Greg Nicholaides

Rising inflation and high prescription drug costs are thought to be responsible.

May 18, 2023

By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. – NBC News

A growing number of older adults say they can’t afford their prescription medications, a study published in JAMA Network Open found. About 1 in 5 adults ages 65 and up either skipped, delayed, took less medication than was prescribed, or took someone else’s medication last year because of concerns about cost, according to the study. 

“That was pretty surprising,” said lead study author Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. A study published in the journal Medical Care found that in 2016 about 1 in 7 older adults were not taking their medication as prescribed because of cost. “So, a pretty big jump,” Dusetzina said. 

The study’s findings were based on a national survey taken by more than 2,000 older adults from June 2022 through September 2022. Dusetzina attributed the increase to rising inflation and prescription drug costs, which are notoriously high compared to other countries of similar size and wealth.

The study may not reflect the experience of younger individuals, she said, although other studies have shown they also struggle to pay for certain medications, like insulin. Sometimes people will keep taking their medication as prescribed despite the cost but will need to resort to other means – sometimes extreme – to afford the medications, Dusetzina said. 

About 30% of the older adults used a copayment card or coupon to afford their medication. A quarter of the respondents asked a physician for a lower-cost medication, and about 17% of them shopped around at pharmacies to find a lower price. More than 8% of respondents said they went without basic needs – like gas and groceries – to afford their medication, while 4.8% of respondents said they went into debt to get their medication.

The study’s findings are in line with earlier studies as well as what’s seen in the real world, said Dr. Adam Gaffney, a critical care physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts who advocates for universal health care coverage. He was not involved in the research. “It’s certainly something that any physician has heard in the clinic that patients sometimes don’t take the medication or didn’t fill them or didn’t start them because of the sticker price,” he said. 

The Inflation Reduction Act – signed into law shortly before the study survey concluded – aims to lower the high cost of prescription drugs for older adults, said Tricia Neuman, executive director for the program on Medicare policy at KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.

On Jan. 1, a provision in the law imposed a $35 monthly out-of-pocket cap on the cost of insulin for older adults on Medicare, causing insulin-makers to quickly follow suit for people on private insurance. But some of the law’s other provisions – like a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on drug spending and negotiated drug pricing – won’t go into effect for several more years. 

“Future polls will tell us the extent to which further action may be needed to drive down drug prices,” said Neuman, who was not involved in the study. In the meantime, outside groups may need to take action, Gaffney said.

Billionaire Mark Cuban last year launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., which offers some generic drugs at discounted prices. A study published last June found that Medicare could have saved nearly $4 billion by purchasing generic drugs at the same prices offered by Cost Plus Drug Co. 

Dusetzina also said that more physicians should get comfortable speaking with their patients about whether they can afford their medications. Nearly 90% of respondents in the study said they would be open to talking with their doctor about the cost of the drugs. “Physicians worry patients don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “I think one way to normalize these conversations is just to ask people if they want to have them.”

HealthLeaders | by Carol Davis |   MAY 11, 2023

Most nurses blame staffing shortages for poor mental health.

Only one-third of nurses surveyed plan to remain in the profession for the foreseeable future and about one-fourth plan to leave in one or two years from now, a new report warns.

Insufficient staff to meet demand – the worst part of the profession, they say – creates burnout and overwork, according to more than half of nurses surveyed in a study conducted by Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and Cross Country Healthcare Inc., a workforce solutions platform and advisory firm.

The survey was conducted earlier this year with nearly 1,500 nursing professionals and students at healthcare and hospital facilities across the country and was outlined in the report, The Future of Nursing: At the Breaking Point.

Nurses reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety (46%), insomnia (35%), and depression (32%) and the leading cause for poor mental health was staffing shortages (71%), followed by a lack of support resources (55%). Yet, most employed nurses (83%) do not use mental health or well-being counseling, despite employers offering such services, according to the survey.

In contrast, 47% of nursing students use the mental health offerings from their school and 53% find them useful, the survey says, with 61% saying their school offers mental health and well-being resources, including student assistance programs, gyms and fitness resources, counseling, food and nutrition services, and a mental health and well-being hotline.

Asked if they were satisfied with their decision to become a nurse, 93% of student nurses said they are. Working nurses’ experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has added to feelings of discontent however, and nearly two in five employed nurses indicating it dramatically increased their desire to leave the profession.

“We had hoped that at this point past the pandemic, we would see improvement in the sentiment of our nurses, but that’s simply not the case,” said John A. Martins, Cross Country’s president and CEO. “The profession has reached a breaking point, and it is well past time that industry leaders come together to create reform to revitalize this essential profession.”

Methods might include:

• Create new opportunities for education: Identify new pathways at the high school, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels to expedite the supply of nurses; recruit more nursing faculty to educate and train the next generation of nurses.
• Offer flexibility and awareness of growth opportunities: Open every door to expedite the transition from the university to the hospital floor and offer more fluid career paths that match individual skills and ambitions to evolve and grow with the person.
• Invest in retention strategies and well-being initiatives that matter: Focus on enriching current and future nurses’ working conditions and well-being to ensure long-term satisfaction and subsequent retention.
• Embrace technological innovation: Use technology to understand better equitable workforce distribution, workflow management, employee satisfaction and well-being, and patient safety.
• Explore innovative staffing models: Explore innovative and flexible staffing models, including travel and per-diem nurses, to provide agility and continuity of quality patient care.

“Despite the many challenges and stressors that have contributed to burnout and nurses being on the brink of a breaking point in their professional careers, nurses and nursing students remain overwhelming satisfied with their career choice,” said Safiya George, PhD, FAANP, the nursing school’s dean and professor.

“Nurses have endured and thrived over the years,” she said. “The profession as a whole will need a lot more investment of human capital as well as fiscal and other supportive resources moving forward. This national survey has helped to identify innovative ways to improve quality of work and life for current and the next generation of nurses.” 

Published: May 25, 2023

By Tony Gutierrez – Associated Press

The unofficial start of the U.S. summer travel season is here, with airlines hoping to avoid the chaos of last year and travelers scrounging for ways to save a few bucks on pricey airfares and hotel rooms.

Some travelers say they will settle for fewer trips than they hoped to take, or they will drive instead of fly. Others are finding different money-saving sacrifices.

Stephanie Hanrahan thought she’d save money by planning ahead for her daughter’s birthday trip to Disney World in Florida. Instead, it ended up costing the same as the Dallas-area family’s trip for four to California last summer, so now her husband and son are staying home.

“We just had to grit our teeth,” said Hanrahan, a writer and speaker who also runs a nonprofit, as she and daughter Campbell waited for their flight last week at Dallas Love Field.

With more travel comes more expense. The average rate for a U.S. hotel room last week was $157 a night, up from $150 in the same week last year, according to hotel data provider STR. And the average daily rate for other short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Vrbo rose to $316 last month, up 1.4% from a year ago, according to AirDNA, which tracks the industry.

There is a bit of good news for drivers, however: The national average for a gallon of regular was $3.56 at midweek, down from $4.60 at this time last year, according to AAA.

Renting a car is also cheaper than a year ago, when some popular destinations ran out of vehicles. Travel company Expedia said larger inventories let the companies rent more cars at lower prices.

For air travelers, airline industry officials say carriers have fixed problems that contributed to a surge in flight cancellations and delays last summer, when 52,000 flights were nixed from June through August. Airlines have hired about 30,000 workers since then, including thousands of pilots, and they are using bigger planes to reduce flights but not the number of seats.

“I don’t have the hubris to tell you exactly how the summer is going to go, but we have prepared, and we have a robust plan for it,” said Andrew Watterson, chief operating officer at Southwest Airline, which struggled at times over the summer of 2022 and suffered an epic meltdown around Christmas, canceling nearly 17,000 flights.

David Seymour, the chief operating officer of American Airlines, said his staff has fine-tuned a system it uses to predict the impact of storms on major airports and devise a plan for recovering from disruptions. He said it is reducing cancellations. “It’s going to be a solid summer for us,” Seymour said.

In a report released last month, the Government Accountability Office blamed airlines for an increase in flight cancellations as travel recovered from the pandemic. It also said airlines are taking longer to recover from disruptions such as storms.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the government will hold airlines responsible to treat passengers fairly when the carriers cause cancellations or long delays. But just like the airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration – the agency that manages the nation’s air traffic – has had its own staffing shortages and occasional technology breakdowns that have snarled air travel.

The FAA resorted to nudging airlines to reduce flights in the New York City area this summer, and it opened new flight paths over the East Coast to reduce bottlenecks. “It’s going to be an ordeal – it’s always an ordeal to travel in the summer,” said travel analyst Henry Harteveldt, “but the airlines have done a lot to improve their ability to operate well this summer.”

Airlines hope that limiting the number of flights will improve reliability and reduce delays. So far, it seems to be working. About one in every 70 U.S. flights have been canceled this year – half the rate of a year ago and lower than in 2019. Limiting the number of flights also keeps prices above pre-pandemic levels.

A provider of travel data, Hopper, predicts that average domestic airfares will peak next month at $328 for a round-trip ticket, which is down from last summer’s record of $400 but 4% higher than in 2019. There are some last-minute deals on domestic flights, Hopper found, but international fares are their highest in more than five years, with prices to Europe up 50% from a year ago.

The same thing is happening within Europe, as airlines hold the line on capacity at a time of strong travel demand. “There is no expectation of seeing cheaper fares in Europe in the next seven or eight months,” says John Grant, an analyst for OAG, a U.K.-based travel-data provider.

For the travel industry, the big question is how long consumers can keep paying for airline tickets and accommodations while they try to deal with stubborn high inflation, news about layoffs and bank failures, and fear of a recession. Industry executives say consumers are favoring the experience of travel over other types of spending, but some analysts see cracks in the strong demand for travel that began in early 2022.

Bank of America analysts say data from their credit and debit card customers showed a slowdown in spending in April, as card use fell below year-before levels for the first time since February 2021. They say spending on hotels, which rebounded relatively early from the pandemic, dipped this spring, while the late-recovering cruise industry is still steaming ahead – card spending on cruises rose 37% last month, although from very low levels a year ago.

“Travel remains a bright spot relative to other sectors, but we’re also seeing signs of moderation in the travel space,” said Anna Zhou, an economist for the bank.

By Insurance Forums Staff

July 13, 2022

Seniors enrolling in Medicare face a process fraught with challenges, display significant gaps in knowledge of plan components, are overwhelmed by Medicare advertisements, and often fail to re-evaluate their plan options when selecting plans. As a result, many are enrolling in plans that fail to best reflect and support their evolving healthcare needs.

These challenges could jeopardize the ability of seniors to make the best choices for their unique health and wellness needs, and the results may worsen as they get older.

These are the findings of a new report, Hidden Crisis: The Medicare Enrollment Maze, issued today by national healthcare consultancy Sage Growth Partners. The report is based on a survey of 1,142 individuals ages 64 and older, which was commissioned by Healthpilot, an AI-driven, fully digital platform for Medicare education and insurance enrollment.

The report explores the profound impact of widespread confusion and overwhelming enrollment challenges on older Americans, as well as the entire healthcare system. With nearly 64 million Americans enrolling in Medicare in 2021 and the U.S. Census Bureau projecting more than 73 million Americans will enroll by 2030, the negative effects will only intensify.

“This report shows the striking level of confusion surrounding Medicare enrollment for all ages. While there may be many better plan options, very few enrollees have the necessary knowledge to choose them,” said Dan D’Orazio, Sage Growth Partners CEO. “The level of satisfaction with shopping for Medicare plans lies below the cellar-dwellers of industry satisfaction such as cable tv providers and internet shopping. This is very troubling considering what is at stake for older adults and their clinical and financial health.”

Among the report’s key findings:

• Only 20% of Medicare-eligible individuals have a good understanding of Original Medicare; only 31% have a good understanding of Medicare Advantage.
• 63% are “overwhelmed” by Medicare advertising; only 31% of respondents “strongly agree” that they can make effective selection decisions.
• More than half (58%) stay in their current Medicare plan each year rather than reviewing their plan options and enrolling in the best plan for their evolving needs.
• 33% have a financial advisor, but only 2% use that advisor to help with plan selection.

“This report confirms that most older adults find Medicare enrollment confusing and lack adequate resources or support to choose the best plan,” said Dave Francis, CEO of Healthpilot. “Enrolling in Medicare is a pivotal time for millions and the Medicare marketplace is ripe for transformation. I believe that it is possible to make health care better for individuals aged 64 and older throughout the country, but we need dynamic platforms and sincere actions to make this happen.”

In April, Healthpilot commissioned Sage Growth Partners to conduct an independent survey of Medicare enrollment-eligible individuals (those aged 64 and older). More than 80% of survey participants had coverage through Medicare or Medicare Advantage. The respondents came from across the enrollment experience spectrum:

• 10% of respondents were first-time enrollees
• 32% had been enrolled for less than one year to three years
• 35% for 4-9 years
• 23% for 10 years or more.

The full report, Hidden Crisis: The Medicare Enrollment Maze, can be found here.

Greg Says agrees that there is a critical need for better education among the Medicare-eligible population. The surest way to avoid the anxiety associated with navigating the bewildering assortment of plans and options is to seek the assistance of a local licensed independent Medicare advisor.  These agents have no allegiance to any specific insurance carrier but are focused on what is best for the individual based on a thorough understanding of that individual’s needs and preferences.

By Leo De Grotte, Life Settlement Advisors

You may have any number of reasons for wondering “Should I cancel my life insurance?” Maybe:

• The premiums are too costly to maintain
• You’d rather put the money towards a retirement plan
• You simply don’t want or need the policy anymore

Any of those are a good reason to cancel a life insurance policy. But that then begs the question: What will it cost? Will you be losing money by forgoing a life insurance policy?

The short answer is “typically, no” – but that depends on a few factors. What kind of life insurance policy do you have? How long have you had the policy? And what are your reasons for canceling? In most cases, canceling a life insurance policy won’t cost any money. If anything, by spending less on premiums you will be gaining money – money you can use for any number of other things. But before you request cancellation, it’s important to understand what options are available that can net you even more of a payout. Read on to learn how canceling affects different policies, what happens to your money, and why selling your life insurance may be a better alternative.

IF I CANCEL MY LIFE INSURANCE, DO I GET MONEY BACK?

That depends on what kind of policy you have, and how long you’ve had it. To answer this, let’s look at two common types of policies: whole life insurance and term life insurance.

CANCELING WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE

Whole life insurance comes with the benefit of having a cash value. Your policy’s cash value is an amount that you’re able to take out loans against, and it also ensures you will receive some money back when you cancel. Keep in mind, though, that if you have an outstanding loan when you cancel the policy, that will subtract from your payout. Regardless of how much your cash value is, insurance companies will keep a portion of your premiums as a cancellation fee, and you will not get back the money for premiums you already paid.

How much do you get back if you cancel whole life insurance? That depends on how long you’ve had the policy, and whether you’ve taken out a loan against it. The longer you have been paying into your policy, the more money you will get back. The insurance company will also subtract a surrender fee from your payout if you cancel without notice. This is why in most cases, selling your life insurance policy for a life settlement is a better option if you want more money back. Whether you have whole or term insurance, the payout from a life settlement is often 4 to 7 times higher than the payout for canceling.

CANCELING TERM LIFE INSURANCE

Unfortunately, term life insurance does not accrue a cash value, so unless you paid ahead on your premiums, you will typically not receive a return on your money. You will usually only get money back when canceling a life insurance policy with cash value. However, you can still get a cash payout by selling your life insurance through a life settlement. This is an especially great alternative for a term policy, where you would otherwise not receive any money for your policy.

As a final note, you may not receive money back if there are circumstances surrounding your policy that would forfeit your payout. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Not giving your provider any notice
• Lying on your initial application
• Not having the policy for long enough

IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO CANCEL LIFE INSURANCE?

There are many cases in which canceling a life insurance policy is a good idea. However, in most of those cases, a life settlement may be a better idea. While canceling will give you back the money you’d typically spend on monthly premium payments, you will not get back the money you paid into the policy. A life settlement gives you a way to get back that money and, in some cases, more.

Regardless of your situation, selling your policy for a life settlement provides a lot of benefits. In addition to doing away with monthly premiums, you will have more money to use for the things you actually want – whether that’s a happier retirement, simpler finances, or just more money to spend in the here and now. Additionally, a life settlement will get you more money back than canceling your policy, regardless of the type of policy you have. Companies like Life Settlement Advisors can work with you to determine the best course of action for your policy and how you can maximize your payout.

LIFE SETTLEMENT ADVISORS: BETTER PLANNING, BETTER FUTURE

If you’re 65 or older and have a life insurance policy, you should consider a life settlement. Whether you want more money for retirement, more financial freedom, or simply don’t need the policy anymore, Life Settlement Advisors can help you take the next step forward. Check out their qualification calculator to see if you qualify for a life settlement.