Chronic Disability in Elders Declines Dramatically

Here’s some good health news to start the new year with.

In the latest National Long-Term Care Survey funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), chronic disability among elders has dropped dramatically. The numbers are amazing.

• Between 1982 and 2004/2005, the percentage of people 65 and older with chronic disability dropped from 26.5 percent to 19 percent.
• The percentage of people without disabilities increased the most in the oldest age group, rising by 32.6 percent among those 85 years and older.
• The percentage of Medicare recipients age 65 and older living in assisted care facilities such as nursing homes dropped from 7.5 percent to 4.0 percent.

The link above is to the press release. You can read the entire report here.

Richard J. Hodes, M.D., who is the NIA director, says:

“This continuing decline in disability among older people is one of the most encouraging and important trends in the aging of the American population.”

“The challenge now is to see how this trend can be maintained and accelerated especially in the face of increasing obesity,” says Richard Suzman, Ph.D., director of NIA’s Behavioral and Social Research Program. “Doing so over the next several decades will significantly lessen the societal impact of the aging of the baby-boom generation.”

Elders regularly report that their biggest fear about aging is becoming a burden to others by which they usually means being disabled to a degree that requires regular help and is a permanent condition. The study defines chronically disabled somewhat more loosely:

“…an impairment in a specific function existing for 90 or more days, defined in terms of the difficulty in performing both activities of daily living (ADLs, which include basic personal care activities such as eating, grooming, and bathing) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs, which include the capability of performing more complex activities such as meal preparation, shopping, and managing money.”

The drop in numbers of the chronically disabled is good news individually, but also for Medicare costs in coming years as the baby boomers get older, swelling the ranks of elders.

[A TGB EXTRA: I look forward to bLaugh every day and today's panel is a marvelous moment of zen. Chris and Brad title it THE GOOD OLD DAYS.]

Comments

[Dee]

Thanks Ronni for this update. Amazing news, good news.... illustrating once again the resolve of US elders. Can't remember the last time I heard such great news. It's made my day. Dee

[Bonnie]

I am always suspicious of statistics...and am particularly doubtful of the one concerning Medicare recipients. There may be a lot of reasons for the statistic other than improved mental and physcial fitness. Besides the cost, there are so many more available "in-home" care services currently than there were even 10 years ago.

[joared]

I'm inclined to think these statistics are true based on the older people I encounter. Certainly the skilled nursing facilities with which I'm familiar are all filled to capacity, and there aren't many spare rooms in assisted living levels, but lots of adults living independently within and outside of upper scale retirement communities in my surrounding area.

That is a good point about the increased home care assistance available now. Those with resources to supplement their Medicare can afford help. Those with Medicaid (Medi-Cal in Calif.) can often qualify for help. Those in the middle class with supplemental private insurance likely won't have home help paid for them. Might be interesting to see how the statistics break down on a socio-economic level.

[Len Bourret]

What It Is Really Like To Be Disabled
by Len Bourret (Copyright 2007)

Re: www.courant.com/news/yahoo/hc-ctnursinggrant0112.artjan12,0,4660284.story?coll=hc-aol-yahoo-nws-hed

In December of 2004, after five and one-half years on a waiting list, I moved into a two-room cell of solitary confinement (two claustrophic rooms, plus an equally-claustrophobic full bath), at a so-called "community" for disabled people and seniors. Upon moving in, the first thing I noticed was that there was a completely
dysfunctional "community", dangerously isolating and existing below the poverty line.

On my first day in the "community", a neighbor on oxygen and smoking at the same time, knocked on my
door asking for cigarettes, drugs, and money. I found this to common practice, among other residents of
the "community" and, because of smoking while on oxygen, one neighbor (whose story was featured in
all of the local media) almost blew up the entire apartment complex. Additionally, this neighbor was quite
a "pyramid scheme artist". She would borrow from one neighbor, pay another neighbor back, and borrow
at least twice as much from still another neighbor.

There are some "real desperados" at my "community", mainly because Social Security only pays between
50% to 75% of a disabled person's or senior's necessary expenses (rent, electricity, phone, food, medical
treatment, and prescription drugs), and Medicaid (thanks to former Governor John Rowland) pays only
for Medicare's annual deductible, Medicare's monthly premium--and, if you quality (which I don't ), for
Medicaid "spenddown" (which pays for medical bills). Before Governor John Rowland stepped down,
for misusing (stealing) state funds, he cut necessary funding for homemaker services (which I desperately
need) and Meals on Wheels (I have to choose between eating and prescription drugs). I might add that I
am diagnosed with extreme depression, heart disease, and diabetes. There isn't even state funding to cut
a diabetic's toenails. I suffer from chronic, if not severe heart disease, and my extreme depression takes
my toll emotionally, mentally, and physically. If I am not experiencing arthritis pain all over my body, I am
so depressed I cannot function (my medical symptoms adversely impact my depression). I am unable to
bend or stoop, have difficulty maintaining my equalibrium and balance--and, sometimes, I cannot even walk
(I use a cane or walker). I experience neuropathy in both my feet and hands--and, eventually, I may not be
able to walk. I now have tremors in my hands. I pray that I will not lose use of my hands, as the internet is
my only contact with the outside world. As most of my neighbors dangerously isolate, I am not able to
maintain more than a sporadic contact with them. There are no programs at my "community", we pay our
necessary expenses (there is no money left for anything more), and we continually vegetate. It appears that
is what the "system" expects us to do. We isolate, experiencing fecal and urinary incontinence. There is noone to care, or help, and so we sit in our incontinence. Some of us have no family members--and, those
of us who do, receive little or no help from them.

We live on a "bare bones budget", and I cannot even get a part-time job. The American Disabilities Act, at least in Connecticut, is not even enforced or implemented. Our "crime" is that we are disabled, and that we have become "dinosaurs" (outdated ancients) in modern times, quickly forgotten, and living in the landfills
of not-so-glorious America. Too bad that there are so many people and politicians that are so concerned
about the spoils of war, and not-at-all concerned about the disabled and seniors who are rapidly sinking in
the below-poverty quicksand. We do not live. We are not supposed to have any fun, or enjoyment in life.
We have no voice--but, thanks to self-determinations, we continue to exist. With little or no help from you,
the "status quo American". We do promise one thing, however. We won't die, before we are ready, to be
certain that our basic needs will continue to be deducted from your paychecks. But, perhaps, that is what it
takes to ensure that our basic needs are taken care of. We'll get you in your payroll deductions.

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