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Claiming Social Security at 62 – Nursing home staff not vaxxed – Older jobseekers

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Just One in Five Nursing Homes Meet Industry Threshold of 75% of Staff Vaccinated

Nationally, about 78 percent of nursing home residents and 56 percent of health care staff were fully vaccinated as of June 20, recently published federal data show. Of particular note, however, is the considerable variation among states. Meanwhile, only one in five facilities had reached an industry threshold of at least 75 percent of staff vaccinated. For details, see the AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard, updated every month with federally reported data to track trends over time.

What Tackling Age Discrimination Will Do for People—and the Economy

Recent AARP research found that 78 percent of older workers have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace. With that discrimination comes a cost, both personal and economic. Older workers who experience age discrimination often give up trying to find a job, or they accept positions with lower pay and benefits. And in 2018 alone, AARP estimates, age discrimination cost the U.S. economy $850 billion, a number projected to surge to $3.9 trillion by 2050—that is, if nothing changes.

Implications of Claiming Social Security Retirement Benefits at 62

Despite changes in Social Security rules that place greater penalties on claiming at 62, almost a third of those eligible nevertheless claim at this age, with many doing so out of necessity. But claiming early has a cost: a riskier financial future later in life. A recent report finds that where people live plays an important role in claiming early, with those in rural areas, for example, more likely to do so. Other factors include being unemployed, having a lower-paying job, working in a physically demanding job, and having a work-limiting health condition.

New Drugs Can Become Popular Long Before Evidence Supports Their Use

Despite their extremely high cost, novel oral anticoagulants, marketed as Pradaxa, Xarelto and Eliquis, rapidly displaced warfarin as the most popular treatment to prevent stroke in people with atrial fibrillation. The drugs came to dominate the market within four years after being introduced—and five years before atrial fibrillation treatment guidelines recommended them over warfarin as the preferred alternative. This scenario is by no means unique, with costly new drugs often supplanting more affordable older ones even before the science supports the switch.

Older Jobseekers Disproportionately Stuck in Long-Term Unemployment

Despite trends that point to a jobseekers’ market, including rising wages, more than half (55 percent) of jobseekers ages 55+ are still long-term unemployed (i.e., seeking work for 27 weeks or longer), compared with 36 percent of workers ages 16 to 54. Also, older workers who are employed seem determined to hold on to the jobs they have; a recent study finds one in three millennials plans to look for a new job once the pandemic is no longer an issue, compared with a quarter of Gen Xers and only 10 percent of baby boomers. The barriers to finding reemployment that older jobseekers continue to face, even in an improving job market, are likely a significant factor.

Survey Finds Barriers to APRN Practice Continued during COVID-19

Allowing nurses to practice to the full extent of their education and training can be a means of improving health care quality and reducing costs at the same time, and yet barriers blocking their ability to do so persist. A step in the right direction came in 2020, when, to improve access to care during the pandemic, many states temporarily lifted selected practice barriers for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). Yet a survey in one such state found that nearly 85 percent of APRNs said practice barriers continued to limit their ability to provide care during the pandemic.

In the News

‘I’m going to go broke’: This is how soaring inflation impacts Americans living on Social Security
MarketWatch

What we know about how Covid-19 affected older workers and employment
CNBC

Are you facing early retirement? Here’s how to prepare

MarketWatch

Editor-in-Chief: Susan C. Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN
Senior Writer/Editor: Carl Levesque

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