Hands to Help Seniors

View From A Non-Profit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

The budget bickering continues in Washington D.C. and I guess that we should be thankful that at least something is being done, although it's unclear how politicians will arrive on a budget consensus given how far apart the Democratic and Republican parties are on ideology.  On Wednesday, Republicans passed legislation in the House which would avoid a looming government shutdown on March 27 which will be caused by automatic budget cuts of $85 billion.  We will all have to suffer through economic problems due to this if no budget agreement is made.  At the same time, President Barack Obama hosted a dinner at a hotel near the White House with a dozen Republican senators to present his view of introducing higher taxes as well as cutting Medicare and other benefit programs.  No one seems optimistic that anything will be done until this summer, however.  Former VP contender Paul Ryan (Republican, Wisconsin), who authored the bill that passed in the House, told a reporter, "I think this whole thing will come to a crescendo this summer, and we're going to have to talk to each other to get to an agreement about how to delay a debt crisis, how to save this country from a fiscal train wreck that's coming."  Why Ryan doesn't believe he can talk to Democrats now and get a deal done before summer is unclear.  Both sides may agree on another stop-gap deal to keep the government operating for a few months, but finding a long-term solution is difficult.  "Instead of closing tax loopholes for corporate jets, they want to cut 4 million meals on wheels," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said of Republicans.  Only one-quarter of the democrats in the House voted for the budget bill.  The local Area Agency on Agency (AAA) recently announced that it could face a budget cut of almost 10% if the so-called "sequestrations" (government work furloughs) kick in.  The AAA administers a number of worthwhile programs such as funding for Meals on Wheels and other programs that help the impoverished.  These programs have already suffered enough and it will be sad if we see another round of budget cuts impacting low-income seniors.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands To Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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View From A Non-Profit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

I've written before on my blog about the ViaCare program which will be available to provide health care for the county's low-income residents.  But the number of people being served is far too few.  On Monday, people lined up at Natividad Medical Center as early as 6:30 a.m. to get an application, and about 50 of them were handed out at Natividad, and about 80 were handed out at the three locations which had them.  Unfortunately, there are only about 500 to 600 spots in the program although the county will start a wait list and hopefully more funding will come because there are a whopping 60,000 uninsured residents in the county.  It seems like too little too late.  Believe it or not, Monterey County was the second last county in the whole state to implement such a program in anticipation of requirements under the Affordable Care Act.  For more information, call 783-2400 or visits www.ViaCareMC.com.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands To Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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Many seniors have difficulty sleeping and rely on sleeping pills to get them through the night.  It's not the ideal solution, and if you can find a way to sleep without relying on pills it is definitely easier on the body.  Unfortunately, studies have found that there's not much that you can do about insomnia, much of it is genetic.  But a recent report found that genetics takes a heavy toll on us.  Because of inadequate sleep, many genes in your body may be altered which lead to other health problems such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease.  Another issue is that if you don't feel good, you're not likely to exercise, and this can also exacerbate health issues.  The report, published in the Academy of Sciences, found that more than one-third of Americans sleep less than seven hours per night, which inhibits their ability to concentrate.  The investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that there were noticeable changes in many genes when people didn't have the proper amount of sleep.  More research clearly needs to be done in this area, but it was interesting to find that study participants saw a big change in their health after having six hours of sleep for just one week.  Think of the impacts of this over an entire lifetime.

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View From A Non-Profit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

Many women take vitamin D and calcium to try and stave off bone loss and osteoporosis.  However, an influential government advisory panel issued a report yesterday saying that there is insufficient evidence to show that these over-the-counter supplements prevent bone fractures.  The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended against the use of low or modest doses of the supplement because they believe that they may cause kidney stones.  This comes on the heels of recent reports stating that vitamin B6, vitamin B-12 and vitamin C don't deliver on all of their perceived benefits.  "I think the two biggest public health messages are to supplement calcium with diet and keep your weight down," Dr. Cliff Rosen, the past president of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, told the Wall Street Journal.  He did say that there is no harm in taking a 200-IU dose of vitamin D if you are over the age of 70 because it's difficult to get the recommended daily 600 IUs from food alone.  The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force left unchanged their recommendation that people over 65 exercise and take a vitamin D supplement.  So, if you are a senior, it's best to discuss the benefits and risks of nutritional supplements like vitamin D and calcium with your primary physician.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands To Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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View From A Non-Profit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California There appears to be almost no chance that an agreement will be reached in Washington D.C. by Friday. That's when $85 billion in budget cuts will automatically kick in, absent a budget agreement.  Unfortunately, once again budget cuts will hit those who can least afford them.  The Monterey Herald today reported that about 2 million long-term unemployed people will see their $300/week checks cut by about $30.  Low-income Americans seeking heating assistance or housing will likely encounter longer waits as government workers are furloughed.  Funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is likely to be cut by 13% this year, and budget cuts to myriad programs could come as early as next week.  The so-called "sequester" could hit the local Area Agency on Aging to the tune of 9% of their budget.  They subsidize grants which help senior citizens under the Older Americans Act and the Older Californians Act.  Thankfully, Social Security and Veterans benefits are exempt from the budget cuts, and Medicare payments are limited to a 2% reduction in payments (still huge at $10 billion) to hospitals and doctors.  Douglas Rice of the Center on Budget and Policy priorities told a reporter that the sequester means that families that leave subsidized housing would be less likely to be replaced with people from waiting lists, and that eventually some families could lose their apartments.  What a sad state our elected officials have left us in without a budget agreement.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands To Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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