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I haven't been writing. Other people have
My brain remains on strike, so I’m sharing some things that have caught my attention this week:
I'm a big fan of crossing things off my to-do list because they don't need to be done. There are a lot of expectations out there about what we need to do every day for ourselves and our families. The nice thing is that we rarely need to meet them! I have been delighted to discover just how many things I can "succeed" at by simply deciding not to do them at all.
Are you an American who would like to email your representative to suggest that the SSI asset limits be updated, since they were last set forty years ago? Do you also wonder why the government doesn't peg things to inflation by default? Although the amount, adjusted for inflation to $6,000, isn’t very high when you compare it to the cost of things that insurance doesn’t cover. Here's the scoop, sample scripts, and a link to find contact information for your representative.
I’m intrigued by the mysterious things that determine how our days go that we’ve never heard of. Pharmacy Benefit Managers are one of these categories. When medications are super expensive, I blame pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, and insurance companies. Like how the Federal Reserve effectively sets the mortgage rate, PMBs play a big role in determining how much medications cost. Three PMBs control about 80% of the market.
Warsaw is being celebrated for celebrating Baby Boomers, rather than bemoaning just how many of them are alive to require healthcare and pension payments. The article is a little obvious and patronizing, but I'm happy to have Poland rebranding what it means to have an abundance of seniors. It is a little confusing that the activities we offer for seniors are so dreadfully boring. We don’t age out of having a personality.
There's a lot of talk about protecting the elderly from scams. The thing is, people of all ages get scammed. Perhaps we're in the golden age of scams, since technology provides so many novel opportunities to get away with it.
Given that credentials don't seem to correlate with quality of care, there's a shortage of therapists, and therapy is super expensive, is it time to reconsider therapist licensing requirements?
Exhausted from people venting to you? Tired of listening to someone else's rumination? It's all about boundaries. Letting other people cross our boundaries leaves us feeling resentful and alone. Maintaining boundaries allows relationships to flourish.
Tired of political polarization? Frustrated with what seem like unsolvable problems? There's no need to worry, since Google is working on an AI to generate group consensus. Not dystopian at all!
Before we blamed everything on smartphones, we blamed everything on video games. This article suggests that we're overlooking the incredible opportunities video games bring into people's lives.
Institutional change is important. In the meantime, small things still matter.
If you're an American who's covered by Medicare, it's time to assess Medicare plans.
Medicaid coverage in the US is shrinking and expanding.
Will the next push in care access be transportation to services?
Exploring ways to deal with grief.
