Consumer Reports Complete Guide to Health Services for Seniors : What Your Family Needs to Know About Finding and Financing, Medicare, Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, Home Care, Adult Day Care
Practical advice and realistic steps to take distinguish this guide published under the auspices of the nation's foremost consumers' advice service. If at times the text is heavy going, so is the subject. For determining the actions to take to get the best health care isn't a job for dummies, though the health-care system sometimes seems to have been created by dummies or, perhaps, sharpies--huge businesses and Congress members battered by powerful interest groups--on the principle that it is easier to sell a health-care policy or a hospital program to buyers who are confused. The guide explains all the system's elements in detail, alerts the reader to potential problems, tells where to get additional information and support, and offers some helpful (if, for libraries, problematic) worksheets and cost estimates. Health-care jargon, such as the snaky-soundingretroactive disenrollments, gets explained, and every senior is advised to prepare both a health-care proxy and a living will. The 20 appendixes includeConsumerReports ratings of insurance policies, HMOs, and nursing homes.William BeattyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved