Senior Women Web

Author: SeniorWomenWeb

  • Dance Dance Revolution for Seniors

    Health Affairs Journal has published an article examines a dance exercise program in Henderson, Nevada: “It’s too early into this pilot program to report clinical outcomes, says Humana’s Rhonda Mayland. But anecdotally, she says, many members who regularly play Dancetown at her Las Vegas-area guidance center have lost weight and register fewer complaints over chronic illnesses like arthritis.”

    ABSTRACT: “At the heart of any promising plan to transform the health care system lie two priorities: broader access to care for patients, and deeper engagement in health care by patients. Although the problem of expanding access to affordable care remains unresolved, new tools for deepening consumers’ engagement in health care are proliferating like viral spores in a virtual pond. Digital games, including virtual realities, computer simulations, and online play, are valuable tools for fostering patient participation in health-related activities. This is why gaming is the latest tool in the arsenal to improve health outcomes: gaming makes health care fun.”

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  • New Pew Report: Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer

    The Pew Research Center released a report September 3 noting two distinct trends in the labor force: older adults are working longer, and younger adults are waiting longer to start working.
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  • The SEC’s OIG Investigation on Madoff

    “Investigation of Failure of the SEC To Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme”

    From the Executive Summary:

    The OIG investigation did not find evidence that any SEC personnel who worked on an SEC examination or investigation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC (BMIS) has any financial or other inappropriate connection with Bernard Madoff or the Madoff family that influenced the conduct of their examination or investigatory work. The OIG also did not find that former SEC Assistant Director Eric Swanson’s romantic relationship with Bernard Madoff’s niece, Shana Madoff, influenced the conduct of the SEC examinations of Madoff and his firm. We also did not find that senior officials at the SEC directly attempted to influences examinations or investigations of Madoff or the Madoff firm, nor was there evidence any senior SEC official interfered with the staff’s ability to perform its work.

    The OIG investigation did find, however, that the SEC received more than ample information in the form of detailed and substantive complaints over the years to warrant a thorough and comprehensive examination and/or investigation of Bernard Madoff and BMIS for operating a Ponzi scheme, and that despite three examinations and two investigations being conducted, a thorough and competent investigation or examination was never performed. The OIG found that between June 1992 and December 2008 when Madoff confessed, the SEC received six substantive complaints that raised significant red flags concerning Madoff’s hedge fund operations and shouold have led to questions of two articles regarding Madoff’s investment operations that appeared in reputable publications in 2001 and questioned Madoff’s unusually consistent returns.

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  • Nancy (Drew, that is) and Me

    Rose Madeline Mula writes: The blue roadster has certainly bitten the dust by now. She could be driving a Hummer or a Mini-Cooper unless cataracts have curtailed her driving altogether. And Mr. Drew can’t still be alive. He’d have to be at least 120 by now. As for Nancy’s detective work, maybe arthritis is preventing her from crawling into tight spaces and climbing rickety staircases. Who knows?

  • Shop for Home (and tunics!): Angela Adams

    Angela Adams – We’ve mentioned Angela Adams’ rugs in the past, but now she markets them from her own site as well as furniture. Those collections can be discussed with a designated person at her site, Betsy MacDonald. The rugs are as beautiful as before (as seen in the Birds and the Bees collection) and the furniture stylish, such as the Lily dressing table, Seabird Sidecase and Pod screens. Trays, pillows, glasses, paper goods, handbags, fine art prints and yes, tunics, round out the offerings.

  • When Does the Greed Stop?

    Senator Ted Kennedy speaking on the Minimum Wage Increase as Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee Chairman.

    “We still cannot get a $2.15 over two years! Over two years.”

    “What is the price we ask the other side that you want from these working men and women? What cost? How much more do we have to give to the private sector and to business. How many billion dollars more are you asking, are you requiring? When does the greed stop, we ask the other side?”

    “What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?”

    Watch the YouTube clip of the C-Span 2007 broadcast of Senator Ted Kennedy speaking on the proposed increase of the minimum wage.

    The federal minimum wage had not been increased in ten years, since 1997.

  • Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200

    From FactCheck.org: “A notorious analysis of the House health care bill contains 48 claims. Twenty-six of them are false and the rest mostly misleading. Only four are true.”

    The e-mail claims that page 30 of the bill says that “a government committee will decide what treatments … you get,” but that page refers to a “private-public advisory committee” that would “recommend” what minimum benefits would be included in basic, enhanced and premium insurance plans.

    The e-mail says that “non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services” but points to a provision that prohibits discrimination in health care based on “personal characteristics.” Another provision explicity forbids “federal payment for undocumented aliens.”

    It says “[g]overnment will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.” This provision isn’t about children with learning disabilities; instead, it pertains to restricted enrollment in “special needs” plans, a category of Medicare Advantage plans. Enrollment is already restricted. The bill extends the ability to do that.

    It claims that a section about “Community-based Home Medical Services” means “more payoffs for ACORN.” ACORN does not provide medical home services. The e-mail interprets any reference to the word “community” to be some kind of payoff for ACORN. That’s nonsense.

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  • The FBI Issues A Reverse Mortgage Fraud Report

    Reverse Mortgage Fraud Schemes from a 2008 FBI Mortgage Fraud Report:

    “Unscrupulous loan officers, mortgage companies, investors, loan counselors, appraisers, builders, developers, and real estate agents are exploiting Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) — also known as reverse mortgages — to defraud senior citizens. They recruit seniors through local churches, investment seminars, television, radio, billboard, and mailer advertisements, to commit the fraud primarily through equity theft, foreclosure rescue, and investment schemes.”

    “Equity theft schemes are the most common method used by mortgage fraud perpetrators to exploit HECMs. Perpetrators, often with the aid of straw buyers, execute a scheme designed to withdraw false equity from properties. They typically identify foreclosed, distressed, or abandoned properties (or buyers) using information contained within county deed records. Perpetrators purchase the properties using straw buyers who commit occupancy fraud by fraudulently stating they will be using them as their primary residence.”

    “They recruit seniors to “purchase” the properties from the straw buyers. This is generally accomplished by the perpetrator transferring the deed to the property to the senior with no exchange of money.”

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  • CultureWatch, August 2009

    Duchess of Death tells of Agatha Christie’s travels with her husband on Middle East digs, to sleep in a tent or on a desert floor, hardly usual in a woman “to the manor born.” Dreaming in French thrives on the gossipy, ex-pat society of Paris. Drawing in the Dust is a lively tale of the purported discovery of Jeremiah’s tomb, as well an an engaging romance. Exhibit, Between Collaboration and Resistance: French Literary Life Under Nazi Occupation.

  • Phineas Staunton’s Painting of Henry Clay Returns to the Senate

    From the Senate site:

    “It was reserved for Mr. Clay to eclipse them all…there was a fascinating grandeur and charm in his eloquence that was simply indescribable, and that…could never be equaled.”

    “As the Civil War drew to a close in 1865, the Kentucky state legislature launched a competition for a monumental 7 x 11 foot portrait of the great statesman Henry Clay to be displayed in the Kentucky state capitol. The Kentucky legislature wished to honor the state’s legendary proponent of Union with a larger-than-life portrait as the nation emerged from the Civil War.”

    “New York artist Phineas Staunton entered the competition unsuccessfully, and his painting was soon returned from Kentucky to his hometown of Le Roy, New York. As years turned into decades, Henry Clay in the US Senate fell into obscurity. In 2006 the painting was rediscovered in a storage area scheduled for renovation at the Le Roy Historical Society, and the Society presented the painting and its original frame to the US Senate.”

    “After 140 years, the condition of both frame and painting had deteriorated. Fine art conservators extensively restored the time-ravaged work, returning it to its original appearance. This extraordinary transformation has been carefully documented as part of the portrait’s long and difficult journey.”

    “Today, this historically important painting hangs in the East Brumidi Stairway of the US Capitol, a testament to Henry Clay’s indelible mark upon American history.”

    View the painting and read about the rediscovery and restoration of the painting, from the origins to the installation.