A group of officials in a county in Washington State are getting an earful of thoughts about the state of healthcare in the United States.  “The system is not broke now, but it will be soon,” said Capital Medical Center chief executive Joe Sharp, who addressed a group of about 110 people at Thurston County Economic Development Council forum on health care.  “Is health care a right? I think it is,” said Sharp. “And if society thinks it’s a right, then we have to figure out how to pay for it.”

Well, there’s the problem - how do we pay for it?  Is it a right?  And if so, what do we do about it?  The answers are appearing much easier to ask than the answers are to discover.

Health Care Crisis Looming

Senior citizens are still the most targeted group for scammers.  Why?  There are several reasons:  They quite often have a savings account that is accessible, they are not as suspicious (growing up in a generation that didn’t have the problem with scams we have now), and they are notoriously less technologically inclined.  Those elements combine to make a senior citizen very susceptible to being victims.

Ken Kleinlein is a former detective with the Special Frauds Squad NYPD, now living in Englewood and working as a frauds/crime consultant and information specialist, and serving as a Special Deputy with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
Sun Newspapers

These qualifications make Mr. Kleinlein the perfect consultant.  He is able to recount actual stories to illustrate the reality of this problem.  But more importantly, he is able to point out ways to prevent the problem from ever occurring to begin with.  This column gives five easy ways to avoid being scammed.

Senior Citizens Targets For Scams

Although there is plenty of disagreement about vaccinations, few people disagree with senior citizens getting flu shots each fall.  The lowered immunity typical of the older adult makes them much more susceptible to catching, and dying from, the flu; influenza continues to lead to pneumonia, and pneumonia remains the biggest direct killer of people.  A new vaccine standard has been proposed for senior citizens in the fight against influenza.

What is unique about this approach to flu vaccinations?  It is a high-dose flu vaccine; it is proposed that the dose of flu vaccine be as high as four times higher than the typical flu vaccine. And although summer is here, flu vaccinations will begin again in five months - that isn’t that far away.  Discuss this issue with your physician and find out if this increase would be appropriate for you.

In the United States seasonal flu causes 36,000 deaths and more than 200,000 hospitalizations every year, affecting up to 20 percent of the population.
CNN

Study Backs High-Dose Flu Vaccines For Elderly

One of the biggest fears people have about growing older, if not the biggest fear, is losing their cognitive ability.  Slacking physical abilities takes a distant second place with eeryone I have talked to, and everything I have read.  Apparently it is possible to stay young mentally, even as the physical body ages and isn’t what it used to be.

Keeping the brain active is the key to keeping the brain young and alert.  Simple changes to the way you live your life can affect this more than you might imagine.  

“We’ve known for several years that diet and exercise can help people maintain their physical health and live longer, but maintaining mental health is just as important,” said lead investigator, Dr. Gary Small, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. “The UCLA study is the first to show the impact of memory exercises and stress reduction used together with a healthy diet and physical exercise to improve brain and cognitive function.”
Medical News Today

Hang on to those crossword puzzles!  They might do for you than just pass the time - they may make you smarter as you age. 

Simple Lifestyle Changes May Improve Cognitive Function And Brain Efficiency