Grateful for My Health

While I don't eat right - there's a lack of fruits & veggies in my diet - I walk during breaks at work. In fact, before I begin my day, I typically set a timer on my cell phone and start this routine:

• go up a flight of stairs, walk two laps
• go up a flight of stairs, walk two laps
• go up a flight of stairs, walk multiple laps with my friend Jay

That is my up/around³ routine.
Yesterday, I walked in the training room area that's on the other side of the level I set in. My friend Pam was walking and we had a really GOOD discussion about teenagers and technology and sports and other topics. It helped push my daily total to a whopping 14587 steps for the day, which is good because my walking went from 14424 to 14587 after work (mainly because I didn't keep my cell phone in my pocket as I did some typical tasks like laundry & unloading the dishwasher).

I mention "my health" because I read this:

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Iowa Watch: Health insurance concerns increasing older workers 

	Debby Bell, 59, of West Liberty, works for University Housing and Dining at the University of Iowa to cover the cost of her husband's medical bills. CREDIT: LILY SMITH/THE DAILY IOWAN

A 58-year-old man has stage four chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an intense respiratory failure disease that requires him to rely on an oxygen machine around the clock and prevents him from working. Much of his costly medical expenses for this disease, widely

known as COPD, aren't covered by Medicare.

So, his 59-year-old wife, Debby Bell, uses her health benefits as a University of Iowa employee to cover the cost of his checkups, prescriptions and medical machines that supply him oxygen and stimulate normal breathing. One prescription is for an inhaler that costs more than $500 a month. Checkups are required every six months and include an echocardiogram costing $1,500.

"There's no way a normal person can pay that," Ms. Bell said. "Even someone with a much better job than I have ... you could go broke real quick."

Ms. Bell is one of many Iowans nearing retirement age who are remaining in the workforce because of the high cost of health care that their life savings cannot cover. The Pew Research Center reports that 10,000 baby boomers hit retirement age every day.

The youngest are starting to retire at age 54, according to the senior advocacy group, AARP. But most aren't leaving the labor market. The number of boomers in the work force shows a steady 4.5 percent increase since 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. An estimated 9.7 million Americans age 65 and older remain in the U.S. workforce, the U.S. Census Bureau reported last year. 

Ms. Bell and her husband, Jeffrey, live in West Liberty. Without the health benefits that go with Ms. Bell's employment at the University of Iowa's Burge Market Place, the couple would not have been able to pay their mortgage or utility bills, she said. She is approaching retirement but fears it won't be an option if she doesn't have decent health insurance to supplement Medicare and cover prescription medicines for her and her husband.

 

To read the full report from Iowa Watch writer Nichole Shaw and The Daily Iowan, click here. This story was produced by the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch.org, a nonprofit, online news website that collaborates with Iowa news organizations to produce explanatory and investigative reporting, with assistance from The Daily Iowan.

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