Senior Living

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision allowing states to use what is known as the "income-first" rule. Because of this decision, depending on the state, a community spouse of a Medicaid recipient could quickly be thrown into poverty...

To help people choose a good continuing care retirement community (CCRC), the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging offers a 46-page guidebook that covers everything from accommodations and services to contracts and tax issues.

A draft federal report showing that nine out of 10 U.S. nursing homes are understaffed is now available for download from the Web. More . . .

The federal government has begun issuing statistics on the quality of care in nursing homes, beginning with data on facilities in six states. More . . .

America does only a mediocre job of caring for its most seriously ill and dying patients, according to the nation's first state-by-state 'report card' on end-of-life care released by Last Acts, a coalition working for better care for the dying.

How much you need to live on after retirement depends in large part on where you live. A good place to gauge expenses in different areas is the Web site BestPlaces, which allows you to compare cost-of-living and quality-of-life data...

Around the country, a handful of new approaches are being tried to do away with the hospital model for nursing homes and replace it with care that gives meaning to residents' lives, according to an article in the Washington Post.

Medicare officials have issued guidelines allowing homebound beneficiaries to leave their homes for special occasions--such as family reunions, graduations or funerals--without losing their home health care benefits. More . . .

Most long-term care insurance purchasers younger than age 70 should make sure their policy has a 5 percent compound inflation rider, according to a recent AARP Public Policy Institute study. More . . .