ArcaMax

PHILADELPHIA — As a resident training at Wills Eye Hospital, George Spaeth was perplexed by a seven-year-old patient’s symptoms.

Her legs angled inward, her hair was straw-colored with an odd consistency, and she had intellectual disabilities.

She had come in for faulty vision caused by her lenses — the part of the eye that enables ...Read more

Two major milestones converge in 2026, a serendipitous occasion that is, as Mark Twain described coincidence, “a delightful thing”: the 150th anniversary of the publication of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and the nationwide commemoration of America 250, marking the semiquincentennial of the United States.

And one of the most delightful ...Read more

Toni:

I’m turning 65 next March and have not had a health insurance plan for over two years because I work part-time. I do not know where to start or what to do. I am not receiving my Social Security check, and friends are advising me that if I do not sign up for Medicare when I turn 65 I will be making a major Medicare mistake.

Can you ...Read more

Shirley Jennett, a retired nurse, loves her spacious ranch-style house in Denver, with its big backyard and gazebo.

“I want to stay here,” she vowed. “And die here.”

She might pull that off. In relatively good health, Jennett still drives to lunch with friends, does her own housekeeping and grocery shopping, and plows through a book a ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Carla van den Hout spent her life as a nurse. She hardly missed a day at work, even when the hours were long and hard. Now in her 80s, she’s still at it. She is planning her next medical mission trip to Honduras. And here in San Diego, she’s on the Disaster Medical Assistance team, which she joined several decades ago.

Van den ...Read more

Shirley Jennett, a retired nurse, loves her spacious ranch-style house in Denver, with its big backyard and gazebo.

“I want to stay here,” she vowed. “And die here.”

She might pull that off. In relatively good health, Jennett still drives to lunch with friends, does her own housekeeping and grocery shopping, and plows through a book a ...Read more

OAKLAND COUNTY, Michigan ― Tesla is expanding its Robotaxi rideshare service to include Florida, Texas, and California as it competes with Alphabet’s Waymo, Amazon’s Zoox, and other autonomous rideshare services. But consumers are already buying retail Teslas to self-drive them in cities across the US.

Senior citizens most notably.

...Read more

Hello, Toni:

I moved to Houston from Little Rock in May and discovered your Medicare article in the local newspaper. I enrolled in Medicare Advantage HMO when I turned 65 in March. I didn’t realize I could have chosen a Medicare Supplement to my Parts A and B instead of a Medicare Advantage plan. The article explained that I have a 6-month ...Read more

Working Women vs. Stay-at-Home Moms -- The Argument Continues

Once again, I find myself in the middle of an argument that has been going on for decades, maybe longer: the friction that develops between working women and stay-at-home moms.

I'm not an anthropologist. Nor am I a social scientist. And I'm sure folks in those professions would be ...Read more

Toni:

In October, I enrolled in Medicare but did not enroll in a Medicare prescription drug plan. I went to my doctor in April for my annual physical and had to pay $200 when I received a shingles vaccination. My doctor’s office told me that I needed to be enrolled in a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan for the shingles shot to have a $0...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Wayne Lin feels most alive when writing poetry.

Originally from Taiwan, Lin came to the United States in 1970 as a graduate student. Decades later, after raising three children, welcoming eight grandchildren and building a career as a physicist, he still sees himself first and foremost as a student.

“In retrospect, I’...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Anna, who asked to be identified only by her middle name because she fears her mother would disown her if she learned the truth, still hasn’t told her mom that she sparked an investigation into her driving last year.

“She still brings it up,” Anna said. “She’s just pissed.”

Anna’s mother, then 85, was living ...Read more

LONDON — HIIT training could be recommended for people with high blood pressure to help them bring their levels down to a healthy range, a new study suggests.

Researchers said that they have shown for the first time that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and combined training can bring down a person’s blood pressure.

The study also ...Read more

Hello Toni,

My wife’s friend told her that she is receiving a free gym membership from the Medicare Supplement Plan G that she is enrolled in. The Medicare Supplement that we have does not include a gym membership.

I thought a Medicare Advantage Plan was the only way to get a gym membership at no cost. Any truth to this, as I never heard ...Read more

Dear Toni:

I recently retired and have always received my diabetic supplies from a mail-order program through my employer benefits. Last week, I received a letter stating the diabetic supplier will no longer be covered by Medicare. Does this mean that if I continue with my current supplier, Medicare will not pay for my diabetic supplies?

Toni,...Read more

I'd like to congratulate Mel Brooks on making it to the age of 100, but I'm not sure I want to duplicate his achievement.

I try not to focus on aging, not that there's anything wrong with getting older. But sometimes I feel exhausted by the daily trials of modern living, and I'm not sure I can manage 27 more years of it.

I'm writing this ...Read more

I'd like to congratulate Mel Brooks on making it to the age of 100, but I'm not sure I want to duplicate his achievement.

I try not to focus on aging, not that there's anything wrong with getting older. But sometimes I feel exhausted by the daily trials of modern living, and I'm not sure I can manage 27 more years of it.

I'm writing this ...Read more