Aging In the News

China’s hottest grandpa is putting a new spin on what it means to be old. At age 80, he has a powerful physique, and also works as a DJ and actor. Being older in China typically means being respected, but also sentimentalized. Someone as young as 50 may be addressed as ‘yeye” or “nainal” (grandpa or grandma), regardless of whether they have offspring. Retirement homes are known as “respect elder homes.” The legal retirement age for woman is 50 for workers, 55 for civil servants and 60 for most men. NY Times/Boston Globe
 
In Miami, health care providers spent about $14,423 per Medicare patient in 2010. In Minneapolis, average spending that year was $7,819. A study co-authored by MIT economists provides a reason why. It found that nearly 50 percent of the spending differences across geographic areas stem from the characteristics of patients--basic health and their preferences for the intensiveness of medical care. The rest of the spending differences derive from place-specific factors, possibly due to disparities in provider practices and incentives. MIT News/ScienceBlog
 
Learn more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/world/asia/china-wang-deshun-model-80.html
http://news.mit.edu/2016/providers-patients-health-care-spending-equal-1104