|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Features for Senior Citizens & Baby Boomers
Senior Citizens and Boomer Children Not
Communicating on Critical Issues
New Website will try to connect the
generations, says WellPoint
| |
Major Communications Gaps
% saying they talk about the
following regularly with parents or children |
|
| |
 |
|
October 25, 2006 A new survey joins others in the
past that have highlighted a communications disconnect between senior
citizens and their adult children primarily baby boomers. Seniors and
their children do not appear to be talking much about important
healthcare and aging topics, although the children think they are. And, the adult children believe
their parents worry a lot more about aging issues than they actually do.
After highlighting these gaps, WellPoint has decided to make the
solution part of its effort to promote its health insurance. They have
launched a Website to fix the disconnect.
| |
Related Stories |
|
| |
Adult Children and Parents Talking More Often
New survey finds the
communications revolution drawing families closer
Feb.
23, 2006 How often do senior citizens hear from their children? A
growing number of American adults either see or talk to a parent
(usually, it's mom) every day. More than four in ten (42%) make this
daily contact, while in 1989 a Gallup survey said only 32 percent did
so. The new report is from the Pew Research Center and looks at the
nature of family ties and frequency of family contact.
Read more...
Survey Finds Boomers Burdened With Family, Including
Aging Parents
Dec. 14, 2005 - As the oldest of the nations 75
million baby boomers approach the age of 60 on January 1, a Pew Research
Center survey released last week finds many are looking ahead to their
own retirement while balancing a full plate of family responsibilities
either raising minor children or providing financial and other forms of
support to adult children or to aging parents.
Read more...
Boomer
Children in the Dark about Aging Parents
Stranger might have the same chance at guessing
parental wishes
By
Jennie Iverson
Dec. 9, 2005 A psychologist at Washington
University in St. Louis is conducting research that shows two adult
siblings may have radically different views on what their parents would
want. In fact, he says that a random stranger might have the same chance
at guessing parental wishes as some children would.
Read more...
Thirteen Million Baby Boomers Care for Ailing
Parents, 25% Live with Parents
Discrepancies about how parents and boomers remember
caregiver role points to complex relationship
Oct. 19, 2005 - Thirteen million of the nation's
baby boomers are caregivers of sick parents and deeply involved in every
facet of their parents' care, from diagnosis to treatment, according to
a 2005 survey from Campbell-Ewald Health. Interestingly, the senior
citizen parents do not remember much of that help.
Read more...
Read more
Features for Senior Citizens or
Baby Boomer News |
|
WellPoint, Inc., which claims to be the nation's
largest health benefits company, today launched Connecting the
Generations, a long-term nationwide educational initiative to help
older adults and their families discuss and plan for important health
and aging issues such as health care, financial security, independent
living and end-of-life planning.
The new initiative was designed to address the
notable disconnect found between older adults and their families on
critical aging issues as revealed in a new national survey conducted by
Roper Public Affairs and Media Group and commissioned by WellPoint.
| |
Topics Not Talked About |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Although there is a big gap in
communications on some important issues, there are others that
just are not being discussed by seniors or their children. |
|
The program encourages proactive planning on
broader life issues in conjunction with the upcoming Medicare open
enrollment period, when families are already engaged in assessing their
health care needs and options.
The Roper/WellPoint Survey on Life, Health and
Aging, which polled more than 1,000 seniors and adult children
nationwide, confirmed the following key findings:
● Generations Perceive Aging Differently - Adult
children believe their senior parents worry more about aging issues than
they actually do (53 percent vs. 33 percent).
● Generations Aren't Talking About Important
Aging Issues, Especially Health - While 60 percent of adult children say
they talk regularly to their parents about health matters, only 32
percent of seniors report discussing health topics regularly with their
kids. Equally notable are the health and aging issues neither group
talk about regularly - such as nursing homes and long-term care, wills
or life insurance, funeral planning or the ability to drive.
● Seniors Say They Are Comfortable Talking About
Aging Issues, But Seldom Do So - While 76 percent of seniors said they
are very comfortable talking about their driving ability and/or wills
and life insurance with their kids, only 17 percent and 18 percent
respectively report doing so. While many seniors are comfortable
receiving help with their health care needs or insurance coverage, only
16 percent have discussed this regularly with their children.
● Generations Are Most Disconnected on Medicare -
76 percent of adult children agree that it's important to understand
health insurance coverage and Medicare issues so they can help their
parents, but more than half of adult children (52 percent) don't
understand Medicare.
● Both Generations Want to Talk About Health, But
Are Waiting for the Other to Bring It Up First - While nearly four in
ten seniors and their adult children (37 percent) reported that they
would like to discuss health issues more often, a roughly equal number
(43 percent) say they would talk about if the other brought it up first.
WellPoint says Connecting the Generations is a new
long-term educational initiative designed to provide valuable education
and support to help fill the "gaps" in information between older adults
and other generations -- to ultimately create a community-at-large that
is more informed, engaged and equipped to address important life issues.
"Living a secure and healthy retirement requires
more than a good health care plan -- it requires a life plan that has
been thoughtfully discussed and communicated with family," said Joan E.
Herman, president and chief executive officer of Specialty, Senior and
State-Sponsored Business for WellPoint.
"Connecting the Generations is an important new
component of WellPoint's commitment to serving the needs of the nation's
growing older adult population and their families. We are excited to
launch this program and offer a new level of education and service to
help close the communication gaps revealed by the Roper survey."
"The Roper survey shows that seniors and adult
children are comfortable talking about health and aging, but they need
to get the conversation started!" said Dr. Edward Schneider, Dean
Emeritus of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of
Southern California. "Often, families discuss these critical life issues
under duress usually after a life-changing event impacts their family or
friends.
The time to talk and plan is now, when plans can be
made proactively. Developing these action plans is imperative, enabling
families to have peace of mind and a sense of control over their
future."
The first phase of Connecting the Generations
includes easily accessible resources to empower seniors and their
families including:
● The Connecting the Generations Conversation
Guide - a 24-page free booklet with tips and information for initiating
conversations on critical health and aging issues, with practical
checklists for future planning.
● The new Web site -
www.connectingthegenerations.org - serves as an online resource for
older adults and their families to access information on health and
aging. It also includes tips for initiating family conversations, an
Ask the Expert column with noted gerontology expert and author Dr.
Edward Schneider, information on health plan options, and downloadable
checklists for future planning.
● The initiative will also reach families through
an expanding network of on-the-ground community outreach supported
through nonprofit, public agency and retail partnerships in select
regions across the country.
Future phases of Connecting the Generations will
provide new educational tools, training and programs for caregivers,
physicians and other health care providers to help serve the health and
lifestyle needs and interests of the diverse senior population. The
initiative will grow and evolve to utilize and engage WellPoint's
significant networks of physicians, pharmacists and other health care
providers, associates, agents, brokers, corporate and community
partners.
Editor's Notes:
The Connecting the Generations Conversation
Guide, full results of The Roper/WellPoint Survey on Life, Health and
Aging, further information on the initiative are available online at
http://www.connectingthegenerations.org/ or by calling 866-406-0984.
WellPoint, Inc. Describes Itself
WellPoint says its mission is to improve the
lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities.
WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health benefits company in terms of
commercial membership in the United States. Through its nationwide
networks, the company delivers a number of leading health benefit
solutions through a broad portfolio of integrated health care plans and
related services, along with a wide range of specialty products such as
life and disability insurance benefits, pharmacy benefit management,
dental, vision, behavioral health benefit services, as well as long term
care insurance and flexible spending accounts. Headquartered in
Indianapolis, Indiana, WellPoint is an independent licensee of the Blue
Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue
Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee
for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri
(excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire,
New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan and
surrounding counties and as Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield in
selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern
Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare.
Additional information about WellPoint is available at
http://www.wellpoint.com/.
Web site:
http://www.connectingthegenerations.org/
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
