MUST READS

An October 28, 2015 The Hill opinion piece by Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, underscored the need to balance consumer privacy and the potential of consumer technology. According to Shapiro, “Some companies, and even our government, have changed what they are doing because of privacy issues. Google Glass’s facial-recognition component would have been a wonderful feature to help those like my mother who suffered from Alzheimer’s…We need to have an honest, open and realistic dialogue about what we value in society and are willing to trade for absolute privacy. If we can share information to make the world safer and keep us healthier, then perhaps we should.”

An October 27, 2015 Masslive.com article reported that “…death rates before the age of 75 from several leading causes of disease, including cancer, dropped from 1969 to 2013” but Alzheimer’s “moved from the eighth to the sixth leading cause of death from 2000 to 2013.”

An October 27, 2015 AARP press statement highlighted new research that “found that although virtually every adult age 40 and over (98%) believes it is important to maintain or improve their brain health, only about half (56%) are doing one of the two most important activities to support their brain health—engaging in exercise and eating a healthy diet.” 

An October 26, 2015 New York Times article reported on new NIH research that finds costs for dementia care far exceeds other diseases. According to the article, “The study looked at patients on Medicare. The average total cost of care for a person with dementia over those five years was $287,038. For a patient who died of heart disease it was $175,136. For a cancer patient it was $173,383. Medicare paid almost the same amount for patients with each of those diseases — close to $100,000 — but dementia patients had many more expenses that were not covered. On average, the out-of-pocket cost for a patient with dementia was $61,522 — more than 80 percent higher than the cost for someone with heart disease or cancer. The reason is that dementia patients need caregivers to watch them, help with basic activities like eating, dressing and bathing, and provide constant supervision to make sure they do not wander off or harm themselves. None of those costs were covered by Medicare.” Also reported on by PBS NewsHour. 

MUST WATCH 

An October 28, 2015 “I Remember Better When I Paint” blog postannounced that the “Groundbreaking documentary on Art and Alzheimer’s airs nationwide on public television in  2015.” Find air times and stations here. 

ICYMI: A June 2015 Ted.com talk by “scientist Samuel Cohen shares a new breakthrough in Alzheimer's research from his lab” and underscores the important message that Alzheimer’s can be cured. 

POLITICS & POLICY 

An October 27, 2015 AP article (via U.S. News & World Report) reported that “Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is proposing significant changes to Social Security and Medicare to keep the costly federal entitlement programs on solid financial footing.” According to the article, “Bush proposes a “Medicare premium support" program to provide seniors with a fixed amount to pay for "guaranteed coverage options" to obtain traditional Medicare or purchase a private health insurance plan. Seniors could also choose a specialized insurance plan that targets medical conditions like diabetes or Alzheimer’s.”