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What a relief! An article about health that isn’t about the pandemic and COVID-19. That’s the good news. On the other hand, this is about seasonal influenza, “the flu.” The flu season is fall and winter, right now. Flu shots help prevent people from catching the flu in the first place, or at least make flu symptoms less severe if we do come down with it. Turns out there is good reason to want to avoid the flu because it can be nasty and dangerous, especially for older persons. People who are sick with flu often feel some or all of these symptom...
Every day Christy and I take a walk around our quiet Anchorage neighborhood. We regularly bump into other older folks out for a stroll, gardening, maybe playing with pets or grandkids on the front lawn. A sense of wellbeing infuses the air. It’s nice. It’s comfortable. It’s our world, but it is not the rest of the world. Well then, what is it like for older people in the rest of the world? Enter stage left...the United Nations. The United Nations is the largest intergovernmental organization in the world. It was founded in October 1945. Its o...
The Post Office has been a fundamental United States institution since 1775. In my opinion it is vastly underappreciated. Most people do not know the scope of what it does for us – especially while we are hunkered down at home seeking safety from the pandemic. Here’s a summary of some useful Post Office services. Informed Delivery. Despite the big-brotherish name of this service, it can be a huge convenience, even a personal safety factor in your life. Do you sometimes think, “Gosh, is there anything really worthwhile in my mail box or PO bo...
The right to vote is preserved in Alaska for all eligible voters, even during these times of coronavirus pandemic. In other words, in order to vote, you do not have to go in person anywhere and potentially expose yourself to the coronavirus, to long lines, or to bad weather. You can vote by mail with the help of the U.S. Post Office, or you can vote via your email. You can also vote with the assistance of a human proxy referred to as a “personal representative” who is authorized to bring you a ballot and help you fill it out if you need ass...
First, some good news. Do you feel the power, senior power? Well, OK, maybe we are a bit worn down at the moment from the stress of months of lockdown and fear of COVID-19, or maybe (speaking from personal experience) it’s nap time, but this might perk you right up: “With 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, the American labor force is transforming. Out of the 11.4 million jobs expected to be added to the U.S. economy by 2026, 6.4 million will be filled by workers over 55. Moreover, all of the net increase in employment since 200...
Here’s a thought experiment: What would happen if Social Security were suddenly entirely eliminated? The most immediate consequence would be that six million households across the United States would be plunged into poverty or near-poverty, i.e. below 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL). A recent study found that 37 percent of households with older persons already survive on 200% or less of the FPL. The study is entitled, “Examining the Nest Egg -- The Sources of Retirement Income for Older Americans.” The report primarily limits itsel...
I am going to talk about safe grocery shopping during our very own pandemic, but first, a most interesting digression. Recently I was reading "A Journal of the Plague Year" by Daniel Defoe, a semi-fictionalized account of the 1665 Great Plague of London. I read most of it but couldn't finish because, frankly, it was too depressing in light of our current pandemic. However, I was intrigued by the strategies Londoners used to shop for groceries while their neighbors and fellow city residents died...
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a “pandemic” – the worldwide spread of a new disease. That same day Governor Mike Dunleavy issued a declaration of public health disaster emergency in response to the anticipated outbreak of COVID-19 (the disease caused by a particular coronavirus). Two days later President Trump declared a national emergency. Our daily lives are likely to change rather dramatically in the coming months. This is especially true for older persons who are hit harder by COVID...
Part three of three. What are the big issues that create uncertainty, havoc, even tragedy in the lives of Alaska seniors? In the course of building the Alaska State Plan for Senior Services FY2020 –2023, thousands of Alaska seniors were engaged in conversations that revealed their answers. Here is a selection of some of those issues and strategies, along with major organizations tasked to address them during the period of the latest plan, 2020 – 2023. But first, a smattering of background. Part one of this series (Senior Voice, December 2019) p...
“No person should be forgotten.” – Anna Frank, Commissioner, Alaska Commission on Aging This is part two of a three-part report on the recently-released “Alaska State Plan for Senior Services FY2020 –2023.” The document is critically important for seniors in Alaska because it uniquely focuses on issues we care deeply about such as health, housing, financial security, personal safety, and quality of life. This month we focus on what elders and other seniors from around the state said in their discussions for the survey. “Seniors are our truth...
Part one of a three-part series. In my experience you have not been able to find a book or even a website in the state of Alaska that comprehensively lays out the concerns, aspirations and plans for the future of Alaska seniors — but now you can. It is an extraordinary treasure trove of current information about seniors in Alaska. The document has the somewhat bureaucratic title “Alaska State Plan for Senior Services FY2020 –2023,” but don’t let that fool you. Much of it is very personal, at the center of our lives and the wellbeing of our lo...
It will have a huge impact on your life. Maybe it’s a few years away, and maybe it’s just around the corner. No matter when you anticipate retirement, it can be overwhelming. Ease into it with a checklist. Here are a few suggestions. Retirement bucket list What would you like to do when you retire? What is on your bucket list? How will you spend your time so that it gives you joy, pleasure and satisfaction? You can start thinking about this years before you retire, or as you are easing into it. Perhaps you could discuss these ideas with friends...
What was the worst piece of legislation enacted in Alaska in the last quarter century? Well, OK, there have been some doozies. However, I would suggest that it was legislation enacted in 2005 that destroyed the traditional pension plan for teachers and public employees and replaced it with a grossly insufficient savings account for new employees. At the time, the elimination of the traditional pension plan was explained by the governor and supportive legislators as a way to retard the growth of the “unfunded liability” -- the red-inked dif...
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” So wrote Ben Franklin to a colleague in 1789. Franklin was 83 at the time. Had he lived in some Alaskan communities a couple hundred years later, some taxes would not have been so “certain,” as many give seniors a break by exempting them from having to pay certain sales taxes. The information in this article regarding senior exemptions for local sales taxes in selected Alaska locations is summarized and may lack certain important details. Contacts have been provide...
We often think of people who espouse “conspiracy theories” involving the machinations of huge multinational firms as a bit unhinged, gullible or misinformed. Not this time. This is a mammoth conspiracy that affects all of us, according to dozens of state attorney generals including Alaska’s. Earlier this year the State of Alaska along with 41 additional states and Puerto Rico joined with the State of Connecticut to sue 20 generic drug manufacturers for conspiracies to artificially inflate and manipulate prices and reduce competition for more...
“The number of Alaskans who are 65 or older is growing rapidly in all regions of the state. This shift to larger senior populations across Alaska will play an important role in shaping our communities and households in the coming years.” These are the first two lines in an important new report, “Alaskans 65 and Older,” published in Alaska Economic Trends, a monthly publication of the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce. My inner tabloid journalist wants to use a screaming headline for this article like “Seniors Overrun Alaska!” or maybe “L...
Why has the cost of health care risen so dramatically in the United States during the last few decades? Could be mergers, buyout, and concentration of ownership in the industry world-wide – a new version of the old robber barons. Could be lax federal regulation of the cost of health care due to industry-influenced politics. Might include collusion and price-fixing among corporate players. Perhaps it involves the health care dynamics of an aging population. Maybe it is located in the very nature of capitalism itself – a consequence of the dri...
Ah, retirement -- the “golden years.” Visions of fit youngish-looking seniors cavorting on a white-sands beach. Beautiful perfect-teeth smiles glowing on their faces, palm trees swaying in the breeze, and brilliant blue-green waters glistening in the background. This is how retirement is portrayed in the travel brochures and the financial products advertisements. Alas, the economic realities of retirement are less uniformly euphoric. According to the recently released 28th Annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) conducted by the Employee Ben...
It was an extraordinary historical event in the history of Alaska. April 30, 1993, KUAC-TV in Fairbanks brought together five current and former Alaska governors to discuss Alaska’s future. Governors Keith Miller, Jay Hammond, Bill Sheffield, Steve Cowper and Walter Hickel were all sitting at the same table at the same time. In light of the contemporary interest in the question of personal income taxes in Alaska, let’s take a look at what our Alaska “founding fathers” had to say about it. But first, a brief historical review. In 1989 the Ala...
I still get the feeling that most libraries I have visited the last twelve or fifteen years are, well, naked. OK, maybe that is not the best description, but at first glance they seem to be missing something very important. Where is the card catalog? It was the brain center of every library -- a dark wooden wall of dozens or hundreds of sturdy little drawers holding thousands of index cards with key information about the library’s holdings. For decades my fingers laboriously walked through those cards searching for that part of the world’s inf...
Perhaps I have been reading too much Sherlock Holmes (again!), but I couldn't resist thinking about this article as "The Case of the Ignorant Caregiver." It could also be titled "How I Discovered Access Alaska," a wonderful non-profit with several offices around the state. Here's what happened. A few years ago my wife, Christy, was told that she would eventually need surgery to correct several problems affecting her right foot. That day finally arrived and she had surgery mid-December, 2018....
Have you wasted lots of time looking for stuff you know you have, but can’t find? Where is the manual for the washing machine? What the heck did I do with the business card from the guy I met on the plane? Where is that recording I made of the nephew’s graduation speech? How do I find those websites I saw about crafts? You get the idea. Truth be told, I still have lots of drawers and boxes with stuff in them, but a number of years ago I discovered the joys of what are commonly called “note-taking” applications for smartphones and tablets...
You sit in the exam room waiting for the doctor. She enters, smiling, trying to put you at ease. She explains that your medical condition can be stabilized with a prescription drug she is going to give you. Maybe she said it was called “Overpricium,” or possibly “Bilgestuffex.” You were not really sure since you were stressed out, and all those prescription drugs are nonsense words anyway. You pop over to your friendly pharmacist to pick up your new prescription. You take home the cute little white paper bag containing the prescription and the...
It could be worse. In fact, it was worse. In the 1800s, if you were both poor and elderly, the chances are that your family was too poor to care for you. Moreover, contemporary researchers note that, “The elderly poor were regarded as ‘a burden on the local taxes’ and were ‘despised and often treated as outcasts.’” In some places you could attend an auction selling the labor of old persons, who were then forced to work in agriculture. Gives me the heebie-jeebies. If you were poor and elderly you were likely to spend your final years in th...
Who in Alaska is glad to hear that Medicare is not going bankrupt? Certainly the 84,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Alaska are glad to hear that Medicare is not going bankrupt. And by the way, not all those beneficiaries are elders. Medicare beneficiaries in Alaska include about 13,000 people who are younger but disabled. In 2014, the most recent year for which this information is available, total Medicare spending in Alaska was $741 million. That contributes to the incomes of thousands of healthcare providers and other health care workers in...
