TEACHING GERONTOLOGY May 7, 2002 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx In this issue: -Should Families Take Care of Their Own? -Medicaid in Your Future -Electronic Social Work Journal -End of Life Decisions -Ambivalence about Social Security -Ethnogeriatrics -The Big Facts about Aging -Population Aging -4th Edition of Textbook Available xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx SHOULD FAMILIES TAKE CARE OF THEIR OWN? A Chapter in AGING: CONCEPTS & CONTROVERSIES examines the question "Should Families Take Care of Their Own?" Of special relevance here is the burden of long-term care and its impact on women, which is attracting the attention of federal policymakers. For more on the subject see testimony from a Feb. 6, 2002 hearing by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging on "Women and Aging: Bearing The Burden Of Long-Term Care" available at: http://aging.senate.gov/events.htm For more on the debate, "Should Families Take Care of Their Own?" visit: http://www.pineforge.com/moody/provide.htm ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ MEDICAID IN YOUR FUTURE If families don't take care of their own, who does? The answer is typically Medicaid, the biggest government source for long-term care funding. Yet Medicaid faces an uncertain future, as a recent report makes clear. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has published a report on "The Role of Medicaid in State Budgets." Here are some highlights: "Last year, Medicaid covered some 44 million people, including 22.6 million children, 12 million elderly and disabled people, and 9.2 million adults. While Medicaid spending grew at the relatively modest average annual rate of 5.5 percent between fiscal year 1996 and 1999, it grew by 9 percent in fiscal year 2000 and by an estimated 11 percent in fiscal year 2001. Soon after the resurgence in Medicaid spending, states began to experience fiscal difficulties due to a downturn in the economy. Of particular concern to states is that future Medicaid spending growth is projected to outstrip relatively weak revenue growth, causing Medicaid to consume a larger share of their budgets over time. Although they represent a relatively small share of Medicaid beneficiaries, the elderly and disabled account for the vast majority of Medicaid spending. In fiscal year 1998, for example, elderly and disabled beneficiaries accounted for more than two-thirds of all Medicaid spending on benefits and for four in five Medicaid dollars spent on prescription drugs. [T]he increased cost of caring for elderly and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries was the single largest factor behind the $12.4 billion increase in federal Medicaid spending between 2000 and 2001." To read the Kaiser Report in full text, visit: http://www.kff.org/content/2001/4024/4024.pdf ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ ELECTRONIC SOCIAL WORK JOURNAL The inaugural issue of the Electronic Journal of Social Work is now available. It includes an article on the future of gerontological social work. Read the full text (in PDF format) at: http://news.gilbert.org/clickthru/redir/4309/3206/rms ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- END OF LIFE DECISIONS Remember Dr. Kevorkian? He was easy to caricature as "Doctor Death," and he's long passed from the public eye. But serious advocacy for deliberate euthanasia has its own voice, and one of the best of these voices is Timothy Quill, M.D. See his latest CARING FOR PATIENTS AT THE END OF LIFE: Facing an Uncertain Future Together, by Timothy E. Quill (Oxford University Press), reviewed by Lawrence J. Schneiderman (Journal of the American Medical Association Book Review, Vol. 286, No. 24, Dec. 26, 2001, HTML and .pdf format, p. 3131-3132). The review of Quill's book is available at: http://jama.ama- assn.org/issues/v286n24/ffull/jbk1226-2.html ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ AMBIVALENCE ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY A public policy brief has been issued by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), a policy think-tank in Washington, D.C. The publication, "Americans' Attitudes Toward Social Security: Popular Data Claims Meet Hard Data," was written by Fay Lomax Cook (Northwestern University) and Laurence R. Jacobs (University of Minnesota). Cook and Jacobs look at public opinion surveys over the past quarter century and conclude that "Americans are receptive to the idea [of individual accounts] when the plan is described solely as an option for more choice and more income. But support weakens when tradeoffs -- such as [stock] market risks, transition costs and possible benefit reductions -- are mentioned." Visit http://www.nasi.org for more information. The National Academy of Social Insurance also has the following briefs on its website: "Social Security Finances: Findings of the 2002 Trustees Report" http://www.nasi.org/publications2763/publications_show.htm?doc_id =106205 "Brief on Social Insurance for Survivors: Family Benefits from Social Security and Workers' Compensation" http://www.nasi.org/publications2763/publications_show.htm?doc_id =104607 ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ ETHNOGERIATRICS A model Core Curriculum in ETHNOGERIATRICS, edited by Gwen Yeo and others at the Stanford University Geriatric Education Center, is now available online at: http://www.stanford.edu/group/ethnoger ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ THE BIG FACTS ABOUT AGING Every day students are bombarded with statistics and facts. But how do distinguish the forest from the trees? Education, it has been said, is what remains when you've forgotten all the facts. Still, some facts are important. With this issue of TEACHING GERONTOLOGY we inaugurate a new feature, "The Big Facts about Aging" which highlights a few statistics worth remembering: FACT: Demographers estimate that half of all human beings who have ever lived beyond age 65 are alive today. FACT: There are now nearly 35 million Americans over 65: that's about 13% of the population, or a group larger than all of Canada. FACT: For every 100 women over 65, there are only 77 men. Some commentators suggest that the differential is because men "live badly?" That is, poor health habits, weak social networks and so on. Maybe, or maybe not. Another interesting fact: among mammals the death rate for males is higher than females at EVERY age throughout the life-course, even before birth. (Hey, for the males out there: Were we doing something wrong even BEFORE birth?) FACT: America already has universal health care, at least for older people: today fewer than 1% of those over 65 lack health insurance, compared to around 15% among the general population. -----------------------<<< >>>----------------------- POPULATION AGING For an interesting treatment of the impact of demographic change on patterns of health, see the proceedings of a conference on "Population Health and Aging: Strengthening the Dialogue Between Epidemiology and Demography" available at: http://www.nyas.org/books/vols/v954.html ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ 4th EDITION OF TEXTBOOK The 4th edition of AGING: CONCEPTS and CONTROVERSIES (Pine Forge Press, Sage Publications, 2002) is now available. The book presents gerontology through "great debates" around topics such as assisted suicide, privatizing Social Security, extension of the human lifespan, and the search for meaning in later life. Details about the new, fourth edition are available at http://www.pineforge.com/ Copies of AGING: CONCEPTS and CONTROVERSIES are available for college faculty to review for course adoption. For questions about review copies, call Sage Publications for Customer Care at 1-800-818-7243 (805-499-9774 outside the U.S.) or e-mail textbooks@sagepub.com. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx This electronic newsletter, edited by Harry (Rick) Moody, is published by the Institute for Human Values in Aging in cooperation with Pine Forge Press (Sage Publications). TEACHING GERONTOLOGY contains items of interest to improve the teaching of aging. To submit items or request subscription changes, contact teachgero@yahoo.com (c) Copyright 2002; all rights reserved. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx