What We're Reading: Senior Citizen Caregivers; Dwindling ACA Plans; Organ Donation Tax Credit

Senior Citizens Move Home to Be Caregivers

Millennials aren’t the only children moving home: more and more senior citizens are moving back to be near their elderly parents. A Kaiser Health News article highlights the growing trend of very old parents and their elderly children aging together. The population aged 80 years and older is growing quickly, and their children are typically serving as a primary caregiver or at the very least monitoring their parents’ welfare. Sometimes this occurs even when the children themselves have health issues.

ACA Choices Dwindling in 2018

There could be a large increase in the number of Americans exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate in 2018. With Humana leaving the market completely, there are parts of Tennessee that will have no insurance options at all at this point, and if Anthem departs there could be gaps in at least 5 states, reported The New York Times. Nearly 1000 counties are served by just 1 insurer at this point, and the parts of the country with little or no insurance competition tend to be rural and expensive.

NJ’s Tax Credit for Organ Donation

There are already 19 states that offer tax credits for organ donation, but New Jersey is considering something different. Typically, tax credits are provided for expenses related to a living organ donation, but a New Jersey lawmaker has proposed a tax credit with no strings attached. The problem is that such a tax credit may be against the National Organ Transplant Act, which makes it illegal, to pay for organs. The concern is that creating such a tax credit could prey on the poor or create a black market.