Cost Keeps Many Americans From Good Dental Care

While most said their teeth were in good shape, many did not visit the dentist regularly

Although most Americans say their teeth are in relatively good shape, a newly published survey reveals that many are not getting routine dental checkups, with cost cited as the most common obstacle.

The findings stem from the responses of more than 17,000 men and women, aged 18 to 64, across the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics report.

Among the results gleaned from the 2008 survey, the researchers found that roughly 75 percent of participants said their oral health was either good or very good, while 17 percent and 7 percent, respectively, described their dental health as fair or poor.

Oral health appeared to differ by the type of insurance people had, with Medicaid recipients running a five times greater risk for poorer dental health than those with private coverage. Adults on Medicaid were two times more likely than other adults to have not visited a dentist in more than a half-decade (21 percent versus 12 percent).

Race also appeared to play a role, as whites and Asians were more likely to have good oral health (37 percent) than either Hispanics or blacks (25 percent and 26 percent, respectively). Education was also cited as a factor, with college graduates significantly more likely to be in good dental shape than those with less than a high school diploma.

The poll further revealed that six in 10 adults had paid a visit to the dentist in the previous year. Among those who did not, cost appeared to be the largest impediment to getting a checkup, with the expense of a dental visit named as the main reason for not seeing a dentist in the prior six months.

On that score, 42 percent of survey participants said that they either did not have dental insurance and/or they could not afford to get their teeth treated.

Money issues aside, fear was cited by 10 percent as the primary reason not to cross a dentist’s threshold.

The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics published the results of the survey July 18 in Vital and Health Statistics.

SOURCE: U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, news release, July 18, 2012

Posted on medlineplus.com on July 18, 2012.  See original article here.

Economist: America’s Retirement System Is Failing Us

Your "golden years" may not be so golden.

The majority of Americans (75 percent) nearing retirement age had less than $30,000 in their retirement accounts in 2010. For the poorest Americans in the 50-to-64-age bracket, the average amount saved for retirement was $16,034.

The lack of nest egg savings could become an acute crisis in the U.S. and should force a reexamination of the nation's retirement system, says Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor of economics at The New School.

In a recent New York Times Op-Ed, Ghilarducci argues that the current retirement savings model has failed middle-class Americans. The "do-it-yourself" pension system — aka 401(k) plans — that replaced traditional pension packages 30 years ago mistakenly assumed that individuals without investment experience could "reap the same results as professional investors and money managers," she writes.

In an interview with The Daily Ticker, she says individuals "were asked to do what they really couldn't do. Not because they're irresponsible, not because they didn't plan well, not because they didn't have enough financial literacy. That system asked humans to do what they just can't do — anticipate the future."

The savings accrued by the majority of middle class seniors will not support their current standard of living, Ghilarducci says. Americans should save at least 8 times their annual income to maintain their living standards (she strongly recommends increasing that number to 20 times if possible). For those earning $100,000 a year at the time of retirement, at least $2 million or more would be needed.

Unfortunately most Americans are ill-equipped for retirement and she estimates that 49 percent of middle-class workers will live on a food budget of less than $5 a day — poverty-like conditions.

Americans can no longer lean on social security checks or late retirements as safety nets Ghilarducci notes. Social Security and other entitlement programs have been under attack in Congress. A growing number of lawmakers from both sides of the isle support reducing or curtailing government spending on these 77-year old institutions as means to lower the national deficit. Workers over the age of 55 have a harder time finding employment than younger workers and when they do find work it's usually a big wage cut or reduced hours. According to the Labor Department, 6.2 percent of Americans over the age of 55 were unemployed in July and 50 percent of that group had been out of work for six months or more.

Saving for retirement has become especially hard for many Americans who are struggling to pay everyday expenses. That's why Ghilarducci wants to reform Americans' approach to retirement. She advocates instituting mandatory retirement accounts for all Americans. These would be professionally managed with a guaranteed rate return and annuity payment. This mandated account would be a supplement — not a replacement — to Social Security and other private retirement accounts.

"People need to save a lot more," she says. "Social security is a base but it's not enough. I'm just advocating that people save more."

Posted on The Daily Ticker, August 6, 2012.  See original article here.