NBC Nightly News reported that “a growing number of retired Americans are in for a shock from some of America’s largest companies,” who are telling them that “they will have to buy their own health insurance.” For example, “IBM is turning its healthcare coverage for 110,000 retirees over to a private Medicare exchange in which insurers compete for the retiree’s business,” and 40 million Americans are predicted to “be on similar plans” by 2018.

According to the National Institute on Aging, about 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer’s and the number is expected to increase as the population ages, CNBC (9/6) reported on its website. Many families and individuals are “overwhelmed” and “unprepared to deal with the consequences, financial and otherwise,” of “caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s.” Experts suggest that families research their options and “consult with a financial advisor.”

Related Links:

— “Money matters: A road map for Alzheimer’s patients, “Sharon Epperson, CNBC, September 6, 2013.

MedPage Today (9/9, Walsh) reports that research published in Pediatrics indicated that “teens who were adopted in early childhood had approximately four times the risk for attempted suicide in late adolescence compared with offspring living with their biological parents.” Researchers found, “among 1,165 adolescents whose mean age was 18, the odds ratio for a reported suicide attempt was 4.23 (95% CI 2.06-8.68, P<0.001) for those who were adoptees.” The study indicated that, “even after adjustment for multiple factors that could exacerbate risk, such as psychiatric disorders, family difficulties, and problems in school, the adopted teens still had an almost four-fold increase in risk (OR 3.70, 95% CI 1.70-8.04, P<0.001). Related Links:

— “Adopted Teens Face High Suicide Risk, “Nancy Walsh, MedPage Today, September 9, 2013.

USA Today (9/9, Healy) reports on new research, published online in the journal Pediatrics, which found that teens who were previously overweight or obese “are at a significant risk of developing an eating disorder as they lose weight.” Moreover, “identification and treatment of the condition is often delayed because of their weight history.”

Related Links:

— “Teens who beat obesity at risk for eating disorders, “Michelle Healy, USA Today, September 9, 2013.

The Washington Post (8/30, Dennis) reports that, according to a study (8/30) published Aug. 30 in the journal Science, “poverty consumes so much mental energy that people struggling to make ends meet often have little brainpower left for anything else, leaving them more susceptible to bad decisions” that just make their plight worse.

The AP (8/30, Borenstein) reports that after administering intelligence tests to 400 New Jersey shoppers and to 464 farmers in India, researchers found that individuals worried “about having enough money to pay their bills tend to lose temporarily the equivalent of 13 IQ points.”

The Huffington Post UK (8/29) reports that people “overwhelmed with worries about rent, feeding and clothing children, and paying household bills can suffer a genuine mental handicap,” which “in turn may lead to poor decisions, such as racking up debt” and making matters worse. One of the study authors suggested that services aimed at helping the poor “should take account of the mental effect of poverty” by making it easier for people to get assistance.

Related Links:

— “Poverty strains cognitive abilities, opening door for bad decision-making, new study finds, “Brady Dennis, The Washington Post, August 29, 2013.