The American Society on Aging (ASA) has published their quarterly journal, Generations, as an overview of aging policy priorities and a message to President Trump on the issues facing older adults across the country. The Winter 2016–17 issue of Generations, A Message to the President on Aging Policy, includes 15 articles provided for the new Administration in regards to the “economic impact of aging, protecting retirement income, ensuring affordable healthcare, and finding realistic ways to pay for long-term care.” This document can be viewed online in its entirety here.
Amidst the surge of new changes the recent presidential election has brought us, many people are nervous that President Trump will renege on his promises to not cut federal entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Generations articles by Alicia Munnell and John Rother provide strategic solutions to potential aging issues. In her article, Munnell devises a 5-point plan on steps to the Trump administration could take to secure America’s retirement income system. She lists these items in her article “Restoring Public Confidence in Retirement Income”:
- maintaining Social Security
- making 401(k)s fully automatic
- covering the 50 percent of current private-sector workers who have no retirement plan
- encouraging people to use their homes as equity for retirement income
- and encouraging longer working lives.
In addition, Rother releases his “Top of the Administration’s Agenda: Stem the Rising Cost of Healthcare” article noting three important method to reducing and eliminating future healthcare costs, by:
- more efficiently and effectively caring for the chronically ill, including at the end of life
- addressing high specialty drug costs and the out-of-control prescription drug market through R&D process transparency, competition, and paying for value;
- curbing demand for healthcare by changing people’s unhealthy behaviors like smoking, drinking, overeating, and opioid abuse.
The full articles by Munnell, Rother, and other contributors to this issue of Generations are available here.