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"Rothman was charged with health-care fraud and health-care fraud conspiracy. He faced up to 20 years in prison. Four of the indicted defendants pleaded guilty, and four, including Rothman, chose to go to trial. Shortly before the jury was set to assemble, Rothman's...
"Carolyn Vigil has spent most of her career in Big Tech. She is also the primary caregiver for her 23-year-old autistic son, Jax. Managing these two roles has never been easy, and at various times over the years, Vigil has had to step back from her job for the sake of...
"There are not yet universal standards for genetic testing, but a narrow consensus has emerged around specific conditions. The first prenatal diagnosis for Down syndrome was made in 1968. Since then, screenings have become routine for pregnant women in many parts of...
On average, disabled households require 28% more income to obtain the same standard of living as non disabled households. Read more in Esquire.
"for the first time, Medicare will pay doctors and other providers to deliver critical support to the families of people with certain medical conditions. Medicare Advantage and other managed care models have been able to provide some of these supports. But for years,...
I've been under significant financial stress. My family has also been hit by a couple of major health crises. I'm in the midst of some serious ambiguous grief, mourning my mother, whose dementia has taken a sudden turn for the worse over the past couple of months. And...
"If you receive SSI, you cannot accumulate more than $2,000 in assets, or $3,000 for couples. Though there is an exception for a home that you own and a vehicle, it’s extremely difficult for recipients to save the funds to acquire those things." ... “As a result of...
"Vivek Murthy, the current Surgeon General, has talked a lot about loneliness and isolation, including of older people. But we don't talk about how alone caregivers are, too. There isn't the concrete support people need about how to how to provide care. For example,...
Children belong at home with their families. For children with complex medical needs, this is still true. ... When children are dependent on medical technology — like ventilators, IV nutrition, feeding pumps and home dialysis — and require round-the-clock nursing...
Susan, the third-born, volunteered to take care of Christy full time, and Jenny, the eighth, searched for a specialist (the family members asked to be identified by their first names to protect their privacy). Depression was the first suspected diagnosis, then...
I’m 37-years-old now and I can see that was as impossible as raising my mum from the ground (or, more accurately, gathering up her ashes and gluing her whole again.) Would I go back and tell the younger version of myself to stop seeking a happiness she was never going...
"Many of us are programmed to take action. We want to fix. We want to solve. And we take pride in fixing and solving. But sometimes there is nothing to fix or solve." Read more on When Dementia Knocks.
I didn’t know about Cystic Fibrosis really until my daughter Margaret was born with it in 2019. When she was diagnosed, they told us NOT to google it. That the treatments were changing and the future for M was unknown but extremely hopeful. ... This week, I invited...
Even before COVID-19, turnover in the health care workforce was a concern. During the pandemic, the stress on health care workers, especially women, was profound. After COVID, substantial shares of workers reported burnout and said they were considering leaving the...
Back in 2006, I was working 80 hours a week in two jobs, and taking home about $60,000 a year. But then the Great Recession came, ending both jobs. I was on unemployment for a while. Then, my mother got Alzheimer’s. That was my introduction to IHSS. Many of the...
Hospice work suffers from the same historical undervaluing that plagues all home health labor, which has long been low-paying, often non-unionized, and relegated to women, working-class immigrants, and people of color.4 It is no coincidence that for-profit hospices...
"My father-in-law’s mother was an elegant, strong-willed, opinionated woman who lived to almost one hundred. Once, in her nineties, Vivian came over for dinner, and we noted that she was looking well. “Don’t say that,” she said, and added in a tone I will never...
When you call his mother, give yourself time. A half hour, at least. Give up on the idea of beating rush hour traffic home. Swipe your badge and enter through the doors of the inpatient psychiatry unit, the one with the conference room you know will be empty at 4:00...
It’s one of the most crucial questions people have when deciding which health plan to choose: If my doctor orders a test or treatment, will my insurer refuse to pay for it? After all, an insurance company that routinely rejects recommended care could damage both your...
According to US Census Bureau data released in January, the majority of disabled Americans displaced by natural disasters don’t just find their lives disrupted, they literally never go home. There are also stunning disparities: Overall, just 1% of US residents were...
Ten years later, I worked odd jobs in San Francisco: nighttime at a café, daytime for a nonprofit organisation called Meals on Wheels that provided meals for elderly people who had a hard time shopping for food and cooking at home. By this time, I was more familiar...
It’s a retirement concern few of us want to face: At some point, four out of five older Americans will need help with daily needs like bathing, dressing, using the toilet or preparing meals. Paying for such long-term care presents retirees with difficult choices....
In art, we edit the narrative details to maintain credibility. In life, the universe never doubts its own veracity. By the time my mother returned to live in the new house that my father had rented for us after the fire—less than six months after her stroke—there was...
It is among a cluster of studies that point to financial problems as a possible warning sign — rather than just the fallout — of cognitive decline. Carole Shepard, a self-employed geriatric care manager in suburban Pittsburgh, says it's best to start planning for the...