Volume 5, Number 6, November 2011 (Topic: Economic Insecurity)

Public Policy & Aging E-Newsletter

Volume 5, Number 6, November 2011

This bimonthly e-newsletter highlights key developments and viewpoints in the field of aging policy from a wide variety of sources, including articles and reports circulating in the media, academy, think tanks, private sector, government and nonprofit organizations.

The goal of this email publication is to reach teachers, students, and citizens interested in aging-related issues, especially those who may not have sufficient access to policy information disseminated both in Washington and around the country.

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I. WHAT’S HAPPENING IN WASHINGTON?

A. A Report on the Actuarial, Marketing, and Legal Analyses of the CLASS Program: The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act was enacted in March 2010 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The law was designed to establish a voluntary, national insurance program for American workers to help pay for long-term services and supports they may need in the future. By statute, CLASS benefits must be funded entirely through enrollee premiums; there is no taxpayer subsidy. Although the Department of Health and Human Services recognizes the critical need to find ways to help Americans prepare for their long-term care needs, this report announces and provides details for why the program has been suspended. However, Administration officials have made it clear that they are opposed to repealing the CLASS Act.

B. Plan for a New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of Color: This Commission to Modernize Social Security report discusses how programmatic changes to social security will impact the next generation’s ability to survive and thrive. The Commission looks at how the nation’s demographics are changing along with social security’s outlook. By exploring the popularity of social security and how people of color use benefits differently than whites, this report argues for strengthening benefits in the future.

C. America’s Job Crisis: Low-Income Seniors Hit Hardest: In conjunction with Senior Service America, Inc., The Gerontological Society of America produced a research brief focused on how the recession has impacted low-income older workers. Topics include “The Future for Older Workers: Good News or Bad?” and “Older Workers, the Great Recession, and the Effects of Long-Term Unemployment.” The research brief discusses potential workforce policy changes and government programs that can assist seniors who are struggling to find work.

II. WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND THE COUNTRY?

A. Raising Expectations: A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Adults: The State Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Scorecard examines state performance across four key dimensions of LTSS system performance: (1) affordability and access; (2) choice of setting and provider; (3) quality of life and quality of care; and (4) support for family caregivers. This report from AARP, The Commonwealth Fund, and The SCAN Foundation finds generally that states with the highest level of performance have enacted public policies designed to improve access to services and choices in their delivery, establish a single point of system entry, and improve support for family caregivers.

B. Comparing Wealth in Retirement: State-Local versus Private Sector Workers: This Center for Retirement Research brief asks whether state-local employees end up with more wealth at retirement than their private sector counterparts. The brief looks at whether state-local employment has a positive or negative effect on wealth and retirement earnings in older persons. Despite some limitations, the results refute the notion that state-local workers as a group end up a lot richer than their private sector counterparts.

C. State Housing Profiles: Housing Conditions and Affordability for the Older Population: This AARP report looks at key housing indicators for older adults in every state and the District of Columbia. The data show that conditions have deteriorated significantly for older households during the last decade. Findings include that the percentage of men age 50+ living alone has increased, while the percentage of women age 50+ living alone has declined. For the executive summary, click here.

III. THIS ISSUE'S MAJOR POLICY STORY: ECONOMIC INSECURITY

Shortly after I turned 61, my net worth plummeted in what commentators now call the Great (in terms both of duration and magnitude) Recession of 2008. Conditions are not (yet) as grim as they were in the darkest days of the Great Depression. Nonetheless, the unexpected, unsettling reversal of fortunes that cut across most demographic groups in the U.S. fell particularly harshly on those born between 1945 and 1955. The calamity underscored for me, on visceral and intellectual terms, why the U.S. version of "social insurance" represents a signal achievement in the annals of social-welfare policymaking. All of a sudden I felt less secure, less self reliant, than I had on my birthday. And, as the following reports painfully document, I was not alone. Older and aging Americans consider themselves vulnerable in ways unimagined a decade earlier. Some of my peers may take comfort in Lord Keynes's observation that "in the long run we are all dead." I don't. Horizons are shorter, however, for those of us for whom time has become a precious commodity. It is hard to recalibrate options for how to grow in the Third Quarter of Life and prepare for the Fourth. Ideally Boomers like me wanted the contingencies to be predictable, the vicissitudes avoidable. But here we were, sharing a common risk, one that resembles what our grandparents endured when hard times cut short employment prospects, eliminated savings, emptied philanthropic pockets and state-level assistance. It could be worse: some presidents wanted to privatize Social Security. Many lawmakers these days would like to slash benefits. To do so would be to ignore the genius of social insurance. Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew that no Federal policy could protect 100% of the population from 100% of known risks 100% of the time. Still, social insurance was meant to provide a floor for citizens when challenged by disabilities or unemployment. And social security was to ensure a measure of support for workers and their families in later years. Social Security alone will not recoup losses on the stock market. But more than any other age group, Boomers are in a position to affirm the enduring importance of Social Security to Americans. Protecting the principle of social insurance for future generations may prove to be our greatest legacy.

--Andy Achenbaum

A. Testimony on Income Security: The Effect of the 2007-2009 Recession on Older Adults: Presented before the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging on October 18, 2011, this Government Accountability Office testimony discusses the effects of the recent recession on older adults. While the recession officially ended in June 2009, the economy has experienced a weak recovery, with unemployment still above 9 percent. The testimony concludes that the recession of 2007 to 2009 has had a profound impact on older adults, many of whom, like other groups, have lost employment and wealth. The major challenges for older adults are that they face a shorter time frame before retirement to make up for these losses. For the executive summary, click here.

B. Retirement on the Edge: Women, Men, and Economic Insecurity After the Great Recession: Using the IWPR/Rockefeller Survey of Economic Security, the Institute for Women's Policy Research analyzed issues related to retirement security following the recession. It finds that men and women after the recession experience uncertainty about the adequacy of their financial resources for the proverbial “golden years,” an uncertainty that may shape how they view the meaning of retirement and their own decisions about the future. More specifically, the report finds that among all respondents surveyed, women (47 percent) are more likely than men (35 percent) to have little or no confidence that their assets will last throughout their retirement.

C. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010: Based on U.S. Census information, this report presents data on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States. Findings include that the real median household income declined between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased between 2009 and 2010, and the number of people without health insurance increased between 2009 and 2010.

D. From Bad to Worse: Senior Economic Insecurity on the Rise: In only four years, the number of seniors at risk of outliving their resources increased by nearly 2 million households. Using the Senior Financial Stability Index, this Institute on Assets and Social Policy and Demos.org report finds that economic insecurity among senior households has increased by one-third, rising from 27 percent to 36 percent. This steady and dramatic increase occurred even before the full force of the Great Recession hit. With effects of the recession impacting all demographic groups, economic security of seniors has deteriorated further.

E. The Crisis of Economic Insecurity for African-American and Latino Seniors: Also from Institute on Assets and Social Policy and Demos.org, this report explores the impact of the recession on African-American and Latino seniors. While the recession hurt most seniors, people of color were especially hard hit; with very limited assets and resources to cushion the blow, many are falling deeper and deeper into the well of financial insecurity. Findings include that more than half (52 percent) of African-American and 56 percent of Latino seniors are economically insecure, and that 90 percent of Latino and 83 percent African-American senior households have insufficient retirement assets to last throughout their expected life spans.

IV. WORTH NOTING

A. GSA’s 64th Annual Scientific Meeting Less Than Three Weeks Away: This year’s Annual Scientific Meeting will take place in Boston from November 18th-22nd. Policy sessions include “Congressional Aging Issues Update” by Capitol Hill Staff and “Finding Your Voice: Advocacy Training for the Everyday Researcher.” View this handout for more policy-related sessions. GSA also will host Aging Means Business: Design for a New Age, an annual one-day event that brings together the nation’s brightest, most successful minds, to share breakthrough ideas, innovations, and market strategies for success in the older adult consumer marketplace.

B. Support the Older Americans Act: This National Council on Aging campaign urges individuals, organizations, and lawmakers to join forces to voice support of the Older Americans Act (OAA), a key vehicle for helping seniors stay healthy, find employment, and age in place. Working with local advocacy partners, NCOA has collected real stories of seniors who are struggling to make ends meet in today’s economy. As Congress discusses OAA funding and reauthorization this fall, the campaign attempts to give these vulnerable seniors a voice in the debate.

C. The MetLife Study of Women, Retirement, and the Extra-Long Life: Implications for Planning: Women typically live longer and, therefore, face unique risks in retirement including aging single, lower annual retirement incomes, and greater healthcare costs and caregiving responsibilities. This MetLife Mature Market Institute and Scripps Gerontology Center report finds that women need to be doing a better job at retirement planning; what is important for our readers to bear in mind is that the differences between men and women have important policy implications.

V. WHAT'S HAPPENING ABROAD?

A. World Alzheimer Report 2011: Benefits of Early Diagnosis and Intervention: This Alzheimer’s Disease International report provides a comprehensive global picture of the economic impact of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The report includes an estimate of the worldwide cost of dementia, including direct medical costs, direct non-medical costs, and costs of informal (family) care. The estimates are broken down by world region and include analysis of the differences between low and high income countries. The report also contains important policy recommendations and makes clear to key decision-makers that doing nothing is not an option.

B. Outlook 2011 Update: Preparing for Demographic Transition (Asia): This Asian Development Bank report calculates the contribution of Asia’s youthful demographics to its economic success over the past decade. The bank projects the impact of a graying population on Asia’s growth from now until 2030 and advises regions to start preparing for demographic transition, given the major implications of changing age structure for economic growth and for economic security among the elderly.

C. Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index: Comparing retirement income systems across 16 countries, this Australian Center for Financial Studies brief explores which features and characteristics increase the likelihood of financial security. The study highlights shortcomings in every country, and suggests possible areas of reform that would provide more adequate retirement benefits and sustainability.

VI. PERSPECTIVES ON POLICY: ROB HUDSON, EDITOR, PP&AR

The most recent Public Policy & Aging Report (Volume 21, Number 3) focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) older people. These individuals have remained nearly invisible to the community of advocates, researchers, practitioners, administrators, and politicians who associate themselves with the modern aging enterprise. Topics explored here include the absence of research devoted to LGBT populations; the higher economic, health, and social risk profile of these individuals; the absence of public policies directed to their specific concerns; the failure of existing broad-based aging policies to incorporate LGBT needs and interests; the lack of cultural competency training among services personnel; the failure of public agencies to address bias-based victimization suffered by LGBT communities; the stealth realization that half of Americans living with HIV will be over the age of 50 by 2015; and the void in the gerontological literature speaking to diversity within the LGBT population, rendering it a residualized demographic held together, in the words of Brian de Vries, by “otherness.” Fostering inclusion and eliminating disparities are ascendant concepts in contemporary health and social policy, and we hope these articles addressing policy concerns of the LGBT community further such efforts.

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Newsletter Editors: Dani Kaiserman, Sarah F. Wilson, and Greg O'Neill, National Academy on an Aging Society; Andy Achenbaum, University of Houston.

The Public Policy and Aging E-Newsletter is supported in part by a grant from the AARP Office of Academic Affairs. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Gerontological Society of America, the National Academy on an Aging Society, or the AARP Office of Academic Affairs.