Estimating financial and health burden by initial Medicare plan choice and history of cancer.

Understanding the downstream consequences of initial Medicare plan selection is necessary to ensure access to and affordability of health care services, especially for older adults with serious illness. We used 2008-2020 data from the Health and Retirement Study to estimate financial and health burden by initial Medicare plan selection (traditional Medicare without supplemental coverage, traditional Medicare plus supplemental coverage, or Medicare Advantage) and self-reported history of cancer. Initially choosing benefits with greater financial protections (either traditional Medicare plus supplemental coverage or Medicare Advantage) relative to traditional Medicare without supplemental coverage was associated with lower levels of out-of-pocket spending and a lower likelihood of reporting cost-related medication nonadherence and fair or poor health.

The Effect of Biochar on Tomato () Cultivar Micro-Tom Grown under Continuous Light.

Unlabelled: Continuous lighting (CL) has the potential to increase crop yield in greenhouse production. Tomato plants, however, when exposed to CL develop inter-vascular chlorosis, a leaf injury which causes a reduction in chlorophyll content and necrosis. The application of biochar can reduce physiological stress in plants, we examine if biochar also reduces necrosis in tomatoes when grown under CL.

High-Risk Credit Borrowing Patterns: A Comparison of Cancer With Major Chronic Diseases.

Purpose: Although financial toxicity from cancer care is well documented, how cancer and other high-mortality chronic diseases affect credit overuse and high-risk borrowing remains unknown.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed households in the 2012-2018 Health and Retirement Study. Outcomes included nonhousing financial debt and credit card debt.

Like and share: A mixed-methods cross-sectional survey of social media use during monochorionic diamniotic twin pregnancies.

Problem: Monochorionic-diamniotic (MCDA) twin pregnancies are high-risk, requiring specialized monitoring and procedures to screen for and treat potential complications.

Aim: This study examined decisions to use social media among those who have experienced MCDA pregnancies and how these groups influenced treatment and management decisions for these rare, complicated pregnancies.

Methods: An online mixed-methods, retrospective survey, was completed in 2021 by 624 participants who experienced MCDA pregnancies within 5 years of the study; participants were recruited from online MCDA pregnancy groups on Facebook and Twitter.

Medicare-Covered Services Near the End of Life in Medicare Advantage vs Traditional Medicare.

Importance: Financial incentives in Medicare Advantage (MA), the managed care alternative to traditional Medicare (TM), were designed to reduce overutilization. For patients near the end of life (EOL), MA incentives may reduce potentially burdensome care and encourage hospice but could also restrict access to costly but necessary services.

Objective: To compare receipt of potentially burdensome treatments and transfers and potentially necessary postacute services in the last 6 months of life in individuals with MA vs TM.