GBO NEWS: Taxing Times—GOP’s Bill; Star-Tribune’s 5-Parts on Elder Abuse; International Study: U.S. Seniors Struggle More; & MORE
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations — Our 24th Year.
December 5, 2017 — Volume 17, Number 13
EDITOR’S NOTE: GBONews.org, e-news of the Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), emanates from a new e-mail address and phone contact. GBONews.org readers do not have to make any changes. The newsletter will continue publishing alerts for journalists, producers and authors covering generational issues from the same WordPress blog via our Constant Contact emails. However, to reach this editor now, send your news of important stories or books (by you and others), fellowships, awards or pertinent kvetches to GBO News Editor Paul Kleyman. [paul.kleyman@earthlink.net]. You can subscribe to GBONews.org at no charge simply by sending a request to Paul with your name, address, phone number and editorial affiliation or note that you freelance. You’ll receive the table of contents as e-mail, just click through to the full issue at www.gbonews.org. GBONews does not provide its list to other entities.
In This Issue: What’s Another $1 Trillion Between Old and Poor Friends?
- TAXING TIMES: Headlines and Analysis on the GOP Tax Overhaul and Children’s Health Funding.
- MORE GOOD SOURCES: 2 Commonwealth Fund’s Surveys — *** “U.S. Seniors Struggle More to Pay for Health Care and Other Basic Needs” in 11-Nation Comparison; *** “How Well Does Insurance Coverage Protect Consumers from Health Care Costs?” Data from the Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2016
- EYES ON THE PRIZE: ***Entry Deadline for theExcellence in Health Care Journalism Awards, January 8; ***Two Deadlines for National Association of Science Writers Programs: December 15and February 1.
- HOLIDAY SPECIALS: ELDER ABUSE; INEQUALITY; & “THE END” IN JAPAN: *** “Left to Suffer,” 5-Part Series on Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes, Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Chris Serres; *** “For Many Older Americans, the Rat Race is Over. But the Inequality Isn’t,” by Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post; *** “A Lonely Death: [https://tinyurl.com/yd357n9b] In Japan the Elderly Often Live, and Die, Alone,” by Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times
1. TAXING TIMES
It’ll Be Taxing Times for 99% Seniors as the “do-nothing” GOP congressional majority plays not-so-secret-Santa for its 1% donor class—with many Dems likely smiling in silence on the sidelines, hoping for a backlash at the polls next November. Meanwhile, reporters are scrambling to keep pace with sources while the House and Senate confer in committee to reconcile their two bills. The impact across the ages will be sweeping (especially for the middle class and those more vulnerable), but for a deeper dive into the prospects for older Americans of today and tomorrow’s retirees, here are few links:
*** The Commonwealth Fund’s Regular “Headlines in Health Policy” emails are especially relevant given the tax measure’s repeal of the Obamacare’s individual mandate. The Fund, also a supporter of our JNG-sponsored Journalists in Aging Fellows program, is a great source of nonpartisan information, including it’s own research, such as studies cited below. Regarding the Republican tax bill, just for Monday, Dec. 4, the “Headlines” bulletin cited these articles:
* “U.S. Senate Tax Bill Accomplishes Major Obamacare Repeal Goal,” by Yasmeen Abutaleb, Reuters: “It’s going to take a bunch of healthy people out of the insurance market,” said Craig Garthwaite, director of the healthcare program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Obamacare “is going to collapse even more now,” he said.
* “Senate’s Huge Tax Bill Would Have Potent Ripple Effects for Health-Care System,” by Amy Goldstein, Washington Post: “The Senate plan would increase the federal deficit starting in the current fiscal year and — unless lawmakers intervene — would unleash a budgetary sequence of events cutting billions of dollars from Medicare and public health services. The reductions would flow from a “pay as you go” law that basically requires offsets to increases in federal spending.
*“The Senate’s tax bill is a sweeping change to every part of federal health care,” by Sarah Kliff, Vox: “The last time Medicare was hit with cuts like this, patients lost access to critical services like chemotherapy treatment. This tax bill deserves a broader name. Its policies will cause millions of vulnerable Americans to lose coverage, disrupt care for the elderly, and potentially change the health care system in other ways we can’t fully predict.”
At the other end of the generational spectrum, the Fund include headline links to news reports on the congressional failure to reauthorize funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a federal-state initiative that covers 9 million lower-income kids:
*“The Damage to Children’s Health Insurance Is Already Being Done,” by Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic (Nov. 22): “Congressional dithering has left an effective, popular program for low-income kids teetering on the brink, despite bipartisan support for its renewal.”
The Fund’s website also includes its own analyses of how the reversal of the individual Affordable Healthcare Act mandate would affect insurance premiums for people of ages 27, 40 and 60, between now and 2027, plus other aspects of the legislation at this point.
An additional source for strong reporting and analysis is the column by Pulitzer Prize-winning business columnist Michael Hiltzik, of the Los Angeles Times. Headlined, “Sen. Rubio tells a secret: After giving a tax cut to the rich, GOP will cut Social Security and Medicare,” Hiltzik’s piece notes,
“In a videotaped interview with two Politico reporters . . . Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman how to address the federal deficit, [Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,] replied: ‘We have to do two things. We have to generate economic growth which generates revenue, while reducing spending. That will mean instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare for the future.’”
Meanwhile, if you’re not already signed up for the Kaiser Health News (KHN) “Morning Briefing,” it’s also among the best sources available for keeping tabs on fast-moving developments, from the tax bill to the CVS-Aetna propose merger. For example, the Dec. 4 edition shows links to such stories as:
* “Congress Still Dragging Feet Over CHIP: They’re ‘Playing Politics With Our Kids’ Health Care,” which includes links to new stories from the AP, Bloomberg News and others, as well as KHN’s own story, “With CHIP In Limbo, Here Are 5 Takeaways On The Congressional Impasse,” by Phil Galewitz.
*And, “If CVS’s $69B Deal To Buy Aetna Holds Up To Federal Scrutiny, It Could Transform Health Care Landscape”: Together, the companies touch most of the basic health services that people regularly use, and the merger could keep the transactions under one roof instead of spread out over multiple industry players.”
But, wait there’s more—and more, and more to come. As the House and Senate conference committee charges headlong toward President Trump’s desk for donor tax relief, GBONews will try to highlight pertinent news links and sources for our readers.
2. MORE GOOD SOURCES
*** “U.S. Seniors Struggle More to Pay for Health Care and Other Basic Needs,” Commonwealth Fund survey of older people in 11 nations (Nov. 15, 2017): “Despite having nearly universal health coverage through Medicare, adults 65 and older in the United States are sicker than their counterparts in 10 other high-income countries and more likely to go without needed care because of costs, according to the Commonwealth Fund’s 20th International Health Policy Survey, out today in Health Affairs.” For instance, in 2016, almost a quarter of U.S. seniors (23%) said costs deterred them from seeing a doctor when they were sick, filling a prescription (or skipping a dose), or getting a recommended test or treatment. “In France, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, no more than 5 percent of seniors skipped needed care because of costs.”
A summary notes that U.S. seniors with high care needs “were the most likely to struggle to make ends meet, with nearly one-third worried about having enough money to afford healthy meals, rent, or utilities. Also, a quarter of Australian and German elders with high needs were also concerned about paying for daily needs.” Even with Medicare coverage, says the report, U.S. seniors are hit with a three-way combination of high health care costs, substantial economic challenges, and limited social supports, according to the Commonwealth Fund.
*** “How Well Does Insurance Coverage Protect Consumers from Health Care Costs?” That’s the title and question also broached by the Commonwealth Fund in its Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2016 [http://tinyurl.com/ycym56an]. The study found that “28% of working-age adults with health coverage all year were underinsured in 2016, up from 23 percent in 2014.” The summary adds, that people who are underinsured have high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses.
According to the report, “More than half the underinsured had medical-bill problems or medical debt, while nearly half went without needed health care because of cost.” Also, “Since 2014, the share of people with employer coverage who are underinsured has sharply increased, particularly so for workers in larger companies. More than half the 41 million people estimated to be underinsured have coverage through an employer.”
Lead study author, Sara Collins, stressed in a statement on the study that the growing number underinsured people is especially concerning “because those with the greatest need for affordable health care are most likely to be affected — people with low incomes and people with health problems.”
Low-income Americans (under 200% of the federal poverty level) were twice as likely to be uninsured as those over 200% ($23,760 for an individual and $48,600 for a family of four). The study reported, ”Low-income adults comprised 61 percent of the 41 million underinsured adults in 2016.” It also determined that “half (52%) of underinsured adults reported problems paying their medical bills or said they were paying off medical debt.
Although the Affordable Care Act has brought about gains in coverage and improvements on key indicators of access and medical bill problems, says the study, “the United States has not eliminated cost-related barriers to timely health care or protected people from medical debt . . . Even public insurance programs like Medicare, which covers seniors and disabled people under age 65, leave many struggling to pay for health care.”
In order to move U.S. performance closer to those of other countries on both cost and health outcomes “will require considerably more work,” the report states. “More transparency on prices and the value of alternative approaches to health care problems – now “largely unavailable” would help. However, the study says, “Evidence suggests that consumers cannot do the heavy lifting required to reduce the rate of growth in medical costs in the United States.”
3. EYES ON THE PRIZE
*** The Entry Deadline for the Excellence in Health Care Journalism Awards [https://healthjournalism.org/awards] is January 8. (If you’re quick to the worm, the early-bird discount deadline for entries is Dec. 8). Presented by the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHJC), the awards are bestowed in categories including beat reporting, health policy, public health, trade, consumer health, business of health and investigative health. First-place winners earn $500 and complimentary registration plus two nights’ stay for the annual AHCJ conference in Phoenix, April 12-15.
*** Two Submission Deadlines Are Set for NASW Programs: December 15 is the deadline to apply for a Peggy Girshman Idea Grant from NASW (the National Association of Science Writers Association). Proposals can be from individuals or groups for grants ranging from $1,000 to $25,000, with grants between $5,000 and $10,000 encouraged, to support programs that help science writers in their professional lives or benefit the field of science writing. Regional science writing groups and their members are encouraged to apply, to make their professional development activities available to all science writers via webcasts, transcription, live blogging and other digital resources. For more information, visit the NASW site. [https://tinyurl.com/ya9thsjn]
Also, February 1 is the deadline for entries to the 2018 NASW’s annual Science in Society Journalism Awards. With cash prizes of $2,000, separate honors are presented in categories for Books, Opinion, Science Reporting (Short, Medium, or Long), Science Reporting for a Local or Regional Market, and Science Reporting Series. There’s no entry fee for NASW members and a modest one for nonmembers. These awards recognize investigative or interpretive reporting about the sciences and their impact on society and are funded by NASW “without subsidy from any professional or commercial interest,” says their website. For rules, a link to the online entry system, and an archive of recent winners, check this website.
4. HOLIDAY SPECIALS: ELDER ABUSE; INEQUALITY; & “THE END” IN JAPAN
*** “Left to Suffer” is a 5-Part Special Report on Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes by the Minneapolis Star Tribune social services reporter Chris Serres with photographer David Joles. The series ran on consecutive days starting Nov. 12. Serres emailed GBONews that over the project’s six months, he learned that “each year, hundreds of Minnesotans are beaten, sexually assaulted or robbed in senior care homes. Their cases are seldom investigated, leaving families in the dark.”
The stories focus on the state’s handling of crimes committed in senior care homes. Serres visited dozens of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, interviewed more than 100 people from seniors and family members to prosecutors and law enforcement officials, and reviewed hundreds of documents describing maltreatment complaints filed with the Minnesota Department of Health. He and colleagues also pored over 15 years of U.S. government audits of the Health Department’s performance, obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, and examined 300 investigative reports completed by Health Department inspectors. Four county prosecutors also reviewed those reports for evidence of criminal maltreatment.
The series elicited an immediate promise by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton “to create a cabinet level task force to address the issue,” according to a follow-up story by Serres.
The five parts, which included sidebars, started with “Senior Home Residents Are Abused, Ignored Across Minnesota.” In a nutshell, “Last year alone, the Minnesota Department of Health received 25,226 allegations of neglect, physical abuse, unexplained serious injuries, and thefts in state-licensed homes for the elderly.
Ninety-seven percent were never investigated. That includes 2,025 allegations of physical or emotional abuse by staff, 4,100 reports of altercations between residents and 300 reported drug thefts. When the Health Department did investigate, records show that it often neglected key steps in a criminal probe. In dozens of those cases, for instance, no one interviewed the victim and no one called the police.”
The series continued with: Part 2: “Families Wait Years for Answers”; Part 3: “When senior home residents are victimized, families can wait years for answers”; Part 4: “Senior home residents risk eviction when they speak up”; and Part 5: “A Model to Protect Seniors.”
Serres had been a researcher and organizer for the hospitality workers’ labor union, UNITE HERE in 2011-2013 before joining the Star-Tribune staff that year to cover social services. GBONews readers interested in learning more can contact Chris.Serres@startribune.com.
*** “For Many Older Americans, the Rat Race is Over. But the Inequality Isn’t,” by Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post (Oct.18): Whoriskey, who’s done major investigative stories on aging in recent years, reports, “Income inequality in the United States spills over from the job into the last decades of life, according to a new survey that ranks the differences among U.S. retirees as among the most extreme in the 35-country comparison.”
He quotes the report, issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): “Inequality has been growing from one generation to the next in the United States. This is particularly alarming . . . as old age inequality among current [U.S.] retirees is already higher than in all other OECD countries, except Chile and Mexico.”
Whoriskey spoke to Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. She said, “The big problem in the U.S. is that half of the working population in the private sector has no retirement plan available at work — and people do not save on their own.” Munnell added, “Without any retirement saving, they only have Social Security, and Social Security is getting less generous over time.”
Her analysis of recent Federal Reserve data, Whoriskey continues, “shows large gaps in retirement savings. The households in the top 20 percent in retirement savings — as measured in 401k plans and Individual Retirement Accounts — had a median of $780,000 squirreled away. By comparison, households in the bottom 20 percent had $26,700 in those accounts.”
According to the OECD report, he writes, one of the drivers of income inequality — from young workers to retirees — stems from the fact that so many Americans have simply stopped working. “The United States is one of [a] few countries where employment among the prime working-age population is lower today than it was in 2000,” according to the report.
The story adds, “While the inequalities among people of working age are a primary reason for inequalities among older Americans — the inequalities follow people into retirement — ill health is another critical source of difference. More than 1 in 3 American adults is obese, more than in any other OECD country, according to the OECD, and the ill health is concentrated among the poor.”
*** “A Lonely Death: In Japan the Elderly Often Live, and Die, Alone,” by Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times (Nov. 30): This special supplement appeared shortly before GBONews went to web. It is part of the paper’s “The End” series on how we experience the end of life. The six-page spread includes photographs by Ko Sasaki.
Onishi wrote, “With no families or visitors to speak of, many older tenants spent weeks or months cocooned in their small apartments, offering little hint of their existence to the world outside their doors. And each year, some of them died without anyone knowing, only to be discovered after their neighbors caught the smell. The first time it happened, or at least the first time it drew national attention, the corpse of a 69-year-old man living near Mrs. Ito had been lying on the floor for three years, without anyone noticing his absence. His monthly rent and utilities had been withdrawn automatically from his bank account. . . .”
The Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), founded in 1993, publishes Generations Beat Online News (GBONews.org). JNG provides information and networking opportunities for journalists covering generational issues, but not those representing services, products or lobbying agendas. Copyright 2017, JNG. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
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