[Beyond that,] the group in the bottom 25 percent, people with family incomes under $19,000, are generally in trouble, ... They do not have savings, do not have pensions, they're not prepared to retire. |
Assisted living is becoming so popular that everyone's kind of changing the sign on their door, no matter what they provide. We thought it was important to create a clear standard ... so that hopefully the label of assisted living won't be used in a way to mislead people. |
Brand name drugs have become substantially less affordable for consumers at the same time they are becoming ever more essential to good medical care. |
Clearly, the COLA is not going to be enough to offset these higher costs, particularly in heating, |
Drug prices are going up faster than inflation and we need to do more to keep them affordable. |
Economists are reporting a growing economy. But AARP has found that real family income has not increased since the late 1990s for mid-life and older Americans, and over the last year family income for the age group has declined. |
Even if we're extraordinarily successful ... at keeping the per capita costs limited, there has to be some way to finance care for that many people. |
Every dollar in health care that we spend is somebody's income and they typically resist efforts to lower that. Ultimately, this is a question of political will. |
I remember quite distinctly her coming to me quite agitated, emotionally distressed, and at that point confided to me that she had indeed been beaten by her husband and that she had decided to leave the marriage. |
I think the industry is more concerned about shareholders than they are about the patients who take the pills. |
I'm cautiously optimistic. I think we can see a path to a bipartisan bill. |
If only 20 percent or even 30 percent of seniors sign up, that is every negative for the future of the program because the people most likely to sign up are the people with high drug expenses, and you don't have insurance if you don't spread the risk among people who are healthy. |
It doesn't seem at this point that there's likely to be legislation moving on to the president. I think our job is mostly done. |
It's moving in the right direction. I will say that. But this is the sixth year in a row of price increases that are at least twice the rate of inflation, so it has a cumulative effect that I think is pretty serious. |
Of course, these trends are playing out differently across the states. Florida, for example, has already experienced a demographic wave that illustrates the need for timely changes in state programs. |