Welcome to Baby Boomer Health Care

Well, it looks like we care more about certain health concerns and not enough about the biggest threat to baby boomer’s health – being obese.  I actually thought we were thinner than the generation above us and certainly thinner than the the generation younger than us.  But, 36% of us are obese and  we are 10% heavier than the generation below and above us.  There are 36% of us who fall in the “overweight” category.  That means there are only 28% of us who aren’t overweight.  Those are pretty incredible statistics.

I know how hard it is to lose weight.  I have had to diet almost my entire life.  But, I know one thing I did that made it a lot easier.  Instead of changing what I eat I just cut down on the amount.  I don’t eat a lot of bad foods and I love vegetables and salads.  But, I also love breads, pizza and fattening sauces.  So, when I have bread, I just eat one slice instead of two.  I eat about one-third less than I used to and I lost 10 pounds and have kept it off.  I didn’t give up anything.  I just eat less of it.

According to the article, which was taken from a study reported in Medical News Today, not only does being obese cause some cancers, it also increases the likelihood of a cancer recurring or being an aggressive cancer.  It could cause sleep apnea, respiratory problems, liver and gallbladder disease and, of course, high blood pressure and diabetes.

The article goes on to state that obese baby boomers will cost 34% more than those who aren’t obese.  However, the article also went on to say that one third of us are trying to do something to improve our health.  Those statistics are encouraging but we need to raise the numbers of baby boomers trying to improve their health.

What i am trying to say is we have to help each other.  If you need to lose a few pounds.  Find a partner to do it with.  It’s easier when we have someone to “share” the experience with and it doubles the  accomplishment because there are two of us losing weight, not just one.  We have gone through so much in our life; from assassinations of a president, presidential candidate, Martin Luther King, Viet Nam, etc., etc. We owe it to ourselves to be our own best friend.  We all deserve to enjoy our “sunset” years and I am here to help in any way I can.

I am going to partner with my husband to lose my next five pounds.  Good luck ya’ll.

Dr. David Brailer was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal regarding the idea of individuals having access to their own electronic health (EHR)records.  If you look around our website you will find  many EHR articles directed to healthcare professionals regarding setting up their offices with EHRs.  The government is even providing a cash incentive for those healthcare providers who set up an EHR system and follow specific guidelines set up by the government to reach “meaningful use.”  

What does this mean for us babyboomers?  There are definite advantages and perhaps some disadvantages.  A couple of the advantages are that we could obtain access to our medical records so that we will have information regarding medications, lab reports, x-rays, etc., no matter where we are.  It also means the possibility of going to an office who is unfamiliar with your situation yet would be able access all your records with a couple of “clicks” on the keyboard.

The negative of this is probably obvious.  The security and privacy aspect.  There are some concerns regarding information being hacked into but, this is also true of paper chart keeping. So, it isn’t an issue to be feared only if your records are kept electronically.

The Wall Street Journal refers to Dr. Brailer as  America’s first digital health czar and from my listening to the interview,  it appears he is very supportive of having medical records available to us electronically and he added that he felt it would be us babyboomers who push the EHR’s through the system to become as commonly used as emails.  

I think it is a great idea and I believe it would cut down on mistakes made by healthcare professionals. What do you think about it?

I think a lot of us babyboomers have been worried about whether or not there would be any Social Security left for us when we hit retirement age.  Well, in the July/August issue of AARP, Liz Weston dispels a lot of those fears.

According to Ms. Weston, although Social Security’s finances need “some work”, the remedies are not drastic and several proposals have been forwarded.  If these proposals are combined and put into place, the program will be  back on financially,  firm ground. 

Many of us have felt that Social Security’s assets are not worth anything but according to Weston, we haven’t done our homework.  Apparently, if we look a little closer we will find that any surplus payroll taxes are used to purchase special-issue, interest paying Treasury bonds and are totally guaranteed and backed by the federal government, just as they are for other Treasury bondholders. The Treasury is scheduled to pay back these bonds shortly.  

Ms. Weston states in her article that even if there were no changes made to Social Security it could continue to pay full benefits through 2037.  

If Weston is correct, and she has been writing about Social Security for at least twenty years, we are in better shape than I thought.  Of course, I hope  proposals are put into action to ensure a more financially secure retirement for future generations.  But, it is good to hear something other than the typical doomsday scenarios presented to us on a daily basis.

Anytime I come across any updates regarding our Social Security benefits, I’ll let you know.  But, maybe, just maybe, we are a little better off than we thought.

Thanks for coming to visit Baby Boomer Healthcare. We’re just getting started on the website, but we’ll be posting soon about all the various tools that a Baby Boomer can use for their healthcare needs. At least initially we’re likely going to focus on the various online tools that are out there to help baby boomers with their healthcare needs.

We’re passionate about the needs of Baby Boomers and we’ll be writing from the perspective of a baby boomer working to navigate this ever changing online world.

We’ll be looking at various cell phone applications that can help you find and receive better care. We’ll look at websites which can help you manage your healthcare in a more active way. We’ll do our best to be a one stop shop for all your baby boomer healthcare needs.

If you have ideas on what we should cover, have questions or want to participate in the site, please let us know in the comments below.