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With income equality growing wider each day, a new article claims that even older adults can expect this inequality to increase as they age – within their own demographic. The elder rich get richer, the elder poor get poorer.

Kara Kytle is the driving force behind a smartphone app for caregivers, friends and family members called WithMe. It’s an elegant yet simple app that allows family or friends to schedule “check in” times with loved ones – typically older adults.

The enrollment process was disastrous. Yet once in, patient satisfaction levels hit 80%. That’s a quick summary of a new review of California’s efforts to steer its most expensive patients into managed care.

They’re called the “hidden poor.” Stuck in the limbo above the federal poverty level yet below adequate income streams to make ends meet, these “hidden poor” are often a forgotten demographic.

Dr. Michael Wasserman, a geriatrician for 30 years, tells this story about a call he once received from a nursing home: a resident had just lashed out and struck a staff member, so the nurse wanted to know if she could prescribe the anti-psychotic drug Haldol.

Sometimes, super sizing your meal is just too much. The same could be said for a state senator’s bill on aging reform, which was deemed “too far reaching” in its lengthy list of recommendations when it was first introduced – and defeated– last year by the Senate Health Committee.

Getting sick is expensive. And so is dying… especially from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. A recent study revealed that of the three leading killers in America – dementia, cancer and heart disease – dementia was by far the most expensive to treat before a patient’s eventual death. So, postponing its onset can be beneficial to both patients and families paying bills.

For Christmas I was blessed with the perfect gift for a columnist on aging – the autobiography of legendary singer Tom Jones. While many entertainers have resurrected careers long considered dormant, few have done so the way Jones has – by transforming himself from kitschy sex god into a contemporary pop icon who has worked with the likes electro-synth musicians The Art of Noise and legendary producer Wyclef Jean.