Housing for older Americans often unsafe; overpriced

   More than 1.5 million older and retired Americans pay too much for housing that, all too often, is in substandard condition or doesn’t meet their physical needs, a new study by the Alliance for Retired Americans shows.  

   Citing figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, ARA reported:

• 480,000 households with an older or retired American live in “severely substandard dwellings that threaten their safety.” Unsafe housing disproportionately affects people ages 85 and older.
• 1.45 million households with an older or retired American live in housing in need or repair and rehabilitation.
• 900,000 elderly renters pay more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Altogether, 30 percent of older and retired Americans pay more for housing that they can afford.

   Seniors shouldn’t have to choose between remaining in their homes without adequate assistance or entering a nursing home, ARA said. More low-cost (or government-provided) programs, like home-based nursing and meals, would allow more seniors to remain at home with more money left in their pockets to spend on house repairs and rent.

Ad budgets dwarf dollars spent developing new drugs

   Top pharmaceutical companies spend 250 percent more on advertising, marketing and administration than they do for research and development of new drugs, according to a report from Families USA.

   The report disputes industry claims (echoed by the White House) that skyrocketing drug prices are needed to pay the costs of research and development of new drugs.

   The nine leading U.S. pharmaceutical companies spent a combined $45.5 billion on marketing, advertising and administration and only $19.1 billion on R&D last year, the report found. Their combined $30.6 billion profits exceeded outlays for R&D by more than 60 percent.  

   “The pharmaceutical industry has been the most profitable industry in the U.S. for each of the past 10 years,” the report said, roasting the industry’s “false claims that drug price moderation will prevent research on new medicines.”

Another 1.4 million Americans lack health insurance, Census figures show

   The number of Americans without health insurance coverage rose by 1.4 million people last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

   The bureau reported 41.2 million Americans were uninsured last year. At the same time, the Bureau released sharply higher estimates of the number of Americans uninsured in 2000. According to the Bureau, 39.8 million Americans lacked health insurance that year, not 38.7 million, as originally reported.

   Experts predict even more Americans will lose health coverage in the coming years. Deep cuts in federal support for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) could deprive 900,000 children of coverage. Escalating drug and health care costs, cutbacks in state Medicaid programs and continued high unemployment will add millions more to the rolls of the uninsured, experts say.

Union leader; “free trade” foe poised to become Brazil’s next president

   A union leader and vocal critic of NAFTA-style “free trade” is poised to become president of Brazil, the second-largest American industrial power outside the U.S.

   Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former metalworker, won 47 percent of the votes in a recent national election. An October 27 runoff will pit the charismatic Lula against ruling party centrist Jose Serra, who won only 24 percent of the votes in the initial round of balloting.

   Lula is a leading critic of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas Act. Since Brazil accounts for more than half of Latin America’s total industrial output, Brazilian opposition to FTAA would all but doom the plan, international observers say. Lula’s support for greater political and economic rights for poor and working-class people is also expected to strengthen pro-worker, pro-union movements in other Latin American countries.