PPA 419 – Aging Services Administration Lecture 1 – The Context of Aging Policy, Services, and Administration

The Paradox of Aging Policy Safety net for the elderly receives widespread support. Support ranges from 93 to 96 percent. But, both the Medicare and Social Security trust funds are increasingly vulnerable to budget cuts. How is it possible for a set of policies with such broad public support to face such critical decisions?

Socioeconomic changes in the status of the elderly Aging of the baby boom generation. –1993: elderly 13% of population, 33 million people –2050: elderly 22% of population, 69 million people –Greatest growth among those over 85: 4.3 million in 2000 to 17.7 million in –More ethnically diverse.

Socioeconomic changes in the status of the elderly Aging and economic change –Median income increased for elderly by 60 to 75 percent between 1969 and 1996, whereas the overall figure for all households increased only 6 percent. –Poverty among the elderly dropped from 22 percent in 1959 to 11 percent in Poverty among all households fluctuated around 13.2 percent for the last 20 years. –In 1993, the highest net worth among all households was for year olds ($92,000 to 95,000).

Socioeconomic changes in the status of the elderly Aging and economic change (contd.) –But, poverty higher for elderly African- Americans (25 to 47 percent, depending on gender and marital status) and elderly Hispanics (27 to 47 percent). –A substantial percentage of elderly population is just above poverty (0 to 150% of poverty): 23 percent.

Political Vulnerability of Aging Policy Public indifference to aging issues. –Despite broad public support, most aging policy written by aging elites. Public rarely mentions aging policy as “most serious problem.” –Support broad but shallow. Prospect of generational conflict –Classic generational equity argument: tradeoff between children and elderly. –Poverty declining among elderly and increasing among children. –Allow little evidence exists of actual conflict, political pressures are increasing.

Political Obstacles to Aging Policy Change Decentralization, short-term solutions, and policy incoherence. –U.S. system decentralized and averse to long-range planning. Federalism and separation of powers Produces splintered political demands System rewards short-term ad hoc distributive policies over long-term comprehensive redistributive policies. –System limits policy making capacity and encourages policy incoherence. –Results in aging policy: uncoordinated, incomplete aging policy network. Significant in income and health, but sparse elsewhere.

Political Obstacles to Aging Policy Change Political Polarization and Policy Gridlock –Programmatic parties and decentralization likely to generate policy gridlock. –Recent trend in U.S. has been toward more ideological political parties. –Result: More policy gridlock.