The survey “Growing Oldin America: The Healthand Retirement Study,”

sponsored by the NationalInstitute on Aging, found somecompelling insights into thehealth of older Americans.

• Less than half of HRS partic-ipants aged 55 to 64 said they arein very good or excellent health.

• Only about one quarter ofparticipants aged 65 and oldersaid they are in very good orexcellent health.

According to the Centers forDisease Control, the leading caus-es of death for U.S. adults aged 65or older are heart disease, cancer

and stroke. These account for61 percent of all deaths in this agegroup.

What many people don’t real-ize is that behavior changes andpreventive screenings can helpthem live better and longer lives.

BehaviorMen and women over 50 can

take action to improve their over-all health. It’s never too late tostart.

• Be tobacco free. To talk tosomeone about how, call theNational Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

• Get active. Start small andwork up to 30 minutes or more of

moderate activity several days aweek. Talk to your doctor aboutwhat you can do.

• Eat healthy. Lean meats, fish,vegetables, fruits, whole grainsand fat free or low fat milk andmilk products are best for peopleof any age.

• Maintain a healthy weight.Balance calorie intake with calo-ries spent in exercise. Talk to yourdoctor if you start to gain or loseweight unexpectedly.

• Get immunized. Influenzaand pneumonia kill an average of36,000 people a year, most ofwhom are women aged 65 orolder. The right immunizationscan prevent not only the flu andpneumonia, but whooping coughand shingles as well.

ScreeningsClinicians order diagnostic

tests when they suspect someonehas a disease. Screening tests,however, help check for problemsbefore symptoms are apparent.Health experts from the U.S.Preventive Services Task Forcerecommend the following screen-ings for men and women over age50:

Colorectal Cancer. This is thethird most common type of can-cer for both men and women andthe second leading cause of can-

cer death in the U.S. More than 90percent of cases are diagnosed inpeople aged 50 or older. The TaskForce recommends

• A fecal occult blood testevery year

• Flexible sigmoidoscopyevery 5 years

Depression. Emotional healthis as important as physical health.If you have felt down, sad orhopeless over the last two weeks,or have felt little interest or pleas-ure in doing things, you mighthave depression. Talk to your doc-tor about getting screened.

High Blood Pressure. Haveyour blood pressure checked atleast every two years. If you havehigh blood pressure, have a bloodtest for diabetes.

High Cholesterol. Have yourcholesterol checked regularly.

Women over age 50 shouldhave the following screenings aswell:

Breast Cancer. Mammogramevery one to two years. The risk ofgetting breast cancer increases asa woman gets older. Nearly eightof 10 cases of breast cancer arefound in women over age 50.

Cervical Cancer. Pap smearevery one to three years.

Check with your doctor aboutwhat screenings you should have.Targeted screenings based on age,gender, underlying health condi-tion or family history can make allthe difference for a healthy life.

Courtesy of Family Features

Staying healthy at 50+Life expectancy has grown dramatically over thelast century, but not all those living longer now areliving well.

Empty nesters, retireesand busy baby boomers canall take advantage of traveldeals to plan a great get-away. If you’re over age 50,there’s a bargain for you.

National Parks. TheAmerica the Beautiful –National Parks and FederalRecreational Lands Pass –Senior Pass. For $10, U.S.citizens or permanent resi-dents age 62 or over can geta lifetime pass to any feder-al recreation site, whichadmits the pass holder andall car passengers in forfree. It also provides a 50percent discount on somefees charged for facilitiesand services such as camp-ing, swimming and boating.The pass can only beobtained in person at thepark. Visit www.nps.gov formore details.

Educational Tours.Don’t let the name fool you– Elderhostel offers nearly8000 educational tours inall 50 states and in 90 coun-tries around the world.Their Web site, www.elder-hostel.org, showcases manytours under $600 includ-ing:

• A three-night NapaValley winery trip

• A five-night servicetrip in Maryland to helpbuild a Heifer GlobalVillage

• A one-night Dine Likea Critic experience inCambridge, Mass.

• A three-day digital

photography class inRaquette Lake, N.Y.

Cruises. There are cruisedeals aplenty these days.Talking with a travel agentand searching online canturn up some significantsavings. If you are interest-ed in a specialty cruise forseniors only, visitwww.cruisecompete.com, acost comparison site.Searching under the sen-iors category will list offer-ings from various cruiselines and lets you comparefeatures and pricing. Cruis-es for the end of 2009 andwell into 2010 are listed.

Active Vacations. If sit-ting around the pool is tootame for you, look into themany active vacations avail-able. The travel sitewww.away.com lists theTop 10 Active Baby BoomerVacations. Affordableoptions include biking inVermont, birding in Alaska,trekking the AppalachianTrail in Maine, horsebackriding in Wyoming, hikingin Colorado.

There is also Passport inTime, a volunteer archaeol-ogy and historic preserva-tion program of the USDAForest Service. Work withprofessional archaeologistsand historians on archaeo-logical survey and excava-tion, rock art restoration,archival research, historicstructure restoration, oralhistory gathering, andanalysis and curation of

artifacts. You must submitan application, be chosen,and be ready to pitch a tentor pay for accommodationsnearby. Find out more atwww.passportintime.com.

General Money-SavingTips

• Joining AARP netsdiscounts on hotels, rentalcars, vacation packages andmore. At www.aarp.org,they also have a TrendTracker that lets you evalu-ate the least expensivehotel and flight prices forthe time of year you want totravel.

• Combining air fare,hotel and rental car costsunder a package deal canoften save quite a bit ofmoney. Do some home-work, however, and com-pare the package price withthe total cost of bookingeach element separately tomake sure you’re gettingthe best deal.

• Sign up for promo-tional emails from severalhotel, airline and travelsites, such as www.expe-dia.com, www.orbitz.comand www.travelocity.com.You’ll receive alerts on spe-cial promotions and farereductions. Sites such aswww.transitionsabroad.com have helpful travel tipsand resources that can saveyou time and money.

Courtesy of Family Features

PAGE 2 | LIFE AFTER 50 | FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2010

Bargains fortravelers over 50

A serious long-term ill-ness or disability can have adevastating, often irre-versible, affect on a family’sfinancial well-being. Infact, health care expensesare among the most com-mon cause of bankruptcies,according to findings pub-lished in the “AmericanJournal of Medicine” lastyear.

Most people are notfinancially prepared to havetheir employment inter-rupted, even briefly. Forexample, studies find morethan 60 percent of workerslive paycheck to paycheck.The U.S. Department ofCommerce reports that thepersonal savings rate inMarch was just 2.7 percentof after-tax income.

So, what can you do toease the financial risks ifyou are one of the millionswho must stop workingeach year because of a seri-ous health condition?

“First, have hope,because there are thingsyou can do to take control,”says Paul Gada, personalfinance director for theAllsup Disability LifePlanning Center. Allsup is anationwide provider ofSocial Security DisabilityInsurance representationand Medicare plan selec-tion services.

According to Gada, seek-ing help is essential. “Manypeople are afraid and over-whelmed. Asking for help isa sign of strength and beingyour own best advocate canhelp you feel more in con-trol.”

Among the first stepspeople with serious healthconditions or their care-givers should take quicklyare:

• Create a financial plan.The plan should focus onestablishing a budget andmaking certain you arespending down your assetsin the least harmful way.Generally, this means usingyour savings or other re-sources before withdraw-ing from retirement ac-counts that could trigger apenalty or using high inter-est-rate credit, which couldhave you paying off interestfor years.

Unfortunately, approxi-mately 15 percent of peopleawaiting SSDI report raid-ing their retirement sav-ings. Additionally, 17 per-cent are relying on theircredit cards and 7 percenton home equity lines ofcredit to meet financialneeds until they receivetheir SSDI benefits, accord-ing to the Allsup DisabilityFinance online poll. Thepoll was conducted onlinethis spring with 138 respon-dents.

• Contact your mort-gage company or landlord.As part of this, identifyhousing assistance pro-grams. For example, theU.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Develop-ment has programs to assistwith mortgage modifica-tions, as well as rental assis-tance that can lower hous-ing costs drastically.However, there are waitinglists, so it’s important tosign up as soon as possible.

• Seek assistance withutilities, food and othernecessities. Conserve yourresources by finding assis-tance to help you cope.Hundreds of federal, localand private resources areavailable in most communi-ties. These can range fromneighborhood foodpantries to federally funded

programs, such as LowIncome Home EnergyAssistance Program. Localphone companies providereduced-rate support forhome phone service.Associations such as theAmerican Cancer Societyand the National FamilyCaregiver Association alsooffer guidance.

Many more people indi-cate they are consideringassistance than are actuallysecuring this assistance,according to an Allsup poll.They may not understandhow to apply or they maynot meet the incomethresholds initially, butcould later on as they spenddown their assets.

“It can be overwhelmingand people too often giveup,” explains Gada, addingthat Allsup offers links tomany of these resourcesfrom its Web site.

• Secure health carecoverage. Continuing med-ical treatment is vital.Among the options areCOBRA through your for-mer employer, a spouse’splan or other private cover-age, such as through thehealth insurance exchangesbeing established as part of

the health care legislationenacted earlier this year.Compare plans closely tomake sure you are gettingthe coverage needed andthat you understand thecosts. Additionally, if youmust take expensive pre-scription drugs, check if thepharmaceutical companyoffers a prescription-drugassistance program.

• Pursue income sourc-es, including SSDI. If youhave paid into the SocialSecurity Disability Insur-ance program, you may beeligible for benefits. If youare eligible, it’s essential toapply quickly as it can takeup to two years or more tobe approved. Gada advisesseeking help with yourSSDI application to speedthe process. For example,people with disabilitiesrepresented by Allsup aresignificantly more likely toreceive SSDI benefits at theinitial level.

“It’s heartbreaking tohear of people with seriousillnesses and disabilitiesunable to work and strug-gling month after month topay for food or medicalcosts until they’re finan-cially wiped out,” says

Gada. “It shouldn’t be thatway. There are steps peoplecan take, but they need to

ask for help and know howto get it.”

More information on

financial assistance is avail-able at www.Allsup.com or(800) 279-4357.

LIFE AFTER 50 | FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2010 | PAGE 3

5 steps to ensure health crisis isn’t finanical ruin

PAGE 4A | LIFE AFTER 50 | FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2010