While New York City has also been well-known for being a financial world center, according to a recent Huffington Post article, it also has a great track record of “medical science and healthcare.” Earlier this month, at the Merrill Lynch Offices, a Financial Wellness Symposium was held. What was unique about it was that it brought two issues together – financial success and medical care.
With a focus on aging, the longevity economy was discussed as well as the financial health of New Yorkers within both individual and urban regions. These are important matters to address given that within the next decade, around 20 percent of New York City will be in the ‘elderly’ category. Hence becoming increasingly ‘age-friendly’ is crucial. We must realize that our financial and personal health are “bound up in medical as well as financial institutional transformations.”
Another way of combining these two concepts is via the home sharing endeavor created by the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens. Since its inception more than 20 years ago, it has gained a reputation – nationwide – of becoming “an affordable housing opportunity that can provide financial relief as well as companionship. Both hosts and guests benefit from reduced housing costs and the possibility of companionship to offset the isolation and loneliness experienced by many living alone.”
Being hit with the news that you (or a loved one) has cancer is undoubtedly overwhelming. So when it comes to accessing the best medical treatment, what resources are available to facilitate this process? The New Jersey Monthly Magazine’s annual report on Top Doctors is a good place to start. In 2016 the journal approached over 24,000 doctors in New Jersey with the question: “Which of your fellow practitioners do you consider as New Jersey’s best doctors?”
Various new health centers have recently been created in New York and the surrounding areas, covering a variety of different wellness issues.
Statistics from New York’s Department of Health indicate that approximately 15 percent of the population of the state of New York is utilizing the Affordable Care Act marketplace. The health care exchange there – New York State of Health – recently detailed its level of use for 2016 indicating the coverage enrollment of 2.8 million people by the end of the admission period. This marked an increase of around 700,000 from 2015.
Expenditure on healthcare in the US increased “at the fastest pace since President Barack Obama took office.” This was explained by Obamacare and “zooming prescription drug costs.” Prior to Obamacare, the country encountered five years of “historically low growth.” The Department of Health and Human Services undertook a study that found Obamacare just hasn’t been the solution to health expenditure. Indeed, spending on healthcare increased at a faster rate than the entire economy, getting up to 17.5 percent of GDP.