Rising Medicare Costs and Seniors

USA Today recently reported that prescription drug cost changes are wreaking havoc with the wallets of today's retired seniors. Prescription drug cost problems are not limited to just seniors - anyone who takes a prescription medication should notice some spike in out of pocket costs. The difference is that working people have potentially scalable incomes that can help pay for cost increases. Many seniors live on fixed incomes that can't absorb such increases.

It is reported that Medicare prescription drug costs will have increased 43% in the 3 years between 2006 and 2009. Seniors are most affected by such increases for two reasons. For one, many of them live on fixed incomes and secondly, seniors will need more prescription medications as they grow older. What can you do about it?

The fixed income is the retired person's biggest grief. If inflation were minimal, then periodic adjustments in retirement income could help make up for the increases. But we all know by now that increases are anything but minimal. The Medicare prescription drug cost increases amount to about 14.3% increase per year. No periodic inflation adjustment will make up for that kind of increase. The good news is that there are two things a senior or baby boomer can do to combat this trend.

The first is to take good care of yourself physically. That means eat the right foods and exercise lightly but regularly. Walking is a great exercise for seniors because it's low impact but high in cardio vascular exercise value. In other words, it's a great workout without the dangers of bruises, strains, or sprained muscles. You can usually find other seniors who will be happy to walk with you. A more active healthy lifestyle will keep you out of the doctor's office as much as possible and can help minimize your need for prescription medications.

The other thing a senior or baby boomer can do is start a home based business. Such a business will allow the senior to combat the increase prices brought on by Medicare prescription drug costs as well as other things that are always going up. A home based business can be designed for long term residual income and can be scaled for more income when needed.

So there is no need to fear rising prices. Take them head on and meet them with your better health and your better home business.