theseniorlog.com

MONDAY

OCTOBER 5, 2026

Trump to give $90 to senior citizens

for Medicare premiums

President Donald Trump said late Friday he will give around 20 million senior citizens $90 each to help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums, marking his latest effort to dole out funds to certain Americans weeks before the midterm elections.

The funding will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which Congress created in 2008 with $2.2 billion. The White House said “no Administration has ever utilized” the funds.

Not all of the roughly 64 million elderly Medicare enrollees qualify. Low-income senior citizens who also qualify for Medicaid and higher-income enrollees who pay heftier Part B premiums will not receive the $90 payments, the White House said in a fact sheet.

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America was built for the baby boomers.

Now it must build for their old age

The baby boomers helped build the America we know today. We bought the homes, raised the families, built the businesses, and paid our share of the taxes. Now we’re getting old. And America needs to get ready for us.

That means more affordable healthcare, safer housing, better transportation, and communities designed for older people. We spent our lives building this country. It’s time for the country to build for our old age.

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I Have COVID. Now What?

A Guide for Older Adults

If you’re an older adult and you’ve tested positive for COVID, don’t panic—but don’t ignore it either. What you do in the first few days can matter, especially if you have other health conditions or take several medications.

Here’s what older adults should know about symptoms, treatment, warning signs, and when it’s time to call your doctor.

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Silver Hair, Bold Style:

Mature Makeup Artists

Inspiring Women Worldwide

For women in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond, makeup can be more than a beauty routine—it can be a way to express confidence, creativity, and individuality. Today, mature makeup artists are inspiring women around the world by showing that beauty doesn’t fade with age; it evolves. Their experience, artistry, and confidence are helping women embrace their features and celebrate their personal style at every stage of life.

Read more...

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Very Few Anti-vaxxers at the A.L.F.

This past Wednesday, more than 100 of us old folks lined up outside our medical suite for our once-a-year ritual: getting jabbed in the arm with a COVID or flu vaccine—or both.

That’s about three-quarters of the people living here. I’d say that’s a pretty good turnout, especially with all the negativity and confusion surrounding vaccinations these days.

The reason for the large turnout is twofold.

First, many of us have weakened immune systems. As we get older, our immune defenses naturally decline, making it harder to fight off infections. In other words, when some nasty virus is making the rounds, we’re more likely to catch it—and more likely to have a harder time fighting it off. Even a minor case of flu can become serious enough to be hospitalized. And COVID, for the elderly can be fatal.

But there’s another reason most of us have no problem getting vaccinated. It has a lot to do with the way we grew up and the times we lived through.

If you were an American kid growing up after World War II, you could count on two things: the Brooklyn Dodgers probably weren’t going to win the World Series, and sooner or later, you were going to come down with one of the childhood diseases that spread through kids like wildfire.

Many of you remember these diseases.

Measles. Whooping cough. Scarlet fever. Diphtheria. Mumps. And, of course, the dreaded polio.

Except for polio, most of us caught one or more of them as children. They were simply part of growing up in those days.
Polio was different. Those who contracted it could be left with permanent paralysis, forced to wear leg braces, or, in the worst cases, spend the rest of their lives in an iron lung.

Back then, our parents knew the tragedy these diseases could cause. Many had seen brothers or sisters die from something as common as influenza. Diphtheria could be just as deadly.
They also believed in vaccines because they had seen what vaccines could do. They were vaccinated against smallpox, and when we were old enough, they made sure we were vaccinated too. Many of us still carry the smallpox vaccination scar on our upper arms.

So when the Salk polio vaccine became available in the mid-1950s, there was little hesitation. My schoolmates at P.S. 92 in Brooklyn and I stood in line in the school gym, sleeves rolled up, waiting our turn for the shot.

We knew what polio could do to a child. And we knew that this vaccine could protect us. It was a moment that helped change childhood in America.

Today, we have even more protection.

Vaccines are available for many of the diseases that once swept through our schools and neighborhoods.

Today’s children rarely experience the illnesses that were once a regular part of childhood. We remember what those diseases could do. That’s why we encourage our children—and now our grandchildren’s parents—to make sure their kids are vaccinated.

It’s been proven again and again. In hundreds of thousands of cases, vaccines have protected people from serious diseases and have generally been safe.

That’s why it’s so troubling to see our government cast doubt on something that has saved countless lives.

Vaccines save lives. Period.

We’ve come too far to turn our backs on the lessons we learned the hard way.
…bwc

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Social Security is phasing out

paper checks this year.

Here's what beneficiaries

need to know