The National Assocaition of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA.org) has announced

"Next Tuesday, June 8, at 11:15 a.m. EDT, President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, will host a "tele-town hall" event with older adults in Wheaton, MD. The purpose of the event is to answer questions from older adults in person and by phone about how the Affordable Care Act will affect Medicare. NAELA is co-sponsoring the event along with other national organizations which represent older adults.

Individuals interested in viewing the town hall may do so through the White House website or at a regional viewing events. The town hall will also likely be broadcast on C-SPAN. Obama Administration officials will be present at some of the regional viewing events in order to answer questions from participants. The list of regional events includes some private events highlighted in yellow. The rest of the events on the list are open to the public and include the location and contact information for the person organizing the event.

Individuals interested in asking a question of President Obama or Secretary Sebelius can call in during Tuesday's town hall at 1-800-837-1935, pass code: 80272058."

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyBlog.com
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com

Did you ever think that the term "death panel" would be applied to the scenario in which you speak to your doctor about making an advanced directive, stating your wishes in the event that you became comatose, in a vegetative state, or needed to be kept on a ventilator?


That's the term that is being used by the right wing of the Republican Party (including Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and Sarah Palin --who said that Americans would have to "stand in front of Obama's death panel so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their level of productivity in society, whether they are worthy of health care") to describe the provision in the healthcare reform bill that would authorize Medicare to reimburse a physician for providing counseling sessions about end-of-life directives.

Do these right wing pundits even know what an advanced directive is? The AARP, not exactly a subversive left wing group, recommends that seniors complete advance directives so that their wishes will be known to their families and doctors in case they are unable to speak for themselves in a medical emergency. Believe me, a crisis situation in an emergency room or hospital is not the time to consider for the first time how you would feel about living on a ventilator for the rest of your life, or how you would feel about being kept alive in a vegetative state for the rest of your life, or how you would feel about any one of a number of calamities that could befall you in the event of a medical emergency. The idea that your physician would be reimbursed by Medicare to discuss the matter with you, at the time of, or in advance of any medical crisis, is a good one, and by no stretch of the imagination can it be compared to a "death squad."

In fact, it was a Republican Senator, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who originally made the Medicare proposal that is being labelled "death panel", back in 2007 when he co-sponsored a Medicare End-of-Life Planning Act. On August 10th, Senator Isakson told the Washington Post that analogizing physician counseling for advanced directives to "death panels" is "nuts."

To see President Obama address the death panel issue directly, look at this excerpt of his August 11th town hall meeting in Portsmouth New Hampshire -- click below




To read the text of the town hall meeting click here.

To read the AARP article about advanced directives, click here.

To read the Washington Post's interview with Senator Johnny Isakson,click here.

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com

Bankruptcies are increasing faster among Americans 55 and over than in any other age group, according to a recent article in the Herald Tribune. People 65 and over accounted for nearly 5 percent of bankruptcy filings in 2002 -- nearly double the 2.5 percent figure from 1994, a report published in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal found.

More older people are carrying more debt, from mortgages to home equity loans and even credit card bills, than ever before. The article quotes analysts who say the trend signals underlying problems with the country's health care, economic and elder care systems, which have implications for the next generation.

"If you have older Americans who are spending much of their money and savings for health care and general cost of living, they're not able to pass on that wealth to subsequent generations," said Deborah Thorne, an Ohio University professor who co-wrote a major 2001 study on aging and bankruptcy and is working on another.

A 2001 research study tracked a rise in the total number of older people filing for bankruptcy in the 1990s and a doubling since 1994 in the rate at which older people filed.

Reports by the National Consumer Law Center, the nonprofit group Demos, AARP and others have tracked the bankruptcy increase and potential causes in a series of reports.

They have noted that incomes for many older Americans have been largely stagnant -- the median income for older households is less than $25,000 -- while living expenses have escalated.

"For many retirees, Social Security and pension income are simply no longer sufficient to meet day-to-day needs," the National Consumer Law Center stated in a July 2006 report. "In rapidly increasing numbers, elders are using credit to pay for necessities like groceries, drugs and urgent house repairs."

A case in point is Brenda Broadbent, pictured above, who filed for bankruptcy at 59, a time she expected to be planning her retirement. She was self-employed as a real estate agent, and could not afford health insurance. A heart attack, which required bypass surgery, left her buried by nearly $100,000 in medical bills. She lost her house, her car and any sense of control. "It was a very dark time in my life," said Brenda.

"I was trying to get my ducks in a row" to retire at 65, she said. Now, "I'll be working probably until they put me in a pine box," she added.

Unable to work after her surgery, Brenda could not satisfy the mortgage, car and utility bills, or the thousands of dollars in charges for house repairs and new furnishings. Impaired by post-surgery memory loss, she could not return to handling real estate transactions. She is working only part-time now.

"My phone rang every six minutes, from 8 in the morning until 9 at night," Brenda said of the calls from creditors. "I knew I had to do something."

She filed for bankruptcy in the spring of 2004. Though much of the debt was eliminated over the next few months, she was hardly relieved. "I was devastated. I didn't want to go out of my house," she said. "I felt the whole world knew. You feel like you've committed a crime."

Carrying debt is a bigger danger for the older population because they have fewer years to recover and are more likely to be disabled, face age discrimination and confront other problems that preclude working to pay off bills.

Younger people can take second jobs or put more family members to work, but older people don’t have that option. Brenda is still applying for jobs. More than once, she has left a job interview certain that she would receive an offer, only to hear nothing. One prospective employer, she says, asked in a job interview about her "five-year plan."

"I almost laughed in his face," she said. "I should have said, 'To be alive and well.'"

President Bush and the Republicans foolishly say the solution is for people like Brenda to set aside money for health insurance. Brenda might as well try saving for a Lamborghini. For many older Americans the cost of healthcare insurance is out of their reach.

Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Instead of protecting our elders, we protect the insurance industry's strangle-hold on healthcare insurance. Do your part to make 2008 the election year in which we take control of our healthcare system and guarantee health insurance for everyone.

To read the excellent article, click here.

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com