Quartz (10/28, Purtill) reports that “social isolation takes a heavy toll” on sufferers’ health and well-being, and while “people of any age can be socially isolated...the risk of losing contact with friends, family, and community members becomes greater as a person ages” as a result of death, life changes, retirement, and mobility-impeding disabilities. “In an attempt to understand how much social isolation costs the system,” a recent study “looked at data from almost 5,300 people aged 65 or over surveyed between 2006 and 2010,” and found that “most people surveyed did have healthy social networks,” but “the 14 percent who described themselves as isolated...had far more health problems,” including depression, impeded activities of daily living, and chronic issues. Quartz says isolated individuals cost Medicare “an additional $134 per month, or $1,608 per year,” totaling “an additional $6.7 billion per year in spending” for the greater population.
October 28, 2018