Senior Living

/

Health

/

ArcaMax

Miguel Martinez/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

City of Atlanta announces funding to help seniors with rising home costs

ATLANTA — Funding to help protect homeowners and renters from being forced out of their neighborhoods because of rising home costs is on the way to the city of Atlanta.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced a new pilot program Thursday that will bring $550,000 to residents concerned about housing stability through Rocket Community Fund, a ...Read more

Social Security and You: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security

In today's column, I'm going to talk about Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Despite what many people think, these government programs are not like three peas in a pod. They are more like a pea, a bean and a stalk of celery. In other words, they are all sort of connected because they are government programs that sometimes have an ...Read more

Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS

How do you help homebound, hungry seniors? These services deliver free meals

LOS ANGELES -- When Elizabeth Shayne had a hip replaced and her husband, Harry Shayne, had the same done to both of his knees in 2016, they became homebound. Simple tasks like getting groceries and cooking meals became nearly impossible for the couple, who are now 78 and 79. They were at an impasse: They couldn't afford to move into assisted ...Read more

Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS

How do you help homebound, hungry seniors? These services deliver free meals

LOS ANGELES -- When Elizabeth Shayne had a hip replaced and her husband, Harry Shayne, had the same done to both of his knees in 2016, they became homebound. Simple tasks like getting groceries and cooking meals became nearly impossible for the couple, who are now 78 and 79. They were at an impasse: They couldn't afford to move into assisted ...Read more

Kathy Witt/Kathy Witt/TNS

Travel Trending with Kathy Witt: Carnival’s new Jubilee cruise ship is the destination

Psst. Here’s a not so carefully guarded secret about cruising: A lot of cruisers never leave the ship. Rather, the ship is their vacation destination. And one of the most fun and appealing destinations at sea is Carnival’s new Jubilee.

The third ship in Carnival’s award-winning Excel-class and sister ship to Mardi Gras and Carnival ...Read more

Isn’t Medicare Part A free?

Senior Living / Toni Says /

Toni,

I need your help because I have made a mistake enrolling in Medicare. This February, my husband Sonny was laid off and lost his employer health insurance, which I was on. He is a veteran and is receiving his health care from the VA, so he did not have to enroll in Medicare.

I have enrolled in Medicare since I am turning 65 in April....Read more

Social Security and You: Privacy Laws and Social Security

Social Security's privacy laws are a topic I've covered in past columns. But I can tell from my emails that it's time I do so again.

I recall my days as a trainee with the Social Security Administration. And gosh, that was more than 50 years ago now! The very first thing drilled into our heads was that a law called the Privacy Act prevented us ...Read more

Aaron Lavinsky/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

As suburbs age, cities ponder the future of their community centers

MINNEAPOLIS -- Twin Cities suburbs that boomed in the 1990s built shiny new community centers as a place for residents, ranging from teens and young families to seniors, to congregate and be active.

Three decades later, many of those facilities are aging and outdated. Across the metro, city leaders are pondering the same question: At a time ...Read more

Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

This cancer-surviving, hoops-playing 80-year-old has a need for a new teammate

PHILADELPHIA -- Bruce Rubin is getting a bit desperate.

How desperate? This isn’t an unlikely scenario ...

Rubin, 80, could be at a coffee shop with his son, Brad Brooks-Rubin, and the barista might be tall.

“Do you have a tall living grandfather who plays basketball?” Rubin might ask.

It’s a pretty unusual question. Maybe not the ...Read more

Kathy Witt/Kathy Witt/TNS

Travel Trending with Kathy Witt: Cruise Views: 6 surprises aboard Celebrity Cruises’ new Ascent

Celebrity Cruises’ Ascent casts a spell through the magic, music and magnificent art found aboard this beautiful new cruise ship, a Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star Rated resort at sea—not to mention those little luxury moments that surprise and enthrall throughout.

Here are six such moments to experience aboard the cruise line’s fourth ...Read more

Tasha Poullard/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

‘God’s been good to me.’ World War II veteran celebrates 100th birthday

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- If he could change one thing about the world, Glendell Bennett said, “I would change the way people treat each other. I’d make them love one another and enjoy one another. That’s what I would do.”

In his 100 years, Bennett has seen some of the worst people can do to each other in the forms of oppression, segregation ...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

North Philly is home to one of DoorDash’s busiest pickup spots in the world

PHILADELPHIA -- In the parking lot of the Share Food Program warehouse in Phildadelphia's Hunting Park neighborhood, stacks of food boxes marked for low-income area seniors were being loaded into the cars of drivers for DoorDash, the online food-ordering and delivery service.

After one car was filled, the next one rolled up, the operation rapid...Read more

Is there a new plastic Medicare card?

Senior Living / Toni Says /

Toni,

I am concerned about a phone call I received yesterday from a representative with Medicare asking all types of personal questions and informing me that there was a new plastic Medicare card with a chip like a credit card. I told the caller what you said during your online Medicare webinar about not giving personal information over the ...Read more

Social Security and You: Spousal and Survivors Benefits for Men

In the past 27 years, I bet I have written hundreds of columns explaining spousal and widows benefits that are available to women on a husband's Social Security account. And usually if I have enough space, I try to squeeze in a line that says the same benefits are available to husbands and widowers, even though I know those benefits to men are ...Read more

Is at-home recovery after a transplant covered by Medicare?

Senior Living / Toni Says /

Dear Readers: This week, I received a text message from a local Toni Says Medicare client that I would like to share with you:

Toni, I need to put together a 24/7 home care recovery plan after a liver transplant. The surgery is over a year out, but I would appreciate tips on how to plan for this medical event. Thanks in advance.

--name ...Read more

Social Security and You: You Are Being Paid Properly

In my 32 years of experience working for the Social Security Administration and the 27 years I've been writing this column, one of the more common complaints I've heard from people goes something like this: "I don't think I am getting the right Social Security benefit amount. It's less than it should be." Or like this: "Based on what all my ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Say that again: Using hearing aids can be frustrating for older adults, but necessary

It was an every-other-day routine, full of frustration.

Every time my husband called his father, who was 94 when he died in 2022, he’d wait for his dad to find his hearing aids and put them in before they started talking.

Even then, my father-in-law could barely hear what my husband was saying. “What?” he’d ask over and over.

Then, ...Read more

I thought Medicare covered long-term care

Senior Living / Toni Says /

Dear Toni,

Recently in your Medicare column, you discussed services that are not covered by Original Medicare such as dental, vision, long-term care and other items. I thought Medicare covered long-term care but was wrong, because my mother suffered a severe stroke and her rehab facility notified me that Medicare is not paying for my mother...Read more

Social Security and You: Book Updates

Over the past couple of months, hundreds of you have written to me because you've had trouble getting my book called "Social Security: Simple and Smart" from Amazon. And other times, the problem was that you wanted to get the 2024 edition of the book and you were sent a prior edition.

I won't bother sharing with you the tales of woe my ...Read more

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS

'We're not unicorns': Husband donates kidney to wife, showing possibilities for kidney transplants after age 70

CHICAGO -- Jon and Carol McCabe were in the Galápagos Islands with their family for the trip of a lifetime. The couple from Clarendon Hills, Illinois, shared 30 meals with their children and grandchildren and admired diverse wildlife.

But Carol’s health rapidly declined during the trip. She struggled to walk long distances and needed lots of...Read more