Senior Voice -

The 2014 Alaska Legislative Session included a handful of bills that were important to seniors, from formalizing a change to the mediset program that allows smaller pharmacies to distribute medicine in hourly or daily dosage packs to Medicaid...

The White House, after an aggressive pushback from seniors, patients, pharmaceutical companies and lawmakers from both parties, recently scrapped most of a proposed plan to limit Medicare coverage for certain classes of drugs including those used to...

Alaska’s senior population has grown 7 percent since 2000. The publication Alaska Economic Trends states the number of Alaskans over the age of 70 will grow 60 percent in the next several years. More than 130,000 baby boomers will reach retirement a...

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Senior and Disabilities Services Division has placed a six month moratorium on certifying new agencies which provide personal care assistant (PCA) services funded by Medicaid. Lynne Keilman-Cruiz,...

It was in 1945 that the Raytheon Company’s Percy Spencer stood in front of a magnetron (the power tube of radar). He felt a candy bar melt in his pocket. When he put popcorn kernels in front of the magnetron, the kernels exploded all over the l...

Visiting family members and friends is a time-honored and valued tradition. Being with others in conversation or in companionable silence, in laughter or even in tears reaffirms our need for connection and belonging. We want to be with people we...

You can’t watch television for more than an hour without being exposed to pleas to use either Viagra or Cialis to deal with erectile dysfunction. Now testosterone is being pushed. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), however, w...

If someone in your family needs hospice care, this column explains what it is and what Medicare covers. What is hospice care? Hospice care is a program of care and support for patients who are terminally ill. These patients may no longer want to try...

Gov. Sean Parnell has named nine Alaskans to serve on the Medicaid Reform Advisory Group, which was created by the governor to bring in stakeholders and craft a proposal for meaningful reforms to the state’s Medicaid program. Specifically, the g...

In March, the Alaska Medicare Clinic in Anchorage announced the affiliation of Dr. Virginia Haskell and Cynthia McGinty, ANP with the clinic. With this additional staff, the clinic is adding new patients to their service and expanding the ability to...

Alzheimer’s Resource of Alaska will offer “Savvy Professional” training workshops this month in Ketchikan, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Palmer. Sponsored in part by the Trust Training Cooperative, the workshops are designed for those who have a worki...

Skagway seniors who struggle dragging the garbage can out to the street for emptying will be treated to some extra help under a pilot program next winter. City workers will go to their doorstep and take the garbage out for them. Skagway Assemblyman...

When it comes time to replace the windows in your home, who are you going to call? Hiring a window installer is similar to hiring other professionals in the building industry – you should do a good amount of research on the person(s) you trust to i...

Dear Jonathan: My wife and I have a living trust and recently after consulting with our attorney, we transferred our home, as well as our family cottage to our trust for probate avoidance. Last week as I was writing out a check for our homeowners...

Q. I went to delete a file and it just deleted without asking for confirmation. I intended to delete it, so the lack of a confirmation wasn’t a big deal, but I prefer having a “safety net” requiring me to confirm any deletions. Do you know why it wou...

The Alaska Kidney Patients Association will present their free 9th Annual Education Symposium on Saturday, May 31, 2013 at Changepoint Church in Anchorage. The Symposium consists of live speaker lectures from local kidney doctors and other...