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Higher cancer rates reported among gay men
From Yahoo News: WASHINGTON (AFP) – A large study in California released Monday found that cancer may be nearly twice as prevalent among gay men as among straight men. The study relied on self-reported data from the California Health Interview survey, the largest state survey of its kind in the United States, and included more than 120,000 people over three years: 2001, 2003 and 2005. A total of 3,690 men reported a cancer diagnosis as adults. Gay men were 1.9 times as likely as straight men to have been diagnosed with cancer, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cancer. There was no such difference witnessed among lesbian and straight women, but gay and bisexual females were twice as likely to say they were in fair or poor health after a cancer diagnosis compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Lead author Ulrike Boehmer of the Boston University School of Public Health said the data can help guide services for the gay community. “Because more gay men report as cancer survivors, we need foremost programs for gay men that focus on primary cancer prevention and early cancer detection,” she said.
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Higher incomes twice as likely to have long term care insurance
From Senior Housing News: Despite the increasing need for long term care, only 1 in 10 Americans aged 55 and older had private long term care insurance in 2008 according to the a new report from the Urban Institute. Most Americans will eventually need long-term care, which is often expensive and not usually covered by public programs until recipients have nearly exhausted their savings. In 2009, 5.2 million Americans age 65 and older not living in institutions had long-term care needs. Of those covered, those with incomes of more than $100,000 were twice as high.
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Equality Forum to include LGBT senior issues
From Philly.com: Weeklong Equality Forum to deal with problems of LGBT seniors
By Dianna Marder Inquirer Staff Writer You could dismiss it as just a broken ankle, but the injury brought reality into the home of Joel Sartorius. “That’s when I realized I could not age in place,” says Sartorius, 63, who lives in a charming but multi-staircased Center City townhouse. As a gay man, Sartorius and his partner of 33 years, Bob Melucci, 69, face thornier problems than most of the country’s swelling ranks of aging boomers. Barred from marrying in most states, the men are legally deprived of rights that straight couples rely on as they age, such as receiving spousal Social Security benefits, and the right to make medical and legal decisions for each other.
[SNIP] Still, the current population, the 1.5 million LGBT elders who came of age when homosexuality was classified as a crime as well as a serious mental illness, are more likely to be estranged from their families, childless, impoverished, in diminished health, and facing bias from the very social-service agencies charged with helping them, says Michael Adams, executive director of the Manhattan group Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE.) “There’s definitely an increased potential for mistreatment,” says Adams, who will moderate a National Seniors Panel at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Hamilton Hall, 320 S. Broad St. That issue and other discussions are at the heart of the 19th annual Equality Forum, which starts at 6 p.m. Monday with an invitation-only gathering and continues through Sunday with a range of free events, both serious and social, expected to draw 25,000 to 35,000 people. A panel Tuesday will look at issues facing transgender individuals; LGBT concerns in Latin America is Thursday’s focus; and panels on family, workplace, youth, politics, and the law fill out the week. Most events are free and open to all.
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San Diego Human Dignity Foundation launches lgbt senior initiative
From RageMonthly.com: The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation (SDHDF) announces a new initiative, Aging with Dignity. This is a multi-year program designed to improve the quality of life for LGBT seniors in San Diego. Several landmark studies by SAGE, AARP, the Williams Institute, the New York Times, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute provide sobering documentation of the enormous emotional and social challenges facing LGBT seniors. A recent New York Times article (April 15, 2011) cited that older lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in California are more likely to suffer from chronic physical and mental health problems than their heterosexual counterparts, and they also are less likely to have live-in partners or adult children who can help care for them. “We are a community that has a long history of taking care of our own. The stories are difficult to hear, and the data are compelling. Now is the time to seriously begin to address the challenges facing our LGBT seniors,” says Tony Freeman, SDHDF Executive Director. Continue reading.]]> -
Hospice Foundation webinar: supporting the LGBT community through illness, death and grief
I just attended a terrific webinar conducted by the Hospice Foundation of America on supporting the LGBT community in death, illness and grief. The two presenters were Dr. Kimberly Acquaviva and Dr. Kenneth Doka.
Dr. Acquaviva conducted the first part, which was aimed at professionals in the healthcare industry. She covered issues facing LGBT people and couples requiring care – does the healthcare professional’s agency have a non-discrimination policy for its employees, how are they prepared to serve the LGBT community. Does the intake person determine gender by looking at the person or is the person allowed to self-identify. It was all great information, and I was curious to know who was on the call. One of the best questions from a provider in the Q&A was when it was appropriate for a care provider to reveal his/her sexual orientation. Acquaviva, an out lesbian herself, answered that it is always about caring for the patient and there are ways to signal to the patient without coming out and saying it. Dr. Acquiviva is of the mind that it’s not a good idea for the provider to make any statement, not because they should hide it but because the care is completely about the patient.
Dr. Doka covered an area very familiar to me: grief and disenfranchised grief. I lost my partner Jim in 1991. He (and we) were treated with respect at Hollywood’s Kaiser Permanente. Jim’s life ended in a hospice. But one of my two sisters never acknowledged him when he was alive (she and her husband would not come to my parents’ house when we were there) and she never, not once, acknowledged my grief. That changed eventually and she and her family were welcoming to Frank and me, but her reaction as if the man I lost was not worth commenting on compounded immense grief with fury. It’s not uncommon.
Frank lost his partner Michael after 22 years, just seven months before we met, and I knew what I was dealing with. The grief section of the webinar was excellent, as were the many excellent questions. Just outstanding.]]> -
Medicare bonuses to offset cuts under new healthcare law
From the Los Angeles Times: Washington—
— Millions of seniors in popular private insurance plans offered through Medicare will get a reprieve from some of the most controversial cuts in President Obama’s healthcare law. In a policy shift critics see as political, the Health and Human Services Department will award quality bonuses to hundreds of Medicare Advantage plans. The $6.7-billion infusion could head off service cuts that would have been a headache for Obama and Democrats in next year’s elections for the White House and Congress. More than half the roughly 11 million Medicare Advantage enrollees are in plans that are rated average. The insurance industry says the bonuses will turn what would have averaged out as a net loss for the plans in 2012 into a slight increase. In a recent letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, two prominent GOP lawmakers questioned what they termed the administration’s “newfound support” for Medicare Advantage.
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GOP jumps on third rail of politics, takes aim at Medicare
From the Washington Post: The candidates brandished a “Health Care Bill of Rights for Seniors” that promised to protect Medicare from their opponents’ “raid.” The party chairman wrote an op-ed warning that the other guys’ plan meant that “senior citizens will pay a steeper price and will have their treatment options reduced or rationed.” The ads were even blunter. “You cut our Medicare,” one accused. “And this November, you’re fired.” Democrats in any election you care to name? Nope. It was Republicans running against the Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts in 2010. It worked, too. Seniors turned out in big numbers, and Republicans carried voters over 65 by an astounding 21 points — by far their biggest margin among any age group. [SNIP] The 2012 budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and passed by House Republicans on Friday would privatize Medicare and shift most of the entitlement’s future costs onto seniors. According to the Congressional Budget Office, come 2030, seniors would be paying for nearly 70 percent of their private Medicare-certified insurance out of pocket. If the program were left alone or reformed another way, they’d only be paying 25 to 30 percent. Ryan has considered this problem and chosen to exempt everyone over age 55 from his plan and delay implementing it for a decade. But since he needed savings now, he adopted all of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts — the very cuts his party opposed in 2010. There’s courage in that move, as many of those savings are wise, but there’s also rank hypocrisy for, well, the same reason. Beyond that, there’s risk. Republicans are relying on the senior vote like never before. And they might have just put it into play.]]>