A new study published by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that 25 percent of American workers ages 21 to 75 said financial concerns caused them health problems, while 40 percent said finances distracted them at work and 15 percent said these difficulties made them miss work, reports Reuters . In response, companies are providing stronger arrays of voluntary financial wellness benefits, sometimes with cash incentives or discounts, to help workers better manage their money. "They are starting to see that a 401(k) is not enough," says Edukate CEO Chris Whitlow. "Employees say: I have present-day needs I have to take care of before I can take care of retirement." Another study from Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health found 90 percent of 162 firms currently feature financial wellness programs, such as debt management and budgeting; about 75 percent provide stress management training. These options are customized to the demographics of a company's workforce. Fidelity advisers used to make quarterly visits, but workers kept requesting more facetime. Now advisers visit multiple locations at least 12 days a month at corporate headquarters, in addition to regular visits to more than 25 U.S. satellite locations. Other firms are ramping up campaigns to raise awareness and educate: for example, Prudential in 2017 started a $5 million partnership with the Aspen Institute to develop new financial wellness tools for employees and a roadmap for companies.

Walmart Labs recently signed onto Path Forward, a nonprofit that enables programs to aid caregivers — primarily mothers — in going back to professional work after taking time off to look after children, a parent, or another loved one, reports Fortune . Beginning in September, Walmart Labs will offer three-month internships or "returnships" in software engineering and product management to candidates looking to resume their careers after caregiving breaks. Walmart Labs' Bobbie Grafeld says the unit aims to hire between 20 and 30 people, with the initial returnships based in the San Bruno and Sunnyvale offices in California. "These people have strong skills sets" and made "a personal choice to exit the workforce," she notes. "How can we — as the world's largest employer — help them ease back into it?" Grafeld says Walmart Labs also has ambitions to extend the program company-wide. Path Forward is geared toward to people with at least five years of professional experience who have paused their careers for at least two years of caregiving. The nonprofit helps create returnships that participating companies operate themselves. These businesses pay Path Forward an administrative fee in return for promotional services and training on how to launch their returnships. Grafeld says the returnships allow employers and interns to determine whether the arrangement is beneficial in terms of culture and skill set. Grafeld says a Walmart Labs "returnee" who meets these criteria may be offered full-time employment when the program ends.

A British study published in Psychological Medicine found an association between depression and an acceleration of the rate of brain aging, reports ScienceDaily . The researchers conducted a review of 34 longitudinal studies on more than 71,000 participants. They examined the rate of decline of overall cognitive state in older adults. The investigation determined people with depression underwent a greater decline in cognitive state in older adulthood than those without depression. These findings are seen as important for early interventions. "Our findings should give the government even more reason to take mental health issues seriously and to ensure that health provisions are properly resourced," says the University of Sussex's Dr. Darya Gaysina. "We need to protect the mental well-being of our older adults and to provide robust support services to those experiencing depression and anxiety in order to safeguard brain function in later life."

An Accenture survey of 2,301 U.S. consumers found 48 percent plan to postpone enrollment in Medicare beyond age 65, and health plans that fail to reconsider their marketing strategies will likely lose out, reports HealthLeaders Media . Seventy percent of respondents nearing Medicare age have performed at least one health activity online, and 53 percent say they will shop for Medicare plans online. Each new Medicare Advantage enrollee is worth about $11,000 in government premium reimbursement annually, and Accenture says improved marketing performance can lead to hundreds of millions in revenue boosts for health plans over time. A key factor in the Medicare enrollment delay is the fact that the Social Security "full retirement age" with maximum benefit is 66 years and two months. Accenture advises health plans to first concentrate marketing on the older-than-65 demographic, addressing their existence and value with as much vigor as younger entrants. In addition, because new-to-Medicare consumers are using digital more often, health plans should make this medium central to engagement. Finally, by personalizing consumers' digital experiences, health plans would become a valued and respected resource for potential enrollees.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will testify about President Trump's proposal to lower prescription drug costs at a June 12 hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, reports The Hill . This will be the first time that lawmakers will publicly look at the plan since its unveiling in early May. Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) did not say whether the hearing will lead to legislation. Trump has claimed his administration can oversee many of the proposals on its own, but how Medicare covers the cost for drugs could require congressional oversight. Democrats have criticized Trump's plans for falling short, noting his drug pricing measure does not urge Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly. Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) announced last week that he also plans to hold hearings on the proposal. Few observers expect Congress to take major action on such an issue in an election year, but the hearings signal that there could at least be some talk about the issue.

A new study presented at the Population Association of America's annual meeting found seniors can still maintain an overall sense of well-being even though cognitive challenges arise in a more compressed time frame in later life, reports the Washington Post . After 65, people can spend over 12 years in good cognitive health, on average, with that span increasing over the last 10 years. More years of education, which is tied to better physical and brain health, appears to be contributing to this trend. About 20 percent to 25 percent of seniors have mild cognitive impairment while about 10 percent have dementia, says the University of Michigan's Dr. Kenneth Langa. Risks increase with greater age, and the portion of the population affected is significantly higher for people over 85. A study from the Rand Corp. and the National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that 10.5 percent of U.S. adults age 65 and older had dementia in 2012, versus 12 percent in 2000. However, gains are unequally distributed and college graduates can expect to spend more than 80 percent of their lifetime after age 65 with good cognition, according to research from the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Austin. This falls to less than 50 percent for those who fail to complete high school.

Estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found death rates climbed for Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, flu, and pneumonia, and three other leading causes of death, according to the Associated Press . Little change was observed in the heart disease death rate, which is the highest death rate in the United States. Previously, steady annual declines in heart disease death rates offset rises in other causes, but experts say that offset is no longer happening. The overall death rate rose slightly less than 1 percent, to about 734 deaths per 100,000 people. The rate declined modestly in 2016 despite a record number of deaths that year, so its increase in 2017 is more reason to expect life expectancy will worsen, says Princeton University's Anne Case. 2016 was the second year consecutive year that American life expectancy fell, a rare event that had occurred only twice before in the last century. Meanwhile, the heart disease death rate fell by just 0.3 percent. Experts believe America's increasing obesity rate is likely a factor in the flattening of heart disease death rates. Meanwhile the cancer death rate has continued to drop, falling 2 percent from 2016. Death rates from HIV and blood infections also slipped.

A study published in eNeuro suggests young adults who experience minor hearing loss exhibit changes in brain activity that are typically only seen in old age, reports Medical News Today . The researchers had 35 participants between 18 and 41 old undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging scans while listening to sentences of varying complexities. Some volunteers had subtle hearing impairments when tested at baseline, and the scans showed that these participants processed the messages they heard differently from their peers. Furthermore, their brain activity in this context was similar to that of aging listeners. Healthy young adults with no hearing problems solely use the brain's left hemisphere to process heard information, but subjects with minor hearing impairments showed activity in both the left and the right hemispheres. Specifically, the right frontal cortex became active, and Ohio State University's Yune Lee says "it shouldn't be happening until people are at least older than 50." The team is concerned that the hearing loss may only worsen, affecting comprehension, which can hasten the development of neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia. "We suspect that what happens is you put so much effort into listening you drain your cognitive resources, and that has a negative effect on your thinking and memory and that can eventually lead to dementia," Lee says.

Argentum partner LifeSpan Network has applauded Maryland's Gov. Larry Hogan for his approval of a 3 percent — or $20.2 million — rate increase for long-term services and supports (LTSS) providers as part of the state's fiscal year 2019 budget. "This rate increase demonstrates the level of commitment that both the governor and the legislature have for the more than 42,000 individuals receiving LTSS," said LifeSpan president and CEO Kevin Heffner. "We are sincerely grateful to Gov. Hogan and the members of the Maryland General Assembly for their leadership during the 2018 session and for their commitment to providers and the seniors they serve." Effective July 1, 2018, the additional funds will be allocated as follows: $12.1 million for nursing community provider rates; $5.1 million for home- and community-based provider rates, including private duty, medical adult day care, and other waiver provider rates; and $3 million for the specialized foster care and group home service provider rates.

A study presented at the 2018 American Thoracic Society International Conference found senior Medicaid beneficiaries are less likely to survive in a nursing community following a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) than those covered by Medicare and commercial insurance, reports News-Medical . "This was true even after taking into account differences in pre-existing health conditions and the severity of critical illness," says Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons' Yoland Philpotts. The team analyzed the post-release mortality of New Yorkers age 65 and older who had their first hospitalization in intensive care, and survived while there. They examined 339,261 New York State cases between 2010 and 2014, and estimated that 20 percent of those who survived while in the ICU died within 12 months of release. The researchers determined survivors of critical illness with Medicaid who are released from the hospital to a nursing community have a 15 percent higher risk of death versus those with commercial insurance. "The implications of our findings are important: to improve the long-term survival and quality-of-life of critical illness survivors, we may have to improve care not only within the hospital and ICU, but also after hospital release." Philpotts says.