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Full-Text Articles in Geriatrics
Our Grandparents, Our Parents, Our Future Selves: Optimizing Function In Old Age., Thomas Michael Gill
Our Grandparents, Our Parents, Our Future Selves: Optimizing Function In Old Age., Thomas Michael Gill
Center for Policy Research
Most of my research at Yale University School of Medicine over the past several years has focused on identifying older adults at risk of functional decline and disability, identifying events that may precipitate the transition from functional independence to disability, and developing strategies to postpone or reduce frailty and disability. As a result of the Precipitating Events Project (PEP) and other research conducted by the Yale Center on Aging/Pepper Center, we now realize that age is only a proxy for other factors that lead to disability, and that some of these factors can be modified to reduce the risk of …
Income And The Use Of Prescription Drugs By The Elderly: Evidence From The Notch Cohorts, John R. Moran, Kosali Ilayperuma Simon
Income And The Use Of Prescription Drugs By The Elderly: Evidence From The Notch Cohorts, John R. Moran, Kosali Ilayperuma Simon
Center for Policy Research
We use exogenous variation in Social Security payments created by the Social Security benefits notch to estimate how retirees' use of prescription medications responds to changes in their incomes. In contrast to estimates obtained using ordinary least squares, instrumental variables estimates based on the notch suggest that lower-income retirees exhibit considerable income sensitivity in their use of prescription drugs. Our estimates are potentially useful for thinking about the health implications of changes in transfer payments to the elderly and for evaluating the benefits of the recently enacted Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Social Interaction And The Health Insurance Choices Of The Elderly, Eldar Beiseitov, Jeffrey D. Kubik, John R. Moran
Social Interaction And The Health Insurance Choices Of The Elderly, Eldar Beiseitov, Jeffrey D. Kubik, John R. Moran
Center for Policy Research
Using data from the 1998 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, we examine the effect of social interactions on the health insurance choices of the elderly. We find that having more social interactions, as measured by contacts with friends and neighbors, reduces the likelihood of enrolling in a Medicare managed care plan relative to purchasing a medigap policy or having coverage through Medicare alone. Our estimates indicate that social networks are an important determinant of the health insurance choices of the elderly and provide suggestive evidence that "word-of-mouth" information sharing may have played a role in the preference of …
Social Integration Of Older Immigrants In 21st Century America, Janet Wilmoth
Social Integration Of Older Immigrants In 21st Century America, Janet Wilmoth
Center for Policy Research
There are various reasons for the burgeoning interest in detailed research into the determinants of social well-being among older immigrants in this country. As a result of shifting federal government policies, the total volume of immigrants has increased significantly, the countries from which they migrate have changed, and more immigrant families have brought their parents into the United States than ever before. Consequently, the older adult population is becoming more diverse due in part to the aging-in-place of younger immigrants and an increasing number of immigrants who are older upon arrival in the United States. These trends create challenges for …
Health Promotion For Older Adults: What Is The Potential?, Linda P. Fried
Health Promotion For Older Adults: What Is The Potential?, Linda P. Fried
Center for Policy Research
As a greater number of people reach old age, medicine is challenged to develop new approaches to this population. Health promotion, not just treatment of disease but improving the quality of life for older persons, must play a role. What happens to individuals in terms of health status as they get older, and what are the implications for health care needs? Where should we focus to get the biggest benefits in terms of health promotion? Overall, we have learned a tremendous amount over the last 25 years about the components of health as people get older, and what modifies their …
Pharmaceuticals And The Elderly: A Comparative Analysis, Deborah A. Freund, Don Wilson, Grant D. Reeher, Bernie O'Brien
Pharmaceuticals And The Elderly: A Comparative Analysis, Deborah A. Freund, Don Wilson, Grant D. Reeher, Bernie O'Brien
Center for Policy Research
This paper compares and contrasts outpatient pharmaceutical policies for the elderly in seven OECD nations: Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each country is facing an increasing financial burden due to rapidly growing numbers of elderly citizens, in number and as a percentage of population, and rising drug costs. As a result, they are struggling to balance varying levels of commitment to providing drugs for the elderly with the need to contain costs. Although each country's healthcare system is unique, the methods that each country is using to control rising pharmaceutical costs are …
Generational Conflict, Human Capital Accumulation, And Economic Growth, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mary E. Lovely, Mehmet Serkan Tosun
Generational Conflict, Human Capital Accumulation, And Economic Growth, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mary E. Lovely, Mehmet Serkan Tosun
Center for Policy Research
Worldwide, dependency ratios are forecast to increase dramatically in the next 50 years. A great deal of attention has been devoted to understanding the changes in fiscal policies that "must" take place to accommodate these changes. In contrast, less effort has been concentrated on studying the fiscal shifts that will endogenously result from demographic pressures. An example of particular interest is the degree to which a more elderly population will support public spending for education. We use an overlapping-generations model to investigate the effect of this demographic transition on the endogenous determination of public spending for education. A demographic transition …
The Hidden Age Revolution: Emergent Integration Of All Ages, Matilda White Riley
The Hidden Age Revolution: Emergent Integration Of All Ages, Matilda White Riley
Center for Policy Research
Over the past 30 years my colleagues and I have been focusing on conceptual and empirical work (the aging and society paradigm) that does not create policies, but can inform them. The most immediate phase of this long cumulative history is leading us now to hidden changes in people's lives and social institutions that herald a new phenomenon world-wide--a phenomenon that may have momentous implications for the policies of the future. We call it "age integration" because it *integrates* older people with others of every age. When I come to the end of my lecture, I hope you will see …
The Changing Economic Circumstances Of The Elderly: Income, Wealth, And Social Security, James P. Smith
The Changing Economic Circumstances Of The Elderly: Income, Wealth, And Social Security, James P. Smith
Center for Policy Research
How is the economic status of the elderly changing and what are their prospects for the future? My portrait tells us how well off they are on average, but also about the vast disparities that exist among them. This description includes an often neglected measure of their economic well-being--the amount of wealth they control. Amazingly little is known about how much personal wealth older people have and how and what determines its distribution. But the conventional definition of household wealth ignores two critical components of wealth: the expected income flows from pensions and Social Security. For some elderly households, Social …