April22 by RI ARA

RI ARA

Affiliated with the Rhode Island AFL-CIO “Fighting for the future of our members.” “NOW, more than ever!!!” Publication 2018 Issue 16 Published in house by the RI ARA

April 22, 2018 E-Newsletter

Action Alert #100 Is Social Security Too Broke for Repeal? Here’s the story. Originally Social Security had its own lock box. The money was just sitting there. During the Reagan administration, it was decided to let the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury borrow the funds from SS and then pay interest on what they borrowed. This was a win-win. The U.S. government had more money to spend, and Social Security would earn interest on the money it loaned out to the government. These funds are in the form of special bonds, which the government is required to pay back. They also earn interest for the Social Security Trust Fund. Currently, the combination of yearly employee contributions and the yearly interest on the money it has lent the government is more than what it spends on payments to retirees. There is a

Social Security Fairness Repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision

surplus.This will be true through 2021. At that time it will begin to spend the money from contributions that has built up in the Social Security Trust Fund. This extra money is projected to run out in 2034, at which time Social Security will only be able to pay out ¾ of an individual’s earned benefits. There are a number of ways to solve this problem. Raising the retirement age is one. Slowing the percent of inflationary increases in benefits is another. These measures will lower the total amount of money a contributor gets back. Another solution is to raise the income level at which a worker ceases to contribute to FICA. This year workers do not have to

current estimate, increasing the estimated cost of repeal by 50%, gives you only a cost to the Social Security Administration of about 2%. And that 2% is returning our money! Don’t let anyone tell you that Social Security can’t afford to repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision!

pay into FICA for the money they earn above the $128,400 taxable maximum. Some have suggested getting rid of this cap on contributions. Watch the news for proposed legislation which will strengthen or weaken the program. Learn more about Social Every year, Social Security Security Works and their pays out about $768.6 efforts to repeal the hardships Billion to beneficiaries through of the Government Pension the Old Age and Survivors’ Offset and Windfall Insurance (2016 data). Nearly Elimination Provision 60 million persons receive those Many people do not know benefits. about or understand The most recent estimates of these injustices. what it would cost to repeal the We must make our GPO/WEP, which affect about voices heard. 2.5 million people, have been about $10 Billion each year. We ……..Read More don’t have good recent figures for the cost, but a possible

A Rare Loss for U.S. Pharma Lobby Will Cost the Industry Billions Deep in a budget deal Congress passed earlier this year -- just 118 words in Section 53116, a little before passages on prison reporting data and payment yields for seed cotton - was a hit to pharmaceutical companies that will cost them billions, and could signal more losses to come. Despite an intense lobbying push, lawmakers changed a Medicare rule, putting manufacturers on the hook for more of seniors’ prescription costs. The companies will have to offer a much more generous discount to beneficiaries who

fall into the so-called donut hole coverage gap, marking down retail costs by 70 percent instead of the current 50 percent. It was a rare defeat for some of the biggest spenders in the political influence game and raised new questions about how they’ll fare in upcoming battles. Lawmakers have introduced bills that would squeeze the industry, and President Donald Trump has said he will roll out proposals this month to curb drug prices. “They’re in a defensive position,” said Kim Monk, an analyst at Capital Alpha Partners

in Washington. Investors are wondering, she said, if Big Pharma has lost its famed clout. That may be a stretch, but the pressure seems to be on. “I don’t see how they come out of this completely unscathed.” Trump has gone on the rhetorical attack before, accusing drugmakers of “getting away with murder” and railing against prices he has called unjust. Now, though, he has promised to offer explicit solutions. That could raise the stakes, said David Mitchell, president of the advocacy group Patients

for Affordable Drugs. He’s been critical of Trump for failing to take action despite a lot of talk. “If the president and administration threw its support behind a package of changes to prevent abuse it still will be a fight, but it would have a reasonable chance,” Mitchell said….Read More Read more: The debate over U.S. drug prices -- a QuickTake explainer

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Drug executives to testify before Congress about their role in U.S. opioid crisis Current and former executives with the pharmaceutical distributors that are accused of flooding communities with powerful prescription painkillers have been summoned to testify before Congress about their role in the U.S. opioid epidemic. The hearing, scheduled for May 8 before a House Energy and Commerce Committee oversight panel, has the potential to be a defining moment for the pharmaceutical industry, much like when tobacco executives were called to testify before Congress in 1994. The pharmaceutical executives are expected to face tough questions under oath about why their

companies pumped so many highly addictive pain pills into West Virginia and other states, fueling what has become the deadliest drug crisis in U.S. history. Since 2000, the epidemic has killed 200,000 people — more than three times the number of U.S. military deaths in the Vietnam War. “It’s time to directly question the leadership of national and regional drug distributors whom we have probed for critical information,” Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said in a statement. Executives from distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, Miami-Luken and H.D. Smith

wholesale drug company are scheduled to testify at the hearing next month. The Energy and Commerce Committee has spent the past year investigating the sale of pills in West Virginia by wholesale drug distributors, which are required by law to monitor and report suspicious opioid orders to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). If orders and sales are not correctly reported for oversight, countless doses of potent drugs can be diverted to a booming illegal market and ultimately to drug abusers — many of whom became hopelessly addicted to the powerful painkillers. Committee members aggressively

questioned Robert W. Patterson, the acting head of the DEA, last month, asking how so many pills flowed freely and why, they said, the agency wasn’t forthcoming with information about how it handled opioids. The panel has sent letters to all of the distributors asking for information about steps they took to keep drugs off the black market and to report suspicious orders of pills. “This investigation is taking a hard look at troubling issues behind the surge in opioid deaths in America,” Walden said. “We expect to get answers next month from these officials about the companies they represent.”….Read More

Medicare Rights Center Helps Inform Changes to D-SNPs The recently-passed Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA of 2018) makes a number of changes to Medicare, including permanently authorizing Dual Special Needs plans (D-SNPs), which are Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. To help inform implementation of these changes, earlier this month the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a request for stakeholder input on (1) The design of an integrated Medicare-Medicaid appeals approach for D-SNPs; and (2) The establishment of minimum state contract requirements for D-SNPs. The Medicare Rights Center’s comments, submitted today, are informed by our experience assisting Medicare beneficiaries, their family members, and health care professionals in general, and by our work with dually eligible New Yorkers and the programs that serve them in particular—including New York

State Medicare-Medicaid Fully Integrated Duals Advantage (FIDA) Plans and D-SNPs. Currently, nearly one-third of the over 700,000 full dual eligible New Yorkers are enrolled in some type of managed care product. However, most of these plans do not fully coordinate and integrate Medicare and Medicaid services. Through our helpline and casework, we know that many dually eligible New Yorkers experience fragmented care, often struggle to navigate their multiple plans or sources of coverage, and face challenges in trying to obtain needed services. Without access to care and effective coordination, beneficiaries may experience otherwise avoidable hospitalizations, duplication of services, and poorer health outcomes overall. Often, it is only when there is a problem in access or payment that the fractured nature of their coverage becomes apparent. Therefore, integration of the appeals and grievance

systems—where patients and providers turn when there is an issue—is of utmost importance. In developing a truly unified process, we recommend that CMS:  Take into account the “administrative” burden of directing and organizing the appeal that largely falls on beneficiary shoulders, in part by retaining the more protective rule when applicable rules conflict;  Consider the ways in which different appeals rules currently exist withinMedicare, in addition to the differences between Medicare and Medicaid;  Prohibit harmful plan marketing practices;  Include assisting and redirecting any appeal or grievance received among a D -SNP’s case management obligations; and  Ensure there is aid-to-continue or aid paid pending review for all claims. As CMS seeks to develop new

requirements for integration, we encourage the agency to:  Assign a care manager or point person at the D-SNP who can assist with coordinating care by locating in-network providers, helping with appeals and troubleshooting, and smoothing interactions between programs;  Require robust and meaningful care management that prioritizes integrated, comprehensive, personcentered decision making;  Allow comprehensive data sharing, including making Medicare and Medicaid claim information accessible to the plan, the care manager, and the beneficiary; and  Ensure oversight by both CMS and the state. This oversight should be transparent and accessible to beneficiaries, advocates, and researchers.

Medicare Rights Continues to Review New Medicare Rules and Guidance Over the past few months, the Medicare Rights Center has been actively engaged in considering and commenting on proposals from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that could have significant effects on people who are enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D plans. Last week, CMS released both the Contract Year 2019 Final Rules for Medicare Advantage and Part D (Final Rules) and the 2019 Call Letter. CMS also released fact sheets for the Final Rule and the Call Letter. The Final Rules and Call Letter are typically the most comprehensive regulatory announcements relating to Medicare Advantage and Part D released by CMS each year, and they are not typically released at the same time. Because of the simultaneous release of these announcements, and the volume of changes they make, it is not yet clear how these payment and policy shifts will interact with each other and recent legislation. As we continue to analyze the Final Rules and Call Letter, as well as the impact of the recent two-year budget deal, here is a preview of the issue areas we intend to spotlight, which focus on regulatory trends, anticipated implementations, and practical changes that will impact people with Medicare and those who help them navigate coverage decisions. Increased MA Plan Flexibility. Significant changes to MA

include the elimination of the uniformity and meaningful difference requirements. The Final Rules allow plans to reduce cost sharing for certain covered benefits, offer specific extra benefits, and charge different deductibles for some enrollees who meet specific medical criteria. Beginning in the 2019 plan year, MA plans will also have the ability to offer supplemental benefits that are not directly considered medical treatment, and address the social determinants of health instead. Possible service expansions include nutrition services, nonskilled in-home supports, and home modifications. These changes may result in plan offerings that work well for some consumers. However, loosening these restrictions will greatly increase the number and variance of MA plans available to consumers, which would introduce additional complexity into consumers’ decision-making process. This would also increase the potential for plans to include discriminatory or other poorly aligned incentives as insurers experiment with the offerings to find the most profitable approach. As a result, it would be more difficult for people with Medicare to choose the best, most affordable coverage for their unique circumstances. Beneficiary Tools and Resources. Because of the changes to

increase MA plan flexibility, among others, people with MA will need significant decision-making tools and resources if they are to effectively distinguish between these expanded offerings and make informed coverage decisions. To combat this rising confusion, the Final Rules outline CMS’s plan to improve the Medicare Plan Finder tool. While this tool is certainly in need of improvement—current users cannot get needed information such as plan networks in any useful way— beneficiaries would be better served if these improvements happened prior to any additional complexity. CMS is also making some needed changes to the calculations for MA star ratings, but we are concerned that the updated system will continue to conceal serious plan deficiencies. Opioid Response. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), passed in 2016, provides the legal basis for new Medicare rules around opioid use. CARA implementation, partly addressed in the Final Rules and Call Letter, will permit Part D prescription drug plans to identify beneficiaries who appear to have dangerous patterns of opioid use and attempt to prevent potential misuse through prescriber and pharmacy “lock-in.” Under CARA’s lock-in program, Medicare Part D and MA plans

will be able to require that beneficiaries obtain flagged medications only through certain providers and pharmacies. Enrollment Period Changes. CMS is also adjusting enrollment timelines, including by implementing provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act. Under that law, beginning in 2019, there will be a continuous MA open enrollment and disenrollment period from January 1 through March 31 of each year. During this time, MA-eligible beneficiaries will be able to change their MA plan or elect traditional Medicare and coverage under Part D. Currently, beneficiaries have 45 days to make more limited changes (January 1 through February 14). CMS is also changing the Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for people receiving Medicare’s LowIncome Subsidy (LIS), limiting use of the LIS SEP to once per quarter in the first three quarters of each year, and relying on Fall Open Enrollment in the last quarter. Currently, people with LIS can change plans once per month. As with every other change made to the complex Medicare program, the full impact of these shifts will only become clear over time. In the meantime, we will continue to unpack these complicated issues and will be fleshing them out more fully as we learn more. Stay tuned as we release additional in-depth analysis on key changes in the coming weeks.

Drug Company ‘Shenanigans’ to Block Generics Come Under Federal Scrutiny WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials, seeking ways to lower drug costs, are targeting pharmaceutical companies that refuse to provide samples of their products to generic drug companies, making

it impossible to create inexpensive generic copies of a brand-name medicine. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said recently that drug makers must “end the shenanigans” that prevent competing products

from reaching the market. Generic drug developers need samples of brand-name drugs to show that a generic copy is equivalent to the original. The maneuvers by brand-name drug firms, Dr. Gottlieb said, “frustrate the ability of generic firms to purchase the doses of a

branded drug that they need to run their studies.” The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the practice, which it says can forestall generic competition and “potentially preserve a brand firm’s monopoly indefinitely.”...Read More

‘Scary’ Lung Disease Now Afflicts More Women Than Men In U.S. Joan Cousins was among a generation of young women who heard — and bought into the idea — that puffing on a cigarette was sophisticated, modern, even liberating. No one suspected it would make them more than equal to men in suffering a choking, lifeshortening lung disease. “Everybody smoked. It was the cool thing to do,” said Cousins, who smoked her first cigarette 67 years ago at age 16. But one day, Cousins started coughing and could not stop — or take a deep breath. She drove to a hospital, where doctors told her she had a progressive lung disease called chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). “Not breathing was so scary … that I never had another cigarette,” Cousins said. COPD traditionally was considered a man’s disease, but it now kills more women in the United States than men. Women account for 58 percent of the14.7 million people in the U.S. living with the disease and 53 percent of those who die from it, according to the American Lung Association. Nearly 8 percent of women in the U.S. have reported a COPD diagnosis, compared with just under 6 percent of men. “It’s a huge public health problem for women that doesn’t really get enough attention,” said

Dr. Meilan Han, associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan. “This is one of the top killers of women in the country.” Because COPD is often associated with men, women are frequently diagnosed after the disease is already advanced. Symptoms of COPD include a chronic cough, wheezing, tightening of the chest and shortness of breath. There is no cure for COPD, but its progression can be slowed. The most important thing a patient can do after a COPD diagnosis is to stop smoking. Researchers largely blame women’s gradual adoption of smoking for the modern-day rise in COPD deaths among

women. Men started smoking in large numbers in the late 1800s, coinciding with the mass production of cigarettes. In the 1920s and 1930s, tobacco companies began targeting women with ads that appealed to their sense of independence and yearning for social and sexual desirability. Another wave of ad campaigns in the late 1960s and early 1970s induced large numbers of women, and teenage girls, to start smoking cigarettes. Brands such as Virginia Slims capitalized on the women’s liberation movement with catchy slogans, including “You’ve come a long way, baby.” ...Read More

A Tale Of Two CT Scanners — One Richer, One Poorer Benjamin Hynden, a financial adviser in Fort Myers, Fla., hadn’t been feeling well for a few weeks last fall. He’d had pain and discomfort in his abdomen. In October, he finally made an appointment to see his doctor about it. “It wasn’t severe,” he said. “It was just kind of bothersome. It just kind of annoyed me during the day.” The internist, Dr. John Ardesia, checked him out and referred him for a CT scan at a nearby imaging center. The radiologist didn’t see anything wrong on the images, and

Ardesia didn’t recommend any treatment. A few weeks later, Hynden, who has a high-deductible health insurance policy with Cigna, got a bill for $268. He paid it and moved on. But three months later, in midJanuary, Hynden was still feeling lousy. He called up Ardesia’s office again. This time, the doctor wasn’t available. A nurse practitioner, concerned that Hynden might be suffering from appendicitis, advised him to go to the hospital right away. “I was a little worried,”

Hynden recalled. “When he told me to go to the ER, I felt compelled to take his advice.” Hynden arrived later that morning at Gulf Coast Medical Center, one of several hospitals owned by Lee Health in the Fort Myers area. The triage nurse told him the problem wasn’t his appendix, but she suggested he stick around for some additional tests — including another CT scan — just to be safe. “It was the exact same machine. It was the exact same test,” Hynden said. The results were also the same as the October scan: Hynden

was sent home without a definitive diagnosis. And then the bill came. Patient: Benjamin Hynden, 29, a financial adviser in Fort Myers, Fla. Total Bill: $10,174.75, including $8,897 for a CT scan of the abdomen Service Provider: Gulf Coast Medical Center, owned by Lee Health, the dominant health care system in southwest Florida….Read More

Federal Appeals Court Puts Chill On Maryland Law To Fight Drug Price-Gouging States continue to battle budgetbusting prices of prescription drugs. But a federal court decision could limit the weapons available to them — underscoring the challenge states face as they, in the absence of federal action, go

one-on-one against the powerful drug industry. The 2-to-1 ruling Friday by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated a Maryland law meant to limit “price-gouging” by makers of generic drugs. The measure was inspired by cases such as that of former Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, who raised one generic’s price 5,000

percent after buying the company. The law, which had been hailed as a model for other states, is one of a number of state initiatives designed to combat rapidly rising drug prices. It gave the state attorney general power to intervene if a generic or off-patent drug’s price increased by 50 percent or more in a single year.

If dissatisfied with the company’s justification, the attorney general could have filed suit in state court. Manufacturers would have faced a fine of up to $10,000 and potentially have to reverse the price hike. The generics industry was fiercely critical of the law….Read More

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The Disappearing Doctor The Disappearing Doctor: How MegaMergers Are Changing the Business of Medical Care Big corporations — giant retailers and health insurance companies — are teaming up to become your doctor. Is the doctor in? In this new medical age of urgent care centers and retail clinics, that’s not a simple question. Nor does it have a simple answer, as primary care doctors become increasingly

scarce. “You call the doctor’s office to book an appointment,” said Matt Feit, a 45-year-old screenwriter in Los Angeles who visited an urgent care center eight times last year. “They’re only open Monday through Friday from these hours to those hours, and, generally, they’re not the hours I’m free or I have to take time off from my job. “I can go just about anytime to urgent care,” he continued, “and my co-pay is exactly the same as if I went to my primary doctor.” That’s one reason big players like CVS Health, the drugstore

chain, and most recently Walmart, the giant retailer, are eyeing deals with Aetna and Humana, respectively, to use their stores to deliver medical care. People are flocking to retail clinics and urgent care centers in strip malls or shopping centers, where simple health needs can usually be tended to by health professionals like nurse practitioners or physician assistants much more cheaply than in a doctor’s office. Some 12,000 are already scattered across the country, according to Merchant Medicine, a consulting

firm. On the other side, office visits to primary care doctors declined 18 percent from 2012 to 2016, even as visits to specialists increased, insurance data analyzed by the Health Care Cost Institute shows. There’s little doubt that the front line of medicine — the traditional family or primary care doctor — has been under siege for years. Long hours and low pay have transformed pediatric or family practices into unattractive options for many aspiring physicians….Read More

Control Blood Pressure to Keep Dementia at Bay: Study Bringing high blood pressure under control can reduce older black Americans' risk of dementia, a new study finds. Black people are at high risk for high blood pressure and dementia, the researchers noted. The study included more than 1,200 black Americans, aged 65 and older, with high blood pressure who did not have dementia. The patients took different types of medications for their high blood pressure and were followed for up to 24 years. The medications included beta blockers, ACE inhibitors,

calcium channel blocks and diuretics. "We have found even if African Americans control blood pressure when they are 65 and older, the risk of dementia can be reduced," study corresponding author Michael Murray said. He is a research scientist with the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis and Purdue University's College of Pharmacy. "And we also can now pass along the useful information that you don't need to take the expensive new drugs on market," he said in an institute

news release. "Older generic medications will work just as well in lowering risk of dementia and are less expensive." The study authors concluded that blood pressure reduction -not the medications themselves - is what lowers dementia risk. "Controlling blood pressure is important for lowering risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney disease," Murray said. "We can now add prevention of dementia to the list of benefits of good blood pressure control at all ages." Preventing dementia is

critical. "Once you start the decline from cognitive impairment to mild and eventually severe dementia, there is no known cure," he explained. The study was published in the April issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. More information The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more on high blood pressure. SOURCE: Regenstrief Institute, news release, April 9, 2018

Drug Test Spurs Frank Talk Between Hypertension Patients And Doctors There’s an irony at the heart of the treatment of high blood pressure. The malady itself often has no symptoms, yet the medicines to treat it — and to prevent a stroke or heart attack later — can make people feel crummy. “It’s not that you don’t want to take it, because you know it’s going to help you. But it’s the getting used to it,” said Sharon

Fulson, a customer service representative from Nashville, Tenn., who is trying to monitor and control her hypertension. The daily pills Fulson started taking last year make her feel groggy and nervous. Other people on the drugs report dizziness, nausea and diarrhea, and men, in particular, can have trouble with arousal. “All of these side effects are worse than the high blood pressure,” Fulson said.

Research shows roughly half of patients don’t take their high blood pressure medicine as they should, even though heart disease is the leading cause of death in America. For many unfortunate people, their first symptom of high blood pressure is a catastrophic cardiac event. That’s why hypertension is called the “silent killer.” A drug test is now available that can flag whether a patient is actually taking the prescribed

medication. The screening, which requires a urine sample, is meant to spark a more truthful conversation between patient and doctor. Fulson’s blood pressure has been a moving target, she said. She regularly checks it at home, but it sometimes registers as a little high. Even having it taken in a doctor’s office can add enough stress to elevate the results….Read More

What are diastole and systole in blood pressure? The terms diastole and systole refer to when the heart muscles relax and contract. The balance between diastole and systole determines a person's blood pressure. The heart is a pump that supplies all tissues and organs of the body with oxygen-rich blood. The heartbeat is caused by the heart muscles relaxing and contracting. During this cycle, the period of relaxation is called diastole and the period of contraction is called systole. In this article, we will explain how diastole and systole relate to blood pressure. We also discuss what is normal blood pressure, along with risk factors and complications linked to high blood pressure (hypertension) and low blood pressure (hypotension).

heart and into the large blood vessels of the circulatory system. From here, the blood goes to all of the organs and tissues of the body. During systole, a person's blood pressure increases. Differences The heart is a pump composed of four chambers. It is divided in the middle into a right and left side, and each side is divided further into two chambers — the upper and lower chambers. The two lower chambers are called the ventricles. They pump the blood out of the heart to the rest of the body. To pump the blood around the body, the heart contracts and then relaxes over and over again in a cycle called the cardiac cycle. The cycle begins when the two atria contract, which pushes blood into the ventricles. Then, the ventricles contract,

What are diastole and systole? Diastole is when the heart muscle relaxes and systole is when the heart muscle contracts. Diastole is defined by the following characteristics: 

 Diastole is when the heart muscle relaxes.  When the heart relaxes, the chambers of the heart fill with blood, and a person's blood pressure decreases.  Systole is defined by the following characteristics:  Systole is when the heart muscle contracts.  When the heart contracts, it pushes the blood out of the

which forces the blood out of the heart. The deoxygenated blood that comes back from the body to the right side of the heart is then pumped through the lungs where it picks up oxygen. The oxygenated blood then travels to the left side of the heart and is pumped to the rest of the body. Diastole and systole affect a person's blood pressure differently, as follows:  When the heart pushes blood around the body during systole, the pressure placed on the vessels increases. This is called systolic pressure.  When the heart relaxes between beats and refills with blood, the blood pressure drops. This is called diastolic pressure….Read More

Even minor stress can impact long-term health, study warns A recent study, supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health, suggests that even small daily stress factors can lead to health problems later in life. That exposure to stress is a risk factor for many health problems, such as cardiovascular issues, anxiety and depression, and chronic pain, is a familiar

idea. Yet we may think that it's only certain kinds of major stressors — such as getting fired, going through a breakup, or undergoing surgery — that significantly impact our lives. But, recent research explains that even small stressors can harm our long-term health if we hold on to how they make us feel. For example, a misunderstanding with a friend today might lead to health issues

later in life if we let this stress factor carry over into the next day. This is just what a study conducted by Kate Leger — from the University of California, Irvine — and colleagues concludes. "Our research," Leger explains, "shows that negative emotions that linger after even minor, daily stressors have important implications for our long-term physical health." These findings have now

been published in the journal Psychological Science, of the Association for Psychological Science. There's no such thing as negligible stress "When sharing the frustrations we feel after having an argument with a friend," the authors write, "or learning of an unexpected work deadline, people often will tell us to 'just let it go.' Yet surprisingly few studies have tested the utility of this advice."...Read More

Sitting harms brain health, regardless of exercise Too much sitting may not be This is an area of the brain that disease, diabetes, and other dementia risk good for the brain, according to a is important for making new diseases, even among those who In their study preliminary study of adults who memories. are physically active. background, have reached middle age and Even high levels of physical Senior study author David the authors beyond. activity did not make a Merrill, an assistant clinical refer to the Researchers from the difference, the authors conclude, professor of psychiatry and increasing amount of literature University of California, Los in a report on their findings that biobehavioral sciences at UCLA, that suggests that physical Angeles (UCLA) discovered that is now published in the and colleagues propose that exercise might delay the among 35 adults aged 45–75 journal PLOS ONE. further research should now be development of Alzheimer's without dementia, those who The study adds to a growing done to see whether reducing disease and other dementias and spent more time sitting in the day body of evidence that suggests sedentary behavior reverses the can benefit brain had greater thinning of the that too much sitting effect that they found. structure….Read More medial temporal lobe. can increase the risk of heart Few studies about sitting and Rhode Island Alliance for Retired Americans, Inc. • 94 Cleveland Street • North Providence, RI • 02904-3525 • 401-480-8381 riarajap@hotmail.com • http://www.facebook.com/groups/354516807278/