. It was an "AHA" moment for him to learn that he [and we] know little about healthy persons as they age – precisely because they are not in hospitals or assisted living homes where studies can easily be done.

    Read the full article about these 5 myths and then please come back here to chat about them.

    Comment below – thank you muchly

     

  • Seniors Needing Soup Kitchens: An American Disgrace

    [This was previously published on http://lynnsrants.com but it needs to be here as well.]

    Thanks to the wonderful previous administration the ongoing economic woes here in the USA, we, in a country of used-to-be plenty,  are now forcing our senior citizens into soup kitchens.

     

     

    The number of seniors living alone who seek help from food pantries in the U.S. increased 81 percent to 408,000 in 2008, compared to 225,000 in 2006, according to the U.S.D.A……

    The New York City Coalition Against Hunger released a report on the city's soup kitchens and food pantries that found that 68 percent of responding agencies were seeing an increase in senior citizens. Hunger Solutions Minnesota said this month that food-shelf visits from older people increased 26 percent in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2008.  Seniors and Soup Kitchens

    And some who were once volunteers at the soup kitchens are now clients at those same places.

    With no increase in Social Security in 2010 and with the mess of Wall Street still lingering, I expect the statistics will increase over the coming year.  Yes we all got a more than average increase in social security last year but that has already been eaten up by normal costs – the prices of lots of things went up a larger percentage than the social security amount.

    Shame on us! 

    If you have family eating at soup kitchens or in lines to get surplus food – please please help them.  Like all living creatures, seniors need good nutrition – and maybe they need good nutrients more than others.

    And if oyu know of a senior wanting or needing to supplement their income as well as their diet, I associate with a company that provides nutritious supplements and has a plan that can help increase one's income. 

    Help a senior today – spread the word about this…  learn more at being healthy.

  • More On Medicare Open Season Stupidity

    subtitled – why we need Health Care Reform and need it very badly

    Got my 186 pages of Medicare and my private insurance coverage information  a few weeks ago.  No I did not read it thoroughly and never will.  [Disclaimer – I counted the pages for notes, the unnumbered pages and the covers]

    Medicare 2010 document

     

    More recently I got the OFFICIAL medicare.gov document – it  for Oregonians as each jurisdiction gets its own version.  Page count = 128 [the feds do count covers in their numbering system.]

    What do these 314 pages tell me?

     

    • I really really need new glasses..so made that appointment
    • A lot of trees gave their lives for me 🙁
    • The proliferation of Medicare Advantage Programs is disgusting
    • If you aren't careful you'll get suckered

    That last comment came from scanning the most unbelievable company.  This ONE company – and I will not give them air time – ALL ON ITS OWN has 36 options.  Yes 36 different options!  By comparison mine has 3 – "basic" and "costs more" for anyone and "really costs more" for current members wanting to upgrade.   

    As others have options for different counties within the state maybe the 36 options have plans for block by block coverage – their descriptions are very vague… and all 36 options have the same phone number to get information – hmm call a sales rep to get truthful clear answers about each of the 36?  Not gonna happen.

    Health care reform should make this a more simple choice for those over 65.  The proliferation of plans and options is stupid and leads potentially to misrepresentation or even "honest" error by those who stand to make gobs of money from these choices.

    I did not look through the list of prescription drug plans – but add those to the mix and you have a confusing array of options here in Oregon – and elsewhere.

    Think of those who are blind or limited in reading capacity – how do they make their choices?  Scary – very scary!

     


  • Mail like this makes me ANGRY

    Today I got this in the mail.

    a bit misleading

    The most noticeable feature of the envelope is the black and white pattern – along with the  ALL CAPS WORDS TELLING ME HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS – AND THAT. IT. IS. RELATED.TO. MEDICARE!!

    Only if you turn the envelope over and read the much smaller print that says " This is an advertisement" do you know it’s not really from the Social Security Adminsitration – why?

    Because below is what an offical envelope from Social Security looks like.

    official envelope from Social Security

    Hmmm… Legal?  Yes.  Misleading?  To many – also a yes!   And of course the leter inside lets you know that you can call for FREE INFORMATION  [also all caps]  and that if you give them your phone number you are giving them permission to have a sales representative call you.

    If you or anyone you know are Medicare eligible – PLEASE warn them about these letters.

  • Beware May Scams

    I hate to keep posting about scams but I do keep hearing about older people getting taken in by them

    If you collect Social Security you got a letter from them saying you will get your one time payment this month. That’s good altho it’s not a major amount. But the scammers know you got that letter as well and so they have reduced the amount they are asking when you get teh emails about the money they are holding for you.

    My recent emails all ask for “only $99” to get that 1.5 gazillion 😀 some bank somewhere is holding for me.

    And I expect you will start getting emails from those offering to “help” you get your $250 quicker! Or offering you a loan of $250 until you receive your money!

    PLEASE do not contact these persons…..if you have your Social Security check automatically deposited – that’s where this check will go! If you get your check mailed to you – this check will also be mailed to you. And I would guess that any loan you agree to will come with usurious high interest rates so that your $250 will not even make a dent in what you’ll owe back in a few weeks.


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