Apr 23, 2010
Q: What is Older Americans Month?
A: Older Americans Month celebrates and honors the ongoing contributions and legacies of older Americans. The tradition of Older Americans Month goes back to 1963, when President John F. Kennedy declared May to be Senior Citizens Month. The tradition has lived on each year since, but the name was changed to Older Americans Month by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The theme picked by the Administration on Aging for this year’s Older Americans Month is “Age Strong! Live Long!”
Q: What’s the impact of Americans living stronger and longer?
A: Americans are living stronger and longer as nutrition and medical technology improve. According to the Administration on Aging, one out of every eight Americans is age 65 and over. That number will jump to one out of five Americans by 2030. In Iowa, the numbers are larger than the national average. Iowa is tied with Hawaii for the nation’s fifth oldest state with nearly 15 percent of Iowa’s population was age 65 and over in 2008. This demographic shift to an older population creates fiscal challenges for entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. In 2003, I guided legislation to create the Medicare prescription drug benefit through Congress in order to help older Americans struggling to pay for needed prescriptions, and to bring the program up to date with the practice of medicine. Pharmaceutical treatments can keep people healthier and out of the hospital, which improves their quality of life and costs Medicare less. I also work hard to meet my constitutional duty of congressional oversight of the Medicare program. Every dollar lost to fraud, waste and abuse is a dollar that doesn’t go to Medicare beneficiaries, as intended. Making sure doctors are available to Medicare patients is another challenge for policy makers. When doctors in states like Iowa are not fairly reimbursed for their services, it makes it difficult to recruit doctors and it makes it a challenge for them to keep their doors open to new Medicare patients. I worked successfully to improve Medicare payments to doctors in rural states like Iowa and, in turn, access for beneficiaries, as part of the health care reform enacted this year. I’ve previously won passage of legislation to help hospitals in rural America keep their doors open. Financial security in retirement also is a major issue for an increasingly older American population. I’ve authored legislation that would make it easier for individuals to afford long-term care insurance, for employers to offer long-term care insurance benefits to employees, and to support family caregivers. In 2006, I won passage in Congress of a major overhaul of the pension system to better safeguard pension dollars after the Enron scandal. That legislation also created new incentives for saving for retirement.
Apr 23, 2010
Q: What is Older Americans Month?
A: Older Americans Month celebrates and honors the ongoing contributions and legacies of older Americans. The tradition of Older Americans Month goes back to 1963, when President John F. Kennedy declared May to be Senior Citizens Month. The tradition has lived on each year since, but the name was changed to Older Americans Month by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The theme picked by the Administration on Aging for this year’s Older Americans Month is “Age Strong! Live Long!”
Q: What’s the impact of Americans living stronger and longer?
A: Americans are living stronger and longer as nutrition and medical technology improve. According to the Administration on Aging, one out of every eight Americans is age 65 and over. That number will jump to one out of five Americans by 2030. In Iowa, the numbers are larger than the national average. Iowa is tied with Hawaii for the nation’s fifth oldest state with nearly 15 percent of Iowa’s population was age 65 and over in 2008. This demographic shift to an older population creates fiscal challenges for entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. In 2003, I guided legislation to create the Medicare prescription drug benefit through Congress in order to help older Americans struggling to pay for needed prescriptions, and to bring the program up to date with the practice of medicine. Pharmaceutical treatments can keep people healthier and out of the hospital, which improves their quality of life and costs Medicare less. I also work hard to meet my constitutional duty of congressional oversight of the Medicare program. Every dollar lost to fraud, waste and abuse is a dollar that doesn’t go to Medicare beneficiaries, as intended. Making sure doctors are available to Medicare patients is another challenge for policy makers. When doctors in states like Iowa are not fairly reimbursed for their services, it makes it difficult to recruit doctors and it makes it a challenge for them to keep their doors open to new Medicare patients. I worked successfully to improve Medicare payments to doctors in rural states like Iowa and, in turn, access for beneficiaries, as part of the health care reform enacted this year. I’ve previously won passage of legislation to help hospitals in rural America keep their doors open. Financial security in retirement also is a major issue for an increasingly older American population. I’ve authored legislation that would make it easier for individuals to afford long-term care insurance, for employers to offer long-term care insurance benefits to employees, and to support family caregivers. In 2006, I won passage in Congress of a major overhaul of the pension system to better safeguard pension dollars after the Enron scandal. That legislation also created new incentives for saving for retirement.