shAARP Talk: Observations from AARP

USA Today: Study Finds Drug Prices Increasing For The Insured

"People with health insurance are having more trouble paying for prescription drugs as higher out-of-pocket costs for medications and a slowing economy strain family budgets, according to surveys and health care analysts." The National Patient Advocate Foundation "found that 31% of the 44,729 people it aided last year cited drug co-payments -- the patient's portion of the drug's cost -- as their top medical-debt problem."

BusinessWeek: Report Discusses Investment Gap In Health And Social Programs

The Every Child Matters Education Fund "says there is a growing 'national investment gap' in health and social programs contributing to the well-being of children in the U.S., with poor southern states generally losing out to states in New England." The nonprofit's report "ranks states using 10 indicators of child well-being, including infant and child mortality, prenatal care, child poverty, access to health insurance coverage, teenage pregnancy, and child abuse and neglect. The authors say the biggest determinants of a state's standing in those rankings are poverty, educational achievement, and the size of minority populations."

AP: Boomers Are Joining Social Networking Web Sites

"Eons is one of at least two dozen social networks aimed squarely at baby boomers, the population bubble born between 1946 and 1964 that has defied traditional perceptions of aging and retirement." Boomers have "jumped into the Internet mashup to keep track of their kids on Facebook or MySpace, then moved on to their own networks in search of more common ground." Some sites "are loaded with staff content and expertise, or have a particular focus such as social change. Others, Eons included, are more user-driven, with hundreds of discussion groups, beginner widgets and age-specific applications like Eons' 'LifePath,' a way to plot a timeline of important personal events and future aspirations."