Aging Solutions Newsletter

November 2005

Caregiver Tip of the Month

— Medicare's New Prescription Drug Benefit —

Mark your calendar

If your loved one is on Medicare, and relies on you for help in making decisions, mark your calendar with these important dates.

November 15, 2005. Enrollment begins for everyone on Medicare, and for people who will be eligible for Medicare by January 2006.

January 1, 2006. Coverage begins for everyone who signed up by December 31, 2005.

May 15, 2006. The last day people on Medicare can sign up without a penalty. (If your loved one signs up between January 1, 2006 and May 16, 2006, their coverage won't begin until the first day of the month after they enroll.)

Don't put off enrolling your loved one until the last minute. Many decisions have to be made and if the May 15th deadline is missed, Medicare's Drug Benefit will cost more for every month the decision is delayed. For example, if your loved one delays enrolling for more than 2 months after first becoming eligible, they will be penalized for the rest of their life! The penalty will permanently increase their premium 1% for every month they delay. If they delay 10 months, they will pay 10% more than almost everyone else. If they delay 2 years, their premium will be about 25% more than other people pay. While this may not seem like a lot to you, remember that your loved one is probably living on a fixed income.

For more information, visit Medicare's website at Medicare.gov.

Our visitors ask ...

Q. My mother is in a retirement care facility; she is 93 years old. She seems to complain all the time about the care and the people there. Granted, I do not want to see her mis-cared for, but at the same time I feel she is in the place she needs to be. I have been there when the care people did not know I was there and I thought she was well cared for. She is always clean and with a new change of clothes everyday, 3 meals per day, etc. Is this something that happens quite often? She can hardly ever say anything good about the facility and feels all she has to do is look out the window, I do go to see her about every other day and I get nothing but complaints and crankiness when I am there. I try to involve her in other things, but she just mopes and says she can't do it. Am I the only one who feels this way about their parent?

A. People in your mother's situation, that is, living in a facility instead of their own home, usually fall into one of two categories. While they may not like their loss of independence, many simply accept their changed circumstances and make the most of what they have left. Many others become bitter about their loss of independence and moan and complain about their lot in life, sometimes with a lot of bitterness.

Regardless of which category your mother may fit into, living in a facility is usually boring, despite the best efforts of its management. To better understand your mother's feelings, stop for a moment and put yourself into her shoes. That is, you see the same people day in and day out; you eat in the same place every meal (unless you withdraw into your room); you don't go anywhere on your own; you have to take the facility's bus to go anywhere, whether it's a low-priced restaurant, grocery shopping, Wal-Mart, doctor's appointment, etc. And, how many times a week can you find pleasure from Bingo or word games? So, the natural topic of conversation among residents is complaints, whether it's about the facility, about the boring food, etc., etc., etc.

The best thing you can do for your mother is to visit her regularly. Spend some time together doing things she likes to do. And, take her out to lunch or dinner every so often.

From your description, it sounds like your mother could be at least mildly depressed. Depression is one of the most undiagnosed conditions among seniors. Signs of depression are often ignored because of other "more important" medical problems. Some people (including many doctors) dismiss obvious signs of depression as a "normal part of aging," even though they aren't. Have your mother evaluated by a doctor who specializes in geriatric care, not just a doctor who has a lot of elderly patients. (For more information about depression in the elderly, visit our page Signs and Symptoms of Depression.)

You may also find it helpful to join our own online support group (click on Support Group). You'll find that it's very active with family caregivers who freely share their thoughts.

Daily Living Solutions

— products for seniors —

As we grow older, it often becomes difficult to use many everyday products because of arthritis and other conditions. If you or a loved one needs a little help – or a lot – we've selected a group of practical and affordable solutions from our affiliated merchants to help overcome those limitations.

Whether you are looking for yourself, or to help an elderly senior continue living in their own home, you'll find a wide variety of supplies and accessories – raised toilet seats, safety rails, incontinence supplies, large-handle eating utensils, pain relief, diabetic supplies, pill splitters and crushers, big-button telephones, canes, walkers, rollators, wheelchairs – and much more.

Everything is sorted into convenient categories in our Solutions for Seniors section.

Caregiving – Finding the money for care at home

A variety of resources can help pay for care at home. We discussed these resources in some detail beginning with the May 2004 issue of this newsletter and continuing each month through the August issue. To review these newsletters, simply click on Archives and select the issue you want to see.

Caregiver Tip #2

— Observing while Visiting Older Relatives —

The holiday season is rapidly approaching. Quite often, that includes visits to older relatives when we should be watchful for unsettling warning signs that they may need assistance. Take a look at our checklists for more helpful information ...

Elderly Driving – When to put the brakes on elderly drivers. When the question of declining driving abilities becomes personal, the issues involved with elderly driving are very emotional. Elderly drivers might get defensive ... even angry – when the subject of their driving abilities is raised. For more information about elderly driving ...

Home Alone – Are they OK? Will your loved one be safe? Will he or she wander off? Will they let strangers into the house? Will they turn on the stove and forget to turn it off? Here's more information to guide you.

Home Safety – Is your loved one's home safe? More than 600,000 seniors are treated each year in hospital emergency rooms for injuries at home. These injuries often result from hazards that are easy to overlook, but easy to fix. Use this checklist to spot possible safety problems.

Caregiver Reminder

(very important topic – first published in our June 2004 issue)

What you need to know when your loved one
is a Medicare hospital patient

If you are looking for assisted living, home health care, skilled nursing or a nursing home, it's usually because of a medical crisis involving a loved one. You're probably in a time crunch – decisions have to be made quickly. The hospital may have said that your loved one will be discharged tomorrow. They've given you a list of rehab facilities, and it's up to you to pick one. But, how do you know which one is best? Are some better than others?

If you're in this situation – take a deep breath – relax a little – and read the next paragraph. You might make a better decision as a result.

Medicare has special rules to keep patients from being discharged from the hospital too soon. In spite of what the hospital may have said, your loved one cannot be discharged until 3 days after the hospital gives you a form called a Notice of Noncoverage. If they have not given you the Notice, insist that they do. (You won't get into trouble by insisting, and neither will your loved one.) This will give you additional time to find the rehab facility that's best for your loved one.

Hospitals discharge their Medicare patients quicker and sicker that ever before. In 1968, patients age 65 and older stayed in the hospital an average of 14.2 days. By 1982, that was down to 10.1 days. Now it only 6.4 days.

Why? Medicare is under constant pressure from Congress to cut expenses. Now, Medicare benefits pay a hospital the same fixed fee for each patient with a particular medical condition – even if one patient's condition is more severe than another's. If a patient stays too long, the hospital has to pay the extra costs out of its own pocket. But, the shorter a patient stays, the more money the hospital gets to keep.

How bad has the situation become? According to The Wall Street Journal, "Nearly one in five people admitted to hospitals with broken hips are discharged before all of their vital signs are stable ... . Those patients are far more likely to die or be readmitted to the hospital within two months."

To protect you, Medicare guarantees you certain rights if you think you are being asked to leave the hospital too soon. Unfortunately, these rights are given to you along with all the other papers a hospital makes you sign when you are admitted. So, they are usually lost in the shuffle, with most people never realizing how important they are. Hospitals sometimes take advantage of that fact. ...

... to read our complete article, click on Hospitals