GBO NEWS: Social Security & Election 2016; Too Old to Be President?; White House Report; & More
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations
Jan. 13, 2016 — Volume 16, Number 1
Editor’s Note: GBO News, e-news of the Journalists Network on Generation publishes alerts for journalists, producers and authors covering generational issues. Send your news of important stories or books (by you and others), fellowships, awards or pertinent kvetches to GBO News Editor Paul Kleyman. You can subscribe to GBONews.org at no charge simply by sending a request to Paul with your name, address, phone number and editorial affiliation or note that you freelance. You’ll receive the table of contents as e-mail, just click through to the full issue at www.gbonews.org.
IN THIS ISSUE: Definitely Not the Loudest Voice in the Room.
1. FISCAL REFORM SCHOOL: ***A Brief Note on the State of Our Aging Union; *** “Social Security in an Election Year”; *** “By 2050, There Could Be as Many as 25 Million Poor Elderly Americans.”
2. EYES ON THE PRIZE: ***22nd NIHCM Foundation Health Care Print Journalism Awards, February 11; ***Deadline for 2016 Hillman Prizes, Jan. 30; ***Fellowship Deadline for Association of Health Care Journalists Conference, Feb. 19.
3. DISAPPOINTING WHITE HOUSE AGING CONFERENCE’S POST MORTEM
4. THE STORYBOARD: ***Ageism Stories in U.S, New & World Report and Viet Tide Magazine (not just Fox News But The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah chide “old” candidates); *** “Fear of Falling,” by Susan Jaffe, Washington Post/Kaiser Health News; *** “White House Launches Medicare’s Most Aggressive Accountable Care Effort Yet,” by Bruce Jasper, Forbes; *** “This Is a Huge Financial Threat to Your Retirement Security,” by Dan Kadlec, Money; *** “California Latest State Requiring Hospitals to Keep Caregivers in the Loop,” by Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News; *** “What Prompts Elder Abuse? Researcher Find Common Triggers,” by Emily Gurnon, PBS Next Avenue; *** “Malnutrition: A Hidden Epidemic in Elders–Especially Latinos,” by Marcela Cartagena, La Raza/New America Media; *** “The Hidden Hungry: South Florida seniors struggle to put food on the table,” by Diane C. Lade, Sun-Sentinel.
1. FISCAL REFORM SCHOOL
Given President Obama’s impassioned final State of the Union with his eloquent defense of diversity and equality as defining these United States, this editor listened with hope to his endorsement of stronger Social Security and Medicare programs. It was heartening to hear him stress, among a daunting spectrum national and global concerns, that today it is “tougher for workers to retire when they want to.” Yet within his assertive but vague political optimism were reverberations of the administration’s rather tepid efforts to promote its new retirement savings program and so on, without a genuine effort to raise the too-modest income-security levels of Social Security or to incorporate long-term care protections in the nation’s senior health system. For now, though, we’ll remain cautiously hopeful (that word again) for this president’s eighth and final year. Meanwhile, GBONews will continue to monitor and aggregate the media on aging.
*** “Social Security in an Election Year,” was the New York Times’ lead editorial in the Jan. 2, 2016, which states, “There’s mounting evidence that Social Security, which has become ever more important in retirement, needs to be expanded.” NYT’s call for the United States’ political realm “to reframe the debate over Social Security” caught numerous advocates on both sides of the aisle by surprise.
Although the paper’s proposed Social Security reform is moderate—lifting the cap on how much of Americans’ income is subject to the U.S. payroll tax—the editorial marks a reversal of mainstream conventional wisdom on how to solidify the program’s finances for the long-term. Republican and increasingly Democratic politicians for 30 years have called for “saving” the program for the future by cutting its modest benefits. But the pendulum does swing.
Observe the Dec. 30 blog in Slate by liberal columnist Helaine Olen, “How Elizabeth Warren Wields Power.” The subhead for the piece: “Even without running she’s forcing the Democratic candidates to look out for consumers.”
Although the influence of the junior senator from Massachusetts can’t be denied on this issue, as well as that of her Vermont neighbor, Sen. Bernie Sanders, we’d have to point to the six-year campaign by Social Security Works and the Strengthening Social Security Coalition, now with 300 organizational members–not including AARP. The joint groups were organized to pressure the Dems, including President Obama, to re-embrace the party’s benchmark program and once again serve as a loyal opposition to the GOP, not its echo.
The NYT editorial goes on, “Currently, 36 percent of retirees rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income; over all, 65 percent of retirees rely on it for more than half of their income. The average monthly benefit hovers around $1,300. Retirement security won’t be any better for those now in their 50s . . . . Younger workers are arguably worse off, because saving has become increasingly difficult, or impossible, in the face of stagnating wages, high debt, high rents and the lack of employer-provided retirement benefits.”
Although “nearly all Republican candidates have called for cuts to Social Security benefits,” the Editorial Board writes, it cites data from a 2014 Wall Street Journal article, “The Richer You Are the Older You’ll Get.”
In that WSJ piece, writer Josh Zumbrun summarized a then-new analysis by distinguish Brookings Institution economist Barry Bosworth, who “found that the richer you are, the longer you’ll live. And it’s a gap that is widening, particularly among women.” Zumbrun also noted that Bosworth’s study “builds off earlier research.” In addition, we’ll note, it also adds to more recent studies.
The Times editorial dismisses GOP candidates’ calls for raising the full retirement age, which would cut retirement benefits across the board. “So raising the retirement age across the board would hit lower-income workers the hardest,” says the NYT. It calls on Washington to shore up Social Security’s long-term revenue by increasing the amount of wages subject to payroll taxes (now $118,500) to $250,000. Many experts in aging consider that a modest but important change. (Some say $400,000 would be better.) In any case, the paper is saying that people making a quarter-million dollars a year or more should be pay up to that amount—not merely to their first $118,500.
More significantly that one policy recommendation, though is that this sign of the times at the Times flags an important turn in the national debate, from just the vagaries of deficit reduction to genuine consideration of income security (and economic stability) for our aging county.
*** “By 2050, There Could Be as Many as 25 Million Poor Elderly Americans,” by Teresa Ghilarducci, The Atlantic (Dec. 30). “As the Boomers age, there are going to be a lot more people living in poverty,” declares Ghilarducci, an economics professor at the New School for Social Research in New York and a leading advocate for U.S. pension reform. In calling attention to recent optimism among bankers that rising home values bodes well for the reverse mortgage industry, she stresses, “But reverse mortgages can be a sign of economic desperation—only those without other options would consider one, since they don’t tend to supply very much in monthly payments and can result in years of asset accumulation being handed over to a bank instead of passed down to children.”
She goes on, “In the next decade, there will be whole swaths of the America’s elderly population that won’t even have equity to draw on and will be in serious financial trouble. To start, there are going to be more elderly Americans than ever before . . . . A back-of-the-envelope estimate suggests that the number of elderly Americans in poverty will increase substantially in the coming decades. In 2010, 46.6 million Americans were over 65.
Ghilarducci used the OECD’s measure of impoverishment to determine, “There’s likely to be an increase in the numbers of elderly poverty from 8.9 million in 2010 to 25 million in 2050—an increase of 180 percent.”
She continues that while the growth of the senior population will generate most of that change, fully one-third of the rise in elder poverty, “the part that’s not just a matter of having more elderly people—is America’s weak retirement system. Established in 1935 and expanded until 1983, Social Security tends to do a marvelous job of reducing poverty rates among the elderly. But if nothing’s done between now and 2050 to strengthen the retirement system, 25 million elderly Americans will be poor.”
Then there’s the approach of House Speaker Paul Ryan.
2. EYES ON THE PRIZE
*** 22nd NIHCM Foundation Health Care Print Journalism Awards, February 11 application deadline: The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation Awards–with a $10,000 prize in each of two categories–are presented for a health care article or series in general-circulation or trade publications. The focus is on “reporting and writing on the financing and delivery of health care and the impact of health care policy,” says NIHCM’s website.
Articles by staff reporters or freelancers must originally have been published in calendar year 2015. They’ll accept online articles “produced and disseminated originally on the web in affiliation with a print publication, trade publication or other investigative reporting outlet.”
Among those on their “independent judges panel” are Ceci Connolly, President and CEO, Alliance of Community Health Plans, formerly with The Washington Post; John Iglehart, Founding Editor, Health Affairs; and Fred Schulte, Senior Reporter, Center for Public Integrity.
***The Deadline for the Sidney Hillman Foundation’s 2016 Hillman Prizes is Jan. 30, honoring investigative journalism and commentary “in service of the common good.” Winners receive travel to New York City for their May 3 ceremony, a $5,000 prize and a certificate. There is no entry fee.
Categories include Books (bound volumes and ebooks); Newspaper Journalism (story or series/in print or online); Magazine Journalism (story or series/in print or online); Broadcast Journalism (television, web TV, radio, podcast and documentary film); Web Journalism (blogs, photojournalism, computer-assisted reporting, new investigative tools, mapping, crowd sourcing, and other multimedia projects); and Opinion & Analysis.
“An architect of the New Deal,” says their website, Sidney Hillman was the founding president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America the SEIU (Service Employees International Union). For questions, contact Alexandra Lescaze at (646) 448-6413, or Alex@HillmanFoundation.org.
***Fellowships to Attend Health Journalism 2016: The Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) is now accepting a travel fellowships cover the conference registration fee, a year’s membership in AHCJ (new or extended), up to four nights in conference hotel, and up to $400 for travel assistance within the continental United States. AHCJ is offering the fellowships under nine programs, such as for reporters in rural or ethnic media news outlets, and for journalists who don’t regularly cover health news. Several fellowships are for reporters in certain states, including New York, Missouri, California, Rhode Island and Colorado.
The deadline is Feb. 19. Contact Ev Ruch-Graham, ev@healthjournalism.org or 573-884-8103 with questions. Also, GBONews strongly recommends that you contact her to confirm that they received your online application. We know of one applicant last year who learned too late that hers got lost on cyberspace.
3. WHITE HOUSE AGING CONFERENCE ISSUES POST MORTEM
The White House Issued Its “Final Report” on its 2015 Conference on Aging at year’s end, a disappointing decennial event for many advocates in aging and generations-beat reporters alike, this editor included. (See “Will Commercialization Be Obama’s Legacy on Aging?”)
As the new report explains, “The White House has held a Conference on Aging every decade, beginning in 1961, to identify and advance actions to improve the quality of life of older Americans.” Noting that 2015 marked the 50th anniversaries of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act and the 80th anniversary of Social Security, the document adds, “The 2015 White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) provided an opportunity to recognize the importance of these key programs as well as to look ahead to the next decade.”
However, asserted one leading advocate in the field of aging, “The report details piecemeal public actions and private initiatives, but ignores the opportunity to lay out an ambitious policy proposal to address pressing systemic challenges.” That is from the Jan. 6 blog by Kevin Prindiville, executive director of Justice in Aging (formerly the National Senior Citizens Law Center).
Prindiville continued, “To those who followed the WHCOA closely, this was not a surprise. Congress’ failure to reauthorize the Older Americans Act, and the lack of appropriate funding for the conference, meant WHCOA organizers had to produce a conference without a budget. With little infrastructure and support, the White House did not propose any new big, bold ideas to prepare for a population that is literally booming.”
As we’ve noted previously, though, more than one expert expressed disappointment that the Obama Administration made little effort to muster bipartisan support among GOP congressional members who might well have wanted some representation on the issue going into the 2016 election season. Historically, governors and members of Congress got to perk local constituents in fields from retirement finance to health services with a prestigious delegate appointment to the conference.
In addition, on reviewing the 34-page report (plus its 49-page appendix) about the July 13 program, long-time age-beat writer Eileen Beal e-mailed GBONews, “Nothing about senior housing, and without that seniors are untethered with regard to housing-related needs (i.e. socialization, safety, nutrition, etc.)–out in the cold, so to speak.”
The report, Beal, added, reflects that the WHCOA agenda failed to address end-of-life issues, and the daylong program barely examined elder abuse, although a section emphasized public and private financial fraud-prevention programs.
Elder abuse issues are summarized in one of four WHCOA “Policy Briefs” in the report’s appendix, but they were hardly discussed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on July 13. The other briefs are on “Retirement Security,” “Healthy Aging” and “Long-Term Services and Supports.” These were published online prior to the conference, but unlike similar summary papers drafted to stimulate discussion at previous White House conferences, the 2015 program had little time for debate on policy options—the stated point of the event.
As Beal commented, “No mention of older adults’ mind-bogglingly huge incidence of chronic conditions (well, they did belabor Alzheimer’s), and seniors’ dependence on meds–the vast majority of which are paid for by Medicare and Medicaid.” Beal did allow that the conference’s extensive attention to caregivers includes discussion of more training for paid caregivers.
But the report contains “no mention of the impact on older adults of debilitating and disabling chronic conditions.” Others last summer expressed dismay at the conference’s cursory examination of long-term care concerns.
So it goes, at least until 2025.
4. THE STORYBOARD
***Ageism in the Media is the subject of two pieces in the U.S, New & World Report and Viet Tide Magazine, both by 2016 Journalists in Aging Fellows, the program collaboration of New America Media (NAM) and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), in cooperation with the Journalists Network on Generations, publisher of GBONews. They include:
“Ageism, Attitude Can Impact Your Physical and Brain Health,” U.S. News & World Report/New America Media , by Lisa Esposito (Dec 29, 2015). Also cross-posted by NAM. [http://tinyurl.com/hhu9hjo] it’s a good overview of studies showing that buying into negative age stereotypes may expose people to brain decline and increased blood pressure and higher stress levels.
“Too Old to Be President? Ageism a Political Undercurrent in U.S.,” Viet Tide/New America Media, by Ness White (Jan 5, 2016). Link: http://tinyurl.com/jjv27ov. The story notes that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 68, a Democrat, has been called “too old to run” for president in mainstream media. And political independent U. S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, 74, of Vermont, has been called an “unlikely white-haired rock star.” How about The Donald at 69? Disagree with–even revile their policy prescriptions–but their ages?
On Clinton, for instance, White links as one example to a 2015 New York Post column by Fox News analyst Linda Chavez, a former official in the Reagan and “W” White Houses. (Oddly, Chavez was more forgiving of her former boss, who was the same age Clinton would be on taking office if she wins. Cat-scratches Chavez, “Age was kinder to Reagan.” Gee, though, Linda, too bad about the Alzheimer’s.)
Sen. Bernie Sanders, of course, has been depicted as wild-haired and doting since he started his candidacy–all except for the 2 million of people who’ve contributed small donations to his campaign.
Over on the left side of the media, White caught The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah mocking Trump’s New Year’s Eve appearance on Fox. Noah stated, “Donald Trump is the human embodiment of Times Square: Their both old, loud, flashy and full of garbage.” Old?
White’s piece picks up on the extensive discussion at GSA’s November meeting in Orlando focusing on what many felt was a recent resurgence of ageism in media and political circles.
*** “Fear of Falling: One trip can cause serious damage. Here’s how to avoid it,” by Susan Jaffe, Washington Post/Kaiser Health News (Jan. 11). “Falls are the leading cause of injuries for adults 65 and older, and 2.5 million of them end up in hospital emergency departments for treatment every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The consequences can range from bruises, fractured hips and head injuries to irreversible calamities that can lead to death. And older adults who fall once are twice as likely as their peers to fall again.”
*** “White House Launches Medicare’s Most Aggressive Accountable Care Effort Yet,” by Bruce Jasper, Forbes (Jan. 12), reports on the latest effort by the Obama Administration “to shift 50% of Medicare payment to value-based models and away from fee for-service by 2018.” Jasper explains that the new program intensifies the move away from fee-for-service Medicare by launching 21 Next Generation Accountable Care Organizations (ACO’s). Created under the Affordable Care Act, ACO’s are managed care organizations developed regionally with networks of private-practice doctors and health care providers–essentially an experiment to emulate HMOs. Jasper reports that the new ACOs (added to the 475 now serving 9 million seniors) are “entering a new more aggressive phase of a program that puts doctors and hospitals at even greater financial risk so they can improve quality, lower costs and potentially reap better pay.”
*** “This Is a Huge Financial Threat to Your Retirement Security,” by Dan Kadlec, Money (Jan. 6), ran online with the subhead, “Many workers saving in 401(k)s and IRAs end up in high-cost funds that erode their returns.” Kadlec, who will keynote next November’s GSA conference in New Orleans, asks, “Why are investors ending up in costly funds? It’s the unfortunate outcome of a broad shift of retirement assets from traditional pension funds to 401(k) plans to IRAs. Back in the ’80s, employers started phasing out traditional defined benefit pension plans and replacing them with 401(k)s or similar defined contribution plans. Over the past decade, as boomers continue to retire and younger workers change jobs, those 401(k) savings are being rolled over into IRAs.” He reports on new research from the Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. It shows that fees run the highest in dominant IRA accounts and far lower in traditional pension funds.
*** “California Latest State Requiring Hospitals to Keep Caregivers in the Loop,” Kaiser Health News/New America Media , by Anna Gorman (Dec 30), NAM link: http://tinyurl.com/oojerwp. California became one of 18 states to require hospitals to inform and train family caregivers to provide often-complex care at home.
*** “What Prompts Elder Abuse? Researcher Find Common Triggers,” PBS Next Avenue/New America Media , by Emily Gurnon , (Dec 27), NAM link: http://tinyurl.com/johyo5b. A new study looked into criminal case files to uncover common triggers for the battering of seniors.
*** “Malnutrition: A Hidden Epidemic in Elders–Especially Latinos,” La Raza/New America Media , by Marcela Cartagena (Dec 23), NAM link: http://tinyurl.com/nquxxpt. Statistics indicate malnutrition among elders has increased dramatically in past decades and there are not enough health professionals and planning to combat the issue. En Español: “La Malnutrición: La Epidemia Oculta Entre Los Adultos Mayores,” Link: http://tinyurl.com/o3u82bn.
*** “The Hidden Hungry: South Florida seniors struggle to put food on the table,” by Diane C. Lade, Sun-Sentinel (Dec. 17), with a computer-reporting and photo/graphics team. South Florida retirees think they will spend their golden years in the sun, enjoying the good life. Instead, some seniors now live in what the government calls “food deserts.”
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