Happy holidays to everyone! Thank you for reading our newsletter. This month we have included another article to help you find the best plan under the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. We have also included a heart-warming story from a senior woman's blog. This month's medical studies include a report on the liver-protecting qualities of caffeine and a study that shows that arguing with your spouse hinders the healing of wounds.

Scroll through our newsletter or click on a specific article title below to skip ahead:

Holiday Gift Certificates

Few Sign Up for Confusing Drug Benefit - Tips for Finding the Best Plan

Holiday Story from "Kalilily Time"

Study: Coffee and Tea Prevent Liver Damage

Newsbrief: New Studies on Heart Disease and Stroke

Give Yourself, a Loved One or a Friend a Break for the Holidays
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The holidays are a time to gather family and dear friends together to share in good times, presents and mirth, but it is also a time of stress.  As the holidays approach, dinner preparations, greeting cards and shopping for gifts all compete for time.  In families with a loved one who needs help with housekeeping and personal assistance, this can present a serious time crunch.

•  Home Services Unlimited offers gift certificates to help families during the holiday season.  Consider these gift ideas: 
• Everyone likes to get his or her home in order for the holidays, but some people need extra help doing so.  Get a gift certificate for someone close to you who needs personal assistance, housekeeping or companion services. 
• If you have friends who are caretakers, they have extra time constraints around the holidays.  A gift certificate for respite care for their loved one makes a perfect early present.
• If you are a caretaker, treat yourself to some free time this season, by ordering respite care from Home Services Unlimited.
• Think about getting gift certificates for yourself, your loved ones or a caretaker friend for use throughout the year.  When giving a gift certificate for our services, you can be certain that your present is useful and unique. 

Few Sign Up for Confusing Drug Benefit - Tips for Finding The Best Plan
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With only three weeks left to implementation, the new drug benefit’s provision for extra help for low-income senior citizens has failed to woo potential beneficiaries.  In fact, fewer than one out of seven of those most in need of the extra assistance have been enrolled, leaving almost 4 million seniors in a dire position unless they sign up before New Year’s Day. 

The Social Security Administration, which budgeted a reported $100 million to get people signed up, has mailed out 19 million applications to those seniors that may be eligible.  Though implementation begins on January 1st, seniors have until May 15th to file for coverage without being subject to punitively higher premiums.

The Kaiser Foundation has reported that only half of low-income seniors that were polled even knew that they were eligible for the additional assistance, suggesting that the Social Security Administration’s outreach attempt is failing to overcome the confusing nature of the plan.  Another reason for the low numbers is that 60% of those that have applied were denied assistance, usually because their assets were too high to qualify.

Our newsletter from last month had a detailed article outlining what coverage is available to you under the new plan.  Remember when calculating eligibility for extra help, that your home is exempt from the assets limit. 

This month, we have included useful tips for finding the proper plan for you. Due to the reliance of the new program on private plans, the only way potential beneficiaries can make the best choice of plans is to do a thorough comparison of the out-of-pocket expenses required plan.

Luckily, Medicare is offering an on-line tool to navigate the myriad choices offered.  You can access the tool directly from this site, by clicking the appropriate link at the end of this article, where you can also find Medicare’s and AARP’s hotlines.  Before doing so, make sure that you get the best out of the tool:

• Make a list of every medication you take, note the dosage and keep this with you to streamline the process.
• Decide what type of plan you would like:  If you want your drug coverage bundled together with your other medical care, (like with a PPO or HMO), then you need to select a Medicare Advantage plan. If you want a traditional plan, choose a “Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.”  This is a good way to narrow down your choices quickly.
• Now you can, after entering your drug list, figure out how much you will have to pay for drugs under each plan, including copays, premiums and deductibles.
• See if you can reduce your costs by clicking on “select below” to view possible reductions for purchasing generic or mail-order drugs.
• If you are looking for rainy day coverage, (i.e. you currently do not use medications, but want coverage), then limit your search by what you would be willing to pay in the form of deductibles and premiums.
• Make sure that the plan you have selected is realistic for you by checking which pharmacies are “preferred,” (other pharmacies will cost more).  You can do this by clicking on the number of preferred pharmacies in your area on the cost-comparison chart.
• If you have an alternative, seasonal residence, make sure your plan offers national coverage.

For assistance applying for the low-income benefits, read the Medicare article in last month’s newsletter.  If you still need help, contact AARP or Medicare.

Click here for Medicare’s plan comparison tool or call the plan comparison hotline at (800) 633-4227 or call AARP at (888) 687-2277.

Media Scan: Kalilily Time at kalilily.net
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The day before Thanksgiving a heart-warming study was posted on Kalilily Time a blog maintained by Elaine, who describes her self as the “Resident Crone of Blogdom and practitioner of Headology and/or just a little ol’ retired grandma raising hell at the keyboard.”  We hope that the story sets the mood for your holidays this year:

Twenty years ago, he drove a cab for a living.

When he arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away.

But he had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, he always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, he reasoned to himself.

So he walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. He could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80s stood before him. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knicknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner, was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she asked. He took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took his arm and they walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking him for his kindness.

"It's nothing", he told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated".

"Oh, you're such a good boy," she said.

When they got in the cab, she gave him an address, then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"

"It's not the shortest way," he answered quickly.

"Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice".

He looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long."

He quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would you like me to take?" he asked. For the next two hours, they drove through the city. She showed him the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. They drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had him pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask him to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now." They drove in silence to the address she had given him. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home,with a driveway that passed under a portico.

The two orderlies who immediately came out to the cab were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. He opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse.

"Nothing," he said.

"You have to make a living," she answered.

"There are other passengers," he responded.

Almost without thinking, he bent and gave her a hug. She held onto him tightly.

"You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you."

He squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light. Behind him, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. He didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. He drove aimlessly, lost in thought, for the rest of that day. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if he had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, he didn't think that he had done anything more important in his life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware - beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one. People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

Study: Coffee and Tea Prevent Liver Damage
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A study of 19 years of data, on almost 10,000 people, indicates that drinking coffee helps reduce the damage caused by alcohol, high levels of iron in the blood and being overweight.  According to the data, those who drank more than two cups of coffee per day developed chronic liver disease at half the rate of those who drank less than one cup per day.

Coffee did not protect against other causes of liver disease, such as hepatitis, according to the study, conducted by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and Social & Scientific Systems, Inc.  Dr. Constance Ruhl, who helped conduct the story, wrote in Gastroenterology that caffeine seems to be responsible for tea and coffee’s protective properties.  While this might be a good way to justify brewing a whole pot this New Year’s day, Ruhl warns that advising people to drink coffee for their livers would be premature.

Study: Arguing with Your Spouse Slows Healing
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A research team from Ohio University found that arguing with your spouse results in wounds healing 40% slower.  The study was conducted by creating small, uniform blisters and comparing how long healing took after discussions between spouses that were positive and how long it took after discussions that were negative in nature.  The team stated that this was one of several studies showing that stress seriously hinders healing. 

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