What's in store for American healthcare? Don't consult an eight-ball, pick up the AARP's magazine instead

One need only scan the table of contents of AARP's weekly Bulletin magazine to learn what direction baby boomers and their elders want to take healthcare, and how they perceive conventional medicine today.

Here's what you'll find inside the July/August issue of the Bulletin:

Inside is a blurb on a study that ran in JAMA earlier this year that shows while older Britons spend less than half what older Americans spend per capita on healthcare, they live healthier lives.

(On a side note, here's a blog discussion at TPM Cafe that uses the study to criticize American healthcare, and a Reason magazine article that argues Americans are not sicker but simply "worked up" more than Brits for disease. Whatever the truth may be, it's almost certain that AARP readers perceive that Britons do live better lives and that our system(s) is terrible. And perception is truth.)



Article titled "Drugmakers May Reap Windfall From Rx Benefit": "Thanks to the new Medicare prescription drug plan, drug companies are in line to see a $2 billion bonanza."

Feature article titled "Coverage for All" about two states, Massachusettes & Vermont, which have enacted universal health care plans. "Are they leaders or simply anomalies?"

Article titled "Funding Freeze ": "NIH's budget freeze could stall crucial studies of disease. Is a slowdown in medical research avoidable?"

Short piece titled "Recipe for a Long Life": "The rewards of mixing Chinese tradition and Western science."

Section named "Health Discoveries": "Fighting fat by sleeping longer...Wobbly balance and walking problems may be signs of dementia...and shaking shingles with a new vaccine."

Finally, not truly a healthcare issue, but still a health issue people over 50 care about: "Brain Aerobics - This month's exercise requires you to supply the beginning wise words to complete sixteen proverbs."