Medicare

Have you made your Medicare decisions yet for 2025? The period for open enrollment runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, and by now you should have received your 2025 handbook “Medicare & You” if you’re already signed up.

Choosing a nursing home isn’t easy, even in the best of circumstances. Whether it’s for you or a spouse, or for your parents, for now or for later, there are things you need to know and red flags to beware of.

What does “vigorous physical activity” mean? Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it means the hard stuff, like playing basketball or singles tennis, or swimming laps or running, ideally for 75 minutes per week.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new drug that is supposed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s.

When do we actually become seniors? That varies, depending who we ask. Is it age 50, when all the AARP ads come to our mailbox? Maybe it’s age 60, when we can get food assistance.

Health insurance is an important consideration for every family — including farmers and ranchers in rural areas, where options may be limited. Insurance coverage and research was discussed during the AgriSafe Talking Total Farmer Health Podcast.

It’s official: Our Social Security increase for 2023 will be 8.7%. They say it’s the largest increase in 40 years. For the average senior, that’s going to mean a $146 monthly increase.

Before we know it, that yearly event will be here — when we have to decide what to do about our Medicare plans between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7 for coverage that will begin Jan. 1.

The Medicare Part B monthly premium is going up in 2022 by $21.60, one of the biggest increases ever. One of the reasons for it is the massive cost of a new Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm. Our new premium will be $170 per month.