Need help? Call us today: 
831.275.0103
Home / Blog
Blog
Seniors were happy to get a big increase of 5.9% to their Social Security payments this year, but it may not have been enough. It was announced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today that The Consumer Price Index rose 7.5% year-over-year in January. That came in well above the median forecast of 7.3% from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. It is the strongest consumer price growth since 1982!
The use of Telehealth soared during the early days of the pandemic, but still remains strong years into the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to this crisis, most health care plans covered Telehealth, but very few patients used it. Social distancing to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 led many health care providers to start delivering more services remotely. Medicare suspended restrictions on which telehealth services it covered, the geographic location of the beneficiary and whether the visit had to originate in a health care facility. This further fueled the use of Telehealth by seniors. A new study used data from Cosmos, a HIPAA-defined Limited Data Set of more than 126 million patients from 156 organizations including data from 889 hospital and 19,420 clinics from 50 states. It found that Telehealth use soared from less than 1% before the pandemic to 13% of outpatient visits in the first 6 months of the pandemic, then declined to 11% during the next 6 month period and was down to 8% in the latest period measured (March-August of 2021). Still, 8% is a pretty high number and it’s nice seniors still have this option under the current Medicare system.
President Joe Biden has promised to cut the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years and improve the experience of patients and families, “ending cancer as we know it.â€Â The “Cancer Moonshot†coming out of the oval office thrilled doctors, patients and researchers. Currently, effective treatments and early detection tools aren’t reaching enough people. And people aren’t making the lifestyle changes needed to dramatically cut cancer rates. However, with technology driving innovation in cancer treatment, Biden certainly has a shot.
Medicare is usually the leader on what sort of medications are approved for payment, with private insurance companies typically following suit. Not this time. It was weeks after President Joe Biden said private insurance companies had to cover the cost of at-home COVID test that finally Medicare announced it would cover up to 8 tests per home per month. Medicare will pay pharmacies and other entities directly to allow enrollees to pick up the free tests. Until the tests become available in drug stores, you can order them at wwww.CovidTests.gov.
God Bless Ed Dowd, who just gave a $1 million donation (the largest in its history) to Natividad Foundation, the funder for Natividad hospital and its health care system. He made the gift in his mother’s memory. Nora Dowd worked as a registered nurse in Natividad’s mental health unit for 30 years.
Capitola, CAÂ Home Care Aide (HCA) Senior Caregiver Jobs Available : Set Your Own Hours : $2 Per Hour More On Weekends (Aptos, Ben Lomond, Â Boulder Creek, Capitola, Davenport, Felton, Freedom, Mount Hermon, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Soquel & Watsonville)
We have developed a reputation for having the best caregivers (Home Care Aides or Senior Companions) in Monterey County over the past decade, and we are now expanding into Santa Cruz County.  We are currently looking for qualified caregivers.
Family inHome Caregiving is seeking compassionate, mature and dependable caregivers who want to improve the lives of our elderly Clients by providing in-home, non-medical care. Our services include:
Caring companionship
Meal preparation
Incidental transportation
Running errands
Light housekeeping
Medication reminders
Monitoring of safety while bathing
Information and referral services
Other services that improve the safety, security and quality of life of seniors.
If you believe you would make an exceptional Home Care Aide, we would love to hear from you! We prefer those with experience helping the elderly, disabled and others with mobility problems. Having cared for those with dementia and/or Alzheimer’s is a plus. To work for us, you must have excellent references, a clear criminal record, a good driving record, and an insured reliable vehicle. To apply, please visit our website www.fhcofm.com, click on home care aides, then careers where you can fill out an application online. We have immediate openings.
The AARP Fraud Watch Network has received numerous complaints from seniors who have fallen victim to what they are calling the “Hot Item Scam.â€Â This is where scammers advertise hard-to-find items using keywords like “Nike sneakers latest edition†or “Xbox,†taking your credit card number and not shipping the item. If you are lucky, you can get the charge reversed by your credit card company. But some scammers do this very quickly, closing their merchant account so it is hard for your bank to retrieve the funds.
Americans can now get free at-home COVID-19 tests, either by ordering online or buying them at the store and getting reimbursed by private insurance. Ordering them online at COVIDTests.gov is by far the easiest way. I went in and filled out the form online and ordered four tests for free and the process was easy (although the tests have yet to arrive). Those with private health insurance can also buy the tests at their local drugstore and applying for reimbursement from their private insurer or Medicare Advantage Plan if they cover it (Medicare does not cover this). However, this can be a complicated process. Anyone who has tried to file a claim themselves with an insurance company knows that the process is very slow and can be painful. Reimbursement policies differ by insurance carrier so if four at-home tests will tide you over for the month, that is by far your best bet.
The AARP Fraud Watch Network has been taking complaints from consumers who are buying sought after items online. They are told that the merchant does not take credit cards and that the only way they can pay for the item is through the app Zelle. The problem is that, unlike credit card transactions which can be disputed, once you send money via Zelle or some other peer-to-peer payment app, the money is gone for good.
Thanks to a cochlear implant (CI)—a surgically imbedded bionic ear, many seniors with significant hearing loss, some even deaf, have been able to regain their hearing after an operation which seems no less than a miracle. Unfortunately, only 5-7% of those who could benefit from the surgery opt to get the surgery. A scant 739K of them have been implanted worldwide. That’s sad because loss of hearing can lead to other health issues such as cognitive decline. The decisive factor in whether or not you will benefit from CI is that you have a healthy auditory nerve. “Hearing is a major mode of communication,†J. Thomas Roland Jr., a surgeon and chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at NYU, told AARP Bulletin. “If you give that back to someone, the brain is rocking again. It is doing what it is supposed to do,†he said.