Increasing numbers of American employees are being torn between caring for their aging parents and staying employed, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune . According to polls, more than 66 percent of caregivers face job-related problems, working less, taking unpaid time off, retiring early, or getting warned about performance or attendance. The United States does not guarantee workers paid leave to care for loved ones, and few employers offer it. "We are still using caregiving policies from the 1950s, when many more families were composed of one breadwinner and one stay-at-home parent providing unpaid family care," says Sarita Gupta with Caring Across Generations. "Families today are overwhelmed by the physical, emotional, and financial costs of both child care and senior care." The National Alliance for Caregiving estimates that informal caregiving costs U.S. businesses up to $33 billion in missed productivity every year, while workers who quit or cut back on their work hours risk their current and future financial security to avoid the high cost of home care, assisted living, or nursing communities. Paid family and medical leave has the support of both congressional Democrats and Republicans, but disagreement on payment models has inhibited a solid plan. Democrats generally have favored publicly-funded social insurance programs, while Republicans tend to prefer tax incentives.

An academic study from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests staying employed longer is a better option for people who are not in high-income brackets, reports the New York Times . Stanford University Professor John B. Shoven says increasing their monthly Social Security check can have an outsize impact on most Americans, and since Social Security is progressive, the impact of working longer is greater for those with less money. Although workers can draw benefits at 62, monthly payments will be much higher if they wait for two thresholds — the "full retirement age," at 66, and 70, which is when full benefits go into effect. The study generally assumes that the average employee is already saving 6 percent of their paycheck and that their employer is contributing 3 percent. The researchers estimate that working two years and five months longer would have the same effect on their monthly retirement income as saving an extra 10 percent of their salary until retiring at 66, assuming the employee was 46 years old and earning about $114,000 annually in 2013. Moreover, generally improving investment returns and slashing costs will have the same impact on monthly income as modest amounts of additional work. Shoven notes Social Security is an annuity founded on outdated estimates of U.S. life expectancy, making it a better option than the commercial market offers.

With June 15 marking World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the Elder Justice Initiative (EJI) is hosting a webinar on June 13 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. ET in recognition of this observance, reports the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities . The webinar will concentrate on how to support older adults and will feature the Deputy Director of the National Center on Elder Abuse along with experts from EJI, the Social Security Administration, and the Administration for Community Living. Free registration can be accessed here .

A gaming platform recently won an award for innovation in early dementia diagnosis, and another dementia-predicting tool was announced in Canada, reports New Scientist . "Sea Hero Quest" requires players to travel the oceans looking for lost memories, and co-designer Hugo Spiers of University College London says disruption to spatial orientation is an early Alzheimer's symptom. Spiers and colleagues are developing a version that could use game scores to tell doctors whether the players might be showing early signs of the disorder. Meanwhile, the Cognetivity startup offers a five-minute test played on an iPad, which involves players being displayed various scenes in quick succession. Players are tasked with picking out those containing animals as quickly as they can. The Cognetivity team opted to focus on visual processing because this is another of the first skills to deteriorate in the early stages of dementia. Experts say although it is too early to assess the true effectiveness of such apps, an optimal strategy may eventually emerge as more people use them. Still, even if new insights are gained, it would take much more work to determine exactly which type of dementia was likely to develop.

A study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general's office estimates there has been a 17 percent decline in the overall number of prescriptions for brand-name medications under Medicare's Part D drug program from 2011 to 2015, even as Medicare enrollees spent more on such drugs anyway, reports the Associated Press . Beneficiaries' annual costs for branded drugs climbed 40 percent, from $161 in 2011 to $225 on average in 2015. The office says price hikes by drugmakers are squeezing older people and taxpayers, and it warns rising Medicare payments for brand-name drugs "will continue to affect Part D and its beneficiaries for years to come." The report also found drugmakers hiked prices faster for the most commonly used brand-name medications, with the highest demand among Medicare beneficiaries. Average costs for the 200 drugs with the most prescriptions in 2015 increased at nearly twice the rate for branded drugs as a whole. The affordability of maintenance medications "directly impacts Medicare beneficiaries and their ability to access the prescription drugs they need to stay healthy," says HHIS Assistant Inspector General Ann Maxwell. "This has an immediate direct impact on their quality of life and their health." Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Alex Azar has cited high list prices for drugs and high out-of-pocket costs as particularly critical issues in the U.S.

The National Poll on Health Aging estimated that more seniors are setting up and using online portals to meet their healthcare needs, reports Becker's Hospital Review . Out of about 2,000 respondents between 50 and 80 years old, 52 percent ages 50 to 64 and 49 percent ages 65 to 80 have set up portals. Women were slightly more likely than men to use a portal, with viewing test results, refilling prescriptions, and scheduling appointments named the top reasons they use them. Moreover, persons 65 to 80 years old were more likely to say they dislike communicating about their health by computer, versus younger respondents. Respondents cited disliking communicating about their health via computer, having no need for a portal, and not knowing they had to set one up as reasons for forgoing a portal. Twenty-six percent of those who have not set one up were worried there was a larger chance of error with a portal than talking with someone by phone or in person, while 43 percent of those who did set one up said they have authorized another party to view their portal information such as their spouse or partner, an adult child, or another relative. Meanwhile, 21 percent considered the portal better able to explain their request, 47 percent rated the phone as better, and 32 percent rated both more or less equal. Thirty-four percent said the portal can better elicit a timely response, 36 percent said the phone is better, and 30 percent said they are about the same. In terms of helping them better understand information from providers, 30 percent preferred the portal, 27 favored the phone, and 43 percent rated them about equal.

Unemployment has hit record lows at a time when the housing shortage in rural communities has become especially acute, reports the Wall Street Journal . Affordable housing has become a recruitment concern. Rural areas also are seeing their populations stagnate or decline as younger people opt for urban living. Nebraska recently granted $7 million to rural communities to build market-rate homes to help attract more workers. "The fear is that if we don't solve this in some way, we're gonna lose a big employer," said Kimberly Hoefer, a real-estate broker in Columbus, NE. "It's a pretty simple equation," said Lance George, director of research for the Housing Assistance Council in Washington, DC. "The incomes in this country have not really matched housing prices so you continue to have this disconnect."

The Administration for Community Living on June 5 will host the Elder Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC) at the Securities and Exchange Commission building in Washington, D.C. The council coordinates activities related to senior abuse, neglect, and exploitation across the federal government, and they will use the event to provide updates on the future of the initiative. Also to be held later the same day is the fourth annual Global Summit on Elder Justice, which will be convened by the National Adult Protective Services Association, the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, and the National Center for Victims of Crime. Interested persons can RSVP for the ACL EJCC event here , and for the global summit here .

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched the Medical Foster Home program as an alternative to nursing community care, reports Kaiser Health News . The program has an annual budget of $20.7 million to provide housing and care for more than 1,000 veterans in 42 states and Puerto Rico. Veterans pay their caregivers between $1,500 and $3,000 a month, depending on location, saving the government about $10,000 monthly in nursing community care. The VA sees the program as an option for fulfilling its legal duty to care for ailing, aging veterans at lower costs. The department says there are slightly more than 700 licensed caregivers in the program who live full time with a maximum of three veterans, delivering 24-7 supervision and care. Each foster home has to be state-licensed as an assisted living community and undergo frequent VA inspections, in addition to state inspectors, nutritionists, pharmacists, and nurses. Home providers are required to pass a federal background check, complete 80 hours of training before they can accept residents in addition to 20 hours of extra training each year, and permit the VA to make announced and unannounced home visits. Caregivers are not allowed to operate outside the home and must maintain certification in first aid, CPR, and medicine administration. To apply for the program, veterans must be enrolled in VA healthcare; have a serious and chronic disabling medical condition requiring a nursing community level of care; need care coordination and access to VA services; and be able to cover their care costs.

A seven-year study of older Chinese adults published in JAMA Psychiatry found active participation in intellectual activities is linked to a reduced risk of subsequent dementia, reports MedPage Today . The researchers cited intellectual activities as independent of other lifestyle and health-related factors such as physical exercise, smoking, and nutritional habits. Nearly all participants reported participation in daily leisure activities, but of the 14,233 participants who remained free of dementia, 67 percent noted daily participation in intellectual activities versus 51 percent in the group who later developed the disease. The team observed no association between social or recreational activities and lower dementia risk. "Given the very high level of participation in recreational and social activities in our cohort, a ceiling effect might mask any association with risk of dementia," the authors acknowledge. Still, they suggest that "choosing the right type of activity appears to be more important than engaging in various non-intellectual activities in preventing dementia." However, the researchers concede that their study design does not allow for any conclusions about causality. The study's outcomes revealed that participants who subsequently developed dementia were older, mainly women, and had less education, more comorbidities, and poorer diets.