Debbie Perlman Blog

Research shows a link, but it isn’t retirement itself that leads to a longer life, but what you do in retirement. You may not need another reason to retire early, but I’ll give you one anyway: It could lengthen your life. That’s the thrust from various research in recent years, and also from a 2017 study in the journal Health Economics.  In that study, Hans Bloemen, Stefan Hochguertel and Jochem Zweerink — all economists from the Netherlands — looked at what happened when, in 2005, some Dutch civil servants could temporarily qualify for early retirement. Only those at least 55 years old and with at least 10 years of continuous service with contributions to the public sector pension fund were eligible. Men responding to the early retirement offer were 2.6 percentage points less likely to die over the next five years than those who did not retire early. (Too few women met the early retirement eligibility criteria to be included in the study.) The Du...

There are many treatment options for a problem that can be downright deadly.  One of the lighter moments along my journey to receiving a sleep apnea diagnosis was learning that “heroic snoring” is a clinical term. It sounds more like an oddball super power — snores that can be clearly heard through walls. Many of us have such a snorer in our lives, and some endure the disruption it causes nightly.   We hardly need research to appreciate the difficulties this poses. Yet some studies on it have been done, and they document that snoring can lead to marital disruption, and that snorers’ bed partners can experience insomnia, headaches and daytime fatigue. But heroic (and less-than-heroic) snoring can also be a sign of an even deeper problem: obstructive sleep apnea, which is marked by a collapse of the upper airway leading to shallow breathing or breathing cessation that causes decreases in blood oxygen. Sleep apnea can be downright deadly, and not just f...

Do you know the difference between the “parts” of Medicare — Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D? There are many important facts you need to understand about Medicare prior to enrolling to make sure you get the most out the available Medicare plans and benefits. Background on Medicare: Medicare is a federal health insurance program that pays for a variety of health care expenses. It’s administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). Medicare beneficiaries are typically senior citizens aged 65 and older. Adults with certain approved medical conditions (such as Lou Gehrig’s disease) or qualifying permanent disabilities may also be eligible for Medicare benefits. Similar to Social Security, Medicare is an entitlement program. Most U.S. citizens earn the right to enroll in Medicare by working and paying their taxes for a minimum required period. Even if you didn’t work long ...

Most European nations have had some form of national insurance for more than a century. The primary reasons for the emergence of these programs was not payment of medical expenses, but instead income stabilization and protection of wage loss due to sickness . These original entities are in some ways analogous to the American Social Security program. Since their inception, European social insurance programs have evolved into flourishing universal health care systems. Both the European Union and the United Nations recognize health care as a basic human right; 38% of the constitutions of the United Nations' members guarantee medical care . The United States, Mexico, South Korea, and Turkey are the only member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that do not recognize universal health care as a basic human right. Our Constitution and the Bill of Rights do not guarantee access to health care. This is expected in nations with older founding documen...