ShAARP Session: Observations from AARP

This one is not for the feint of heart! It's about as spicy an Indian dish as they come. Hazmat suit not included.

One of the most common questions I'm asked when I meet with volunteers and attend health care reform events is, "We're worried health care reform may go too far. Will we be forced into a plan or have to change doctors?"

In this month's AARP The Magazine, I answer that question but I wanted to share it here, too.

AARP will not support reform that would deny you the freedom of choice to keep your current plan, including keeping your current doctor. That's what AARP's fight for health care reform is all about--creating the kind of quality, affordable, and uniquely American health care system you want.

Those of  you who like your current plan and your doctors have told us in no uncertain terms that you want to keep them. Those of you ages 50 through 64 who have had trouble getting coverage have told us that you're tired of being told you can't get insurance because of an illness you had five years ago, or because of some other preexisting condition, or because of your age. AARP supports reform that ensures Americans ages 50 through 64 a real choice of quality, affordable health care plans.

Those of you on Medicare let us know, in overwhelming numbers, how the Medicare Part D prescription-drug coverage gap--the dreaded "doughnut hole"--is hurting you. Annually, about one-quarter of Part D enrollees fall into the gap, paying so much more for brand-name meds that some people stop taking them altogether. Only 4 percent make it across the gap to the other side, when costs drop substantially.

AARP has endorsed an agreement--brokered by Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.)--between President Obama and U.S. drug manufacturers, who have offered to pay half the costs for most people who reach the coverage gap, as part of health care reform legislation. This could take effect as early as July of next year.

Another serious problem we've been hearing more about lately is that of hospitals discharging older patients without any follow-up, or "transitional," services. One of every five Medicare beneficiaries is readmitted within 30 days of discharge; and one of every three, within 90 days--often because of poor communication between patients, caregivers, and health care providers. We need a benefit in Medicare to help people safely transition to home or another setting to prevent costly and unnecessary hospital readmissions.

Our work is to see that you get more from health care reform, not less. You deserve the peace of mind of knowing you will always have quality, affordable care. But we need your support to persuade Congress to act on AARP's commonsense health care reform priorities. Please visit our health care reform website--healthactionnow.org--to see how you can make a difference in getting to needed solutions.

It looks like the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) or otherwise known as "Cash for Clunkers" has launched this week.

For those who don't know, CARS basically does this: the government buys back old cars (which get a combined average mileage of 18 miles a gallon or less) from folks to scrap, and the seller gets $4,500 toward the purchase or lease of a new fuel-efficient car. Not a bad deal to help the environment, right? Via the New York Times blog Wheels:

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said it would eventually provide "a comprehensive list of new vehicles that meet the requirements of the program." Until then, you can use the table found here to look up the fuel economy of all vehicles dating to 1984, the earliest model-year vehicle eligible for trade-in.

Not every dealer is expected to participate in CARS. Those that do must register to be part of the program, and registrations may take a day or so to certify. So the agency recommends that consumers first call a dealer to see if it's participating (and has been certified) before going to the dealership.

The program will run until Nov. 1 or when the $1 billion that Congress has allotted to the program runs out. And consumers can expect automakers to add their own incentives on top of the federal rebates.

Check out this AARP article for more info on Cash for Clunkers and whether it's the right option for you.

If you're anything like my friends and family, they love listening to the national debate on all the issues floating around, but what they really want to know is how they will be impacted in Arizona, for example. Below you'll find a smattering of where to find local AARP info. Don't see your state? I'd encourage you to check out Bulletin Today's State Pages as well as the AARP Online Community for more information and resources.

And of course, if you want to take action on health care reform, check out www.healthactionnow.org for events and info on how to reach your local reps.

California info on Facebook, Twitter and the AARP Online Community.

Massachusetts info on the AARP Online Community.

Michigan info on Facebook, Twitter and the AARP Online Community.

Minnesota info on Facebook, Twitter and the AARP Online Community.

New York info on Facebook and Twitter.

Ohio info on the AARP Online Community.

Oregon info on Facebook and the AARP Online Community.

South Dakota info on Facebook, Twitter and the AARP Online Community.

Wisconsin info on Facebook, Twitter and the AARP Online Community.

Did you miss today's townhall with President Obama?

We recorded the event so you could watch it again, or you can read the transcript of the event here.

Got some questions about health care reform? Want some clarity on where AARP stands? Or maybe you're curious about how health care reform will impact you. No matter your question or curiosity get your info straight from the President.

Tune in today at 1:30 p.m. EST for a telephone townhall with President Obama and AARP CEO Barry Rand for a Q&A session with AARP members and volunteers.

You can watch it on the internet here. And share the link to the live video (www.aarp.org/townhall) on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace pages so everyone can learn more.

Thanks to those of you who posted your thoughts in the comments over the weekend. A lot of the concerns posted in the comments are ones we heard during last week's telephone townhalls that we hosted (and more than 400,000 of you attended) so I thought it might helpful if we posted up those questions and answers.

You can check out the whole article from the folks at Bulletin Today here.

From the article as well - here are some of the typical questions and answers fielded during the town hall meetings.

Why is AARP not standing up for seniors when Obama says he will cut Medicare to help pay for health care?
The proposed changes to Medicare will help to get fraud, waste and abuse out of the system and create payment incentives to reward doctors and hospitals for the quality, rather than the quantity, of care they provide. They will not cut the benefits our members rely on in the traditional Medicare program, but will help to keep it affordable to make sure you get the care you need.

Isn't this socialized medicine?
No. In socialized medicine the government directly owns the hospitals and directly employs the doctors. No one in Washington is talking seriously about anything like that. What health reform will do instead is provide people with a system much like the one members of Congress enjoy today. They will be able to choose from a range of quality, affordable private health plans, and possibly a publicly run option as well. These plans will have to accept everyone regardless of preexisting conditions or age. There also will be sliding-scale subsides for people with moderate to low incomes to make sure the coverage is affordable for everyone.

Will I lose access to my doctor?
No. The legislation will include a much-needed fix to the Medicare physician payment system to prevent an unwarranted 20 percent cut in their rates that otherwise would take effect next January and threaten access to doctors. It also will increase pay for primary care doctors to help preserve access to them, and promote training of more primary care doctors and nurses and geriatricians so we have enough health professionals to treat everyone.

Will there be rationing of health care to seniors based on age?
Absolutely not! That's a very harmful myth that opponents of reform are spreading to scare seniors. Nothing in the proposed legislation would lead to rationing of care for older Americans or anyone, and if it did, AARP would be leading the fight to kill it.

Is there mandatory end-of-life counseling for all seniors? Why?
No. This is another myth that reform opponents are using to scare people. What the bill does is let physicians get paid by Medicare for counseling people about things like advance directives, living wills, durable powers of attorney, hospice care and other steps people can take to make sure their wishes about how they want to be cared for at the end of life are known and followed. It's entirely up to the doctor and patient whether this counseling takes place, and completely up to patients whether they take steps based on the counseling to put their end-of-life wishes into legal documents. Facing a terminal disease or debilitating accident, some people want every possible life-saving measure in the hopes that treatment will give them more time with their families. Others will decide that additional treatment is not what they want and decline extraordinary measures. Either way, it should be their choice; all this does is help them make informed decisions about these issues with their doctor.

Will I be losing Medicare as the result of reform?
No. If you like the coverage you have, you can keep it, and that includes Medicare and your medigap coverage. Reform will help curb skyrocketing inflation throughout our health care system, including Medicare, so that Medicare coverage remains affordable for both you and the taxpayers who help foot the bill.

Will I be able to keep my current insurance coverage, which works well?
Yes. If you like the coverage you have, you can keep it.

Will preexisting conditions continue to exclude people from coverage?
No. There is broad, bipartisan agreement that health reform should ban insurers from discriminating against people based on any preexisting health problems.

When a tragedy occurs, people often come together to grieve and support one another. When the Murray family of Chevy Chase, MD lost both a daughter and mother on June 26, due to an accident caused by a tree branch falling on their minivan, the community responded with acts of full-fledged warmth and sustenance.

After consoling, Sara Knoll, friend of the family's, along with others, set up an online "support system" where more than 400 people have enlisted to offer aid to father, Sean Murray and his five daughters.

The response to the site has been so great that it has ensured that the family's home needs will be met through December 23. The website, Lotsa Helping Hands, makes it simple to reach out to locals in need by creating an online community with a calendar and announcements for organizing.

If you want more ideas on how to help in your community, visit Create the Good's site to find "do it yourself" organizer toolkits to jump-start your plans.

Got a great "do it yourself" way to make a difference in your community? Tell us about it here.

Yum!

Here's the press conference from last night. 90% of the focus was on the debate for health care reform

Our friends at AARP Bulletin have put together a very useful document that spells out the details of the current debate in easily digestible prose. This is a great resource for anyone wanting to get a handle on the current state of play of the health care debate.

These days, everyone's talking about how to save money. But living simpler isn't just good for your wallet - it's good for the environment, too. You might not get your "flowers" at the dollar store like this guy, but we can all agree a little composting helps the landfills and the bank account.

Watch below:

As Congress wraps up before August recess, this is our last chance to make some serious steps to take action for health care reform - and we're having our very own town hall meetings to discuss and strategize.

In fact, AARP will be holding teletownhalls over the next week (which will be audiocast live!) where AARP supporters and members can listen in to hear what role AARP has been playing in the health care reform debate, answer your questions on reform efforts as well as give you an opportunity to potentially connect with Congress straight from the town halls.

There's not much time left, and health care reform legislation will be moving - let's talk about what we can do to make sure it's prioritized. Sign up and submit your questions for Thursday's townhall!

See the times of other town halls after the jump. You'll be able to hear them live here.

Read More »

The New York Times covered Obama's speech on the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the moon, which was yesterday, July 20th, when the astronauts of Apollo 11 took the first steps on that big rock that lights the night sky of our planet:

On the anniversary of the first landing on the Moon, several Apollo astronauts called for new emphasis on space exploration. Mr. Obama has endorsed the Bush administration's plan to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020, asking for a 5 percent increase in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration budget.

"We need to go back to the moon," said Eugene A. Cernan, the last man on the Moon as a member of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, adding that he was frustrated at the lack of preparation for a mission to Mars.

As we celebrate this landmark moment, let's hope for more great findings in space exploration to come!

Although times are tough, the summer tends to trigger the "travel itch" - you know, that sense of urgency to get out of town immediately to a sun-drenched vacation consisting of laying out by a pool and sipping on piña coladas all day. So how can we quench our vacation thirst without spending all of our retirement savings?

Well, it looks like Peter Greenburg has some answers for us. An inquiry led Greenburg to give tips on how to find the best deals for older folks looking to go on a cruise - apparently there a lot of discounts for older adults available. Check out the article and some online resources he gives, like CruiseCritic, GalaxSea Cruise and Tours and Cruise.com.

Happy cruising!

This one looks de-lic-ous!

I came across a great AP article about how older workers are struggling to find a job during the recession, and largely because of their age.

As there has been much evidence that companies discriminate based on a person's age, folks are going to great lengths to appear younger on paper and even in person - from omitting college graduation dates to actually taking botox injections. (Yes, really.) When a group of people are changing their lives and identity in such a way to avoid being discriminated against, that tells me there's a problem.

Check out the entire piece here, and also take a look at AARP's recent feature on how to look out for signs of bias or discriminatory questions in job interviews.

Remember the new social networking section on AARP we blogged about last week? Well, it looks like it may come in handy after we find a new study showing that not only are the numbers of 50+ Facebook users skyrocketing, but their younger counterparts are actually decreasing:

A report released by iStrategyLabs shows that while the number of Facebook's U.S. high school and college-age users declined over the past six months, its popularity among the 55-and-older crowd is booming. In fact, the number of 55-and-older Facebook users showed staggering growth -- 513.7% -- in the last six months, the digital consulting firm said. This isn't a new phenomenon for Facebook. In March, Hitwise Pty. reported that the social network's audience of people over the ripe old age of 35 increased by 23% in February compared with the same month a year earlier. While Facebook was first launched to serve college students, over the past year or so the network has expanded to include many middle-aged folks. (Emphasis mine)

While there are rumors that the decrease in college-aged users is because they are beginning to feel alienated by their parents joining the site, I don't know if that's the entire reason. There are so many new social networking sites being introduced every day, young people end up migrating to the newer and better forums. But be careful kids, looks like mom and pops are right on your tail!

Not sure about Twitter? Want to join Facebook?

We did a live webcast with Deanna Zandt earlier today and brought in our Twitter followers for questions.

Now the whole thing's available online. Watch below, and follow our Twitter feed to find out about more live broadcasts in the future!

In a few hours, we're doing something new.

We're bringing Deanna Zandt into the studio to talk about Twitter and other social networking tools. (Check out our guide here.)

Are you curious about Facebook but haven't quite signed up? Do you have any idea what Twitter is? Think Twitter isn't useful?

Make sure and send us your questions and comments. If you've got Twitter, you can just include @aarplive in your tweets. If not, you can just find us at our streaming location and add your comments in the "chat" box. Or comment below!

A new study has found that while the average baby boomer thinks they have above average hearing, their kids think they should get their ears checked.

The study researched 250 older Americans and 250 children of boomers, in which they found that although 72 percent of the older participants believed their hearing was average or better, nearly the same percent of children thought their parents had hearing problems. The kicker is that only 35 percent of their kids have actually told their parents they think they should have their hearing tested.

In other words, while it can be difficult to let your mom or dad know they have a hearing issue, how will they hear you out (no pun intended) if you can't even tell them what the problem is?

As I discussed here earlier, I don't have a great track record when it comes to wishing living people happy birthdays. So today I'm going to try something a little different and go with celebrating the birth of Nikola Tesla who has safely been dead for over 60 years. He was born on July 10th, 1856.

Tesla was an absolute genius who eventually held over 700 patents. You might recognize one of his inventions, a little thing called electricity. He didn't invent electricity itself, but rather the idea of using alternating current which is what lets all of us use electricity without needing to live 2 miles from a power plant (take that Edison). Pretty nice contribution there.

He did have some ideas which were pretty far out there but they can't all be winners.

All of this and his name is barely recognized these days. Check out this clip for a little more info on Tesla:

It's healthy. It's easy to make. It's got it all! Could it be the perfect side dish?

This is awesome. AARP is featuring a social networking section on the site, giving folks some tips on how to dive into the social networking world, as well as some funny stories of web 2.0 overload like "Confessions of a Facebook Addict."

While a common misconception is that older adults aren't engaging social networking (or engaging online at all), that's actually far from the truth. In fact, the fastest-growing group of people joining Facebook is women over 55 years old. Take that, stereotypes!

Make sure to check it out.

I recently read this article on USAToday.com about how many older Americans fall each year because of their canes or walkers.

Safely getting around is incredibly important for everyone. Not just for health reasons, but also for connecting to others! Nearly 50,000 older Americans fall each year as a result of improperly measured/fitted canes and walkers, we have to stop and wonder what we can do to fix this problem. Simply stated - talk to your doctor or physical therapist. If you've just had knee surgery and your doctor says you need crutches, ask him/her to see that any equipment is customized for you and you're evaluated as using them properly. Or maybe your parent or loved one just got word that they need to use a walker now - do some research and go with them when they get fitted.

As always, communicating with and understanding instructions from our health care professionals is paramount to our long-term health and well-being.

So considering this is a contest relating to the flu, this post's title might seem a little ironic. It got your attention though, and that's the point. Here's another chance at free money! The Department of Health and Human Services is holding a contest for a PSA on the upcoming flu season. The winning submission will receive $2,500 in cash and the video will be on national television. Check out the rules here.

Here's HHS Secretary Sebelius on the contest:

For more information on the contest and the government's efforts to deal with the flu, check out their site devoted to the virus.

Some daring folks trying to change the urban landscape - watch it on AARP TV:

This afternoon, President Obama nominated Dr. Francis Collins to lead the National Institute of Health. You might know him from directing the ground-breaking Human Genome Project, or as a recipient of AARP's Andrus Award honoring positive social change.

Be sure to check out AARP Bulletin's fascinating interview with this "guitar-playing, motorcycle-riding geneticist"... and his interview on finding new cures on AARP TV's My Generation. We also sat down with Collins two years ago for Prime Time Radio, talking about the implications of genetic prediction of our future diseases.

So times are tough and money is tight. Maybe you've been holding off on making some purchases until the economy turns around and your portfolio is looking a little better. Well guess what kids? All that patience and frugality can finally start to pay off. If you've put off buying a new car, AARP may be able to help you out. Just take a picture of your old clunker, write a description of why you deserve a new car, and enter these into the Get Focused! Car Giveaway. You could win a brand new 2009 Ford Focus for your troubles.

If you're interested, get your act together because all submissions are due by July 13th (sorry for the short notice). Be sure to check out the official rules and good luck!

This past weekend had a lot of news regarding the how much Americans weigh these days. A new study said that we as a nation are continuing to get fatter as obesity levels increased in 23 states. Another study said that obesity rates are higher amongst adults who have lived with a romantic partner for at least two years than for those who were single or dating.

Still, there are still questions as to how directly being overweight can be tied to poor health. Though the connection may not be direct, there seems to be consensus in the health community that being overweight doesn't help your health in any way.

While we're on the subject of eating, the Nathan's hotdog eating contest took place last weekend. Joey "Jaws" Chestnut held onto the title for America, downing 68 dogs in 10 minutes for a new record. I wonder how eating like this affects your health:

While everyone is thrilled that it's finally summer, it's not as dandy as a lot of older folks will begin to fall ill from the heat. We can't forget that heat can cause serious health problems for older adults. We have some tips on how you can beat the heat:

1. Relax and put off chores and any strenuous activity.
2. Stay indoors during the hottest times of the day.
3. Close your shades to keep out the sunshine.
4. If you do not have air conditioning, stay on the lower-level in your home--heat rises.
5. Check with your local agency for cool places you can go such as libraries and public buildings, or a mall with air conditioning.
6. Wear light-weight, loose fitting clothing and protect yourself from the sun by wearing a hat, sunglasses or use an umbrella.
7. Drink plenty of water even if you are not thirsty. This helps keep your body cool.
8. Avoid alcohol or caffeinated beverages.
9. If you have a chronic medical condition, talk with your doctor about additional precautions you should take to prevent heat related illness. Some conditions and medications may place you at higher risk.
10. Neighbors, friends or family should check in on older people in their homes to make sure they are not suffering from the heat.

So get away from the blazing sun and into some healthy, heat-free summer fun!

While you're staying indoors to beat the summer heat, might as well get your game-on! AARP has released the Video Games for Grownups: Summer 2009 list, and it's not to miss. Some highlighted games for all ages:

• Hasbro Family Night (Hasbro)
• The Maw (Twisted Pixel Games)
• Stoked (Destineer)

And the list goes on. Check 'em all out!