Biden Takes On Sagging Safety Net With Plan to Fix Long-Term Care
The proposal to spend $400 billion over eight years faces political challenges and a funding system not designed for the burden it has come to bear.
A training program in New York for home health aides. Home care workers often make less than janitors, telemarketers or workers in food processing plants.Credit.James Estrin/The New York Times
April 15, 2021, 11:24 a.m. ET
President Biden’s $400 billion proposal to improve long-term care for older adults and those with disabilities was received as either a long overdue expansion of the social safety net or an example of misguided government overreach.
When Patients Choose to End Their Lives
For some, the decision to die is more complicated than a wish to reduce pain.
Credit.Gracia Lam
April 5, 2021
At a time when so many are dying against their will, it may seem out of sync to discuss the option of having a doctor help people end their lives when they face intolerable suffering that no treatment can relieve.
It’s less a question of uncontrollable physical pain, which prompts only a minority of requests for medical aid in dying, than it is a loss of autonomy, a loss of dignity, a loss of quality of life and an inability to engage in what makes people’s lives meaningful.
Brisk Walking Is Good for the Aging Brain
Older people with mild cognitive impairment showed improvements in brain blood flow and memory after a yearlong aerobic exercise program.
Credit.Andrej Cukic/EPA, via Shutterstock
March 31, 2021
Brisk walking improves brain health and thinking in aging people with memory impairments, according to a new, yearlong study of mild cognitive impairment and exercise. In the study, middle-aged and older people with early signs of memory loss raised their cognitive scores after they started walking frequently. Regular exercise also amplified the healthy flow of blood to their brains. The changes in their brains and minds were subtle but consequential, the study concludes, and could have implications not just for those with serious memory problems, but for any of us whose memories are starting to fade with age.
This Pharmacist Had Vaccine Doses to Spare. So He Hit the Road.
The pharmacist has started doing pop-up vaccination events at senior affordable housing facilities, possibly illuminating a new way to reach vulnerable groups.
Ambar Keluskar vaccinated more than 150 people at the Ingersoll Houses community center gym in Brooklyn on Saturday, part of the pharmacist’s vaccine distribution efforts.Credit.Brittainy Newman for The New York Times
Published March 16, 2021Updated March 17, 2021
In a city scrambling to vaccinate people against Covid-19 as quickly as possible, Ambar Keluskar faced a problem this month that seemed to defy logic: Mr. Keluskar, a pharmacist in Brooklyn, struggled to find people to take the 200 doses he had on hand.