Some Boomers Edgy On Health Care Costs

In Survey, Nearly One In Five People Age 45 And Older Say They're Not Sure They Can Afford Health Care In 2009

(WebMD)  Health care costs are daunting to nearly a fifth of the people who took part in a recent AARP survey.

The telephone survey, conducted in November by Woelfel Research, included 1,001 U.S. adults age 45 and older. All but 10 percent of them have health insurance, either from their employer, their spouse's employer, private insurance, or Medicare.

One survey question was, "How confident are you that you will be able to afford medical care next year?"

Most people - 81 percent - said they were at least somewhat confident. That leaves the remaining 19 percent unsure that they will be able to foot their health care bills in 2009. Here are the details:

Extremely confident: 26 percent

Very confident: 33 percent

Somewhat confident: 22 percent

Not very confident: 9 percent

Not at all confident: 10 percent

People age 65 and older (and thus eligible for Medicare) were especially confident that they'll be able to afford health care next year. People earning less than $30,000 per year were least confident about being able to pay for healthcare.

Likewise, when asked specifically about affording prescription drug costs next year, most people - 83 percent - were at least somewhat confident. But 9 percent were not very confident and 8 percent were not at all confident that they could afford their prescription drugs. Most participants reported spending up to $200 per month for up to six prescription drugs in 2008.

Taking Action

Survey participants were also asked what they had done to try to contain their health care costs.

58 percent said that when a doctor prescribes a new drug, they always ask if there's a generic equivalent.

62 percent said they always pick the generic version, if one is available.

49 percent said they've asked their doctor if there are things they can do (such as physical activity and diet change) to lower their number of medications.

77 percent said they've never been prescribed a brand-name drug that they couldn't afford.

85 percent said they hadn't cut back on medications in the past year because of costs.

The survey has a margin of error of three percentage points.

[nativewoman]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15593753/

25 year study finds that circumcision may reduce the risk of acquiring and spreading STD''s by 50%.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE4BG7CM20081217

Circumcised men were found to be about half as likely to have HPV as uncircumcised men which could lower the cervical cancer risk for women.

This indicates that recent studies have found benefits to circumcision for both men and women.

In 2006, HIV treatment averaged $2100.00/month offering an additional 24 years of life. So ballpark that would be about $605,000.00 for one person with HIV.

The cost of routine circumcision is said to be about $102.00.

Circumcision would appear to be the most beneficial to the most people with a much lesser associated cost.

[endrepubs]

Every single other developed Nation on the planet has a single payer National Health Insurance program for its citizens (or Socialized medicine). America stands alone as the only exception. When will we wake up and realize private health insurance has been a disaster. It does not keep costs down through competition. It excludes a large part of the population with high costs and pre-existing conditions exclusions, large co-pays and deductibles. The health care industry lobby must be defeated!!!

[tammyswanson]

Write your state representatives to get them to stop paying for circumcision, it''s a totally unnecessary surgery, the AAP and the AMA do NOT recommend it, and female circumcisions were finally outlawed in the 1970''s, never mind that some religions practice female circumcision, it was outlawed anyway! And it should be outlawed for males too!

The money saved for not performing the surgery would help cover NECESSARY surgeries and other health benefits as well. Circ is NOT cleaner, does not prevent UTI''s and the only reason that boys get infections is because misinformed doctors retract them when they should just leave it alone!