August 2022

Inequality of Opportunity and Health Performance of Private Health Insurance — Empirical Evidence from China

By Rui Li, Minxue Jia & Su Yang Background: The role of private health insurance in protecting the population's health is an essential global concern. However, the for-profit nature of private health insurance has led to inequality of opportunity for coverage, which has implications for the health performance of insurance.Method: This article uses the 2018 China Urban Statistics Yearbook and cross-sectional data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) of 2015 and 2018. Based on the Heckman two-step...

U.S. University launches degree that prepares students to address aging society’s growing health care needs

UTSA will launch a new bachelor of science degree program in Health, Aging & Society this fall. The new program, which will be offered through the College for Health, Community and Policy (HCAP), will be the first of its kind in the San Antonio area and is designed to address the growing need for health care support occupations and community- and social-service professionals. Students will learn critical skills to begin a career focused on managing and coordinating hospitals, nursing homes...

July 2022

Study shows people in the U.S. are not planning for future healthcare needs

If you haven’t spent time considering what your healthcare needs will be in the years or even decades from now, you’re not alone. Recent research suggests that many aging Americans aren’t aware of the full range of options available to them. As we age, our healthcare needs intensify, and experts say that the U.S. healthcare system will need to embrace home healthcare options to meet the demand of an aging population. The new national survey, titled “Aging in Place: Assessing Senior’s...

June 2022

The Aging Readiness & Competitiveness Report 2021. Enabling Innovation for Healthcare and Wellness

By AARP As the world enters the UN’s Decade of Healthy Ageing, amid global covid-19 vaccination efforts, the need to increase support for the wellbeing of older adults has never been so clear. Older people comprise a growing share of the global population. This trend will persist over the coming decades, and not just in high-income countries. By 2050 an estimated 80% of older adults will be living in low- and middle-income countries. Yet disparities for older adults are ubiquitous,...

Gay, gray, black, and blue: An examination of some of the challenges faced by older LGBTQ people of color

By Seon Kum Few studies exist that highlight the life experiences of the older LGBTQ person of color. This cohort faces unique challenges in life that have not been explored or investigated extensively, if at all. Older LGBTQ people of color have experienced discrimination based on race, gender, and sexuality in all phases of their lives, often bearing witness to and helping to start various equal rights and social justice movements. In addition to the unique challenges that come with...

May 2022

How Healthcare Costs Can Affect Retirement Planning

People in their 50s, 60s and 70s wear many hats: taking care of elderly parents, financially supporting grown children, working full- or part-time and volunteering in their communities—all while managing their growing healthcare needs. Baby boomers have redefined retirement, and today it looks completely different than it did a generation ago. There are reasons for that: People who are of retirement age now face a greater number of post-work years because we’re living longer. Retirement might last decades. Americans who...

US. Study sheds light onto biracial, LGBTQ older adults for the first time

A new study presented at the 2022 American Society on Aging’s annual conference is hoping to shed light on the lived experiences connected to the health and well-being of older adults who identify as biracial/multiracial and bisexual. Deana Williams, PhD, MPH, lead researcher of the study and a research investigator at the MultiCare Institute for Research and Innovation, told SeniorsMatter while research is increasing for some of these groups – including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults –...

April 2022

The Causal Effects of Place on Health and Longevity

The Causal Effects of Place on Health and Longevity

By Tatyana Deryugina & David Molitor Life expectancy varies substantially across local regions within a country, raising conjectures that place of residence affects health. However, population sorting and other confounders make it difficult to disentangle the effects of place on health from other geographic differences in life expectancy. Recent studies have overcome such challenges to demonstrate that place of residence substantially influences health and mortality. Whether policies that encourage people to move to places that are better for their health...

How AI and robots are caring for the elderly in Taiwan’s ageing society

The idea that cities today will have a disproportionate number of elderly would have been laughable a mere century ago. As recently as 1950, global mortality rates for children were five times higher than they are now, according to Our World in Data. Yet, advancements in healthcare and sanitation standards are helping adults live longer than ever before. Taiwan, in particular, is estimated to become a super-aged society by 2025, with one in five being over 65 years old, said...

Kenya. RBA forms new entity to handle post retirement medical schemes

The Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) has formed a stand-alone body to handle post-retirement medical funds. Dubbed Post-Retirement Medical Funds (PRMFs) Regulations, the entity will register and regulate retirement medical schemes without the need to be entrenched in pension funds. This regulatory move is aimed at enabling more people to access quality healthcare services after retirement. Previously, such funds were operated by pension schemes as a special fund since their introduction in 2018. This means that members whose pension schemes did not wish to explore the...