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Medicare Out-of-Pocket Burden – Food Insecurity – Older Worker Digital Skills

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Medicare Beneficiaries’ Out-of-Pocket Spending for Health Care

Contrary to common belief, Medicare doesn’t cover all health care-related costs, and that reality burdens millions of older adults financially. In 2018, people with traditional Medicare spent an average of $6,168 on insurance premiums and medical services, and 10 percent of people enrolled in the program reported delaying care due to cost. Half of those with traditional Medicare spend at least 16 percent of their income on health care.

Millions of Older Adults Rely on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)

During the pandemic millions of people have enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest anti-hunger mechanism and one that likely has helped keep the share of food-insecure adults ages 50 and older unchanged (8.5 percent; 9.5 million people). Almost half of SNAP households include an older adult, while most older SNAP enrollees live alone and below the poverty line. A recent AARP Public Policy Institute Fact Sheet provides further details on this key program, and whom it’s helping.

The Importance of Older Workers’ Digital Skills: Development and Access

When older workers lose jobs due to a lack of digital skills, the economy loses the many other skills they bring to the workforce. Meanwhile, the pandemic has meant an expansion in online and remote work, a trend that is expected to continue, while simultaneously older workers have been both disproportionately at risk of health consequences from COVID-19 and more severely affected by long-term unemployment. Looking further out, digitally skilled older workers generally make more money and are better positioned to compete for the jobs of the future. Closing the digital skills gap is an imperative for not only the older worker, but the economy itself—and it even has equity implications.

Innovations in Long-Term Care from Abroad: “Restorative Services” and Workforce Reforms

Two major challenges facing long-term services and supports (LTSS) involve maintaining a strong workforce and the perennial overreliance on nursing homes over the consumer-preferred option of home- and community-based services. As part of the AARP Public Policy Institute’s LTSS Choices series, a pair of recent reports highlight solutions from across the globe addressing those two issues. International Review of Experts’ Recommendations for Reforming the Long-Term Services and Supports Workforce looks at how high-income countries are maintaining a strong LTSS workforce, while Promoting Choices through Restorative Services: International Innovations profiles seven countries’ experiences with restorative care, an approach that promotes strength and independence rather than treating disease and creating dependency.

Top 10 Nursing-Focused Blogs for 2021

Here’s a look at some of 2021’s top blogs from The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. Some highlights: how nursing education can help achieve health equity, the trend of vaccine hesitancy among nurses, how states are making health care more accessible by allowing nurse practitioners and all advanced practice registered nurses to practice to the full extent of their education and training, and what the future of this key health care profession looks like. The Campaign for Action is an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Employment Digest: Older-Adult Unemployment Declines as Long-Term Rate Rises

As the overall unemployment rate declined from 4.2 percent to 3.9 percent, the unemployment rate for people ages 55+ declined from 3.2 percent to 3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) December numbers showed. Meanwhile, the share of jobseekers ages 55+ who were long-term unemployed increased to 42.8 percent despite declining (to 29.7 percent) among those ages 16 to 54. Labor force participation for the 55+ increased slightly, to 38.5 percent. The AARP Public Policy Institute Employment Data Digest reports on the monthly BLS numbers, offering an older-worker focus.

A Call for Input at a Critical Time: Reimagining the State LTSS Scorecard

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed both new and longstanding cracks in the long-term services and supports (LTSS) system, and so now is the time to reimagine, redesign, and rebuild. The Long-Term Services and Supports State Scorecard‚ already the premier tool to measure performance within and across states, can guide the way. At this critical juncture, the tool has the potential to draw further attention to critical LTSS issues exposed by the COVID-19 crisis and help states build and maintain momentum in their efforts to modernize their LTSS systems. The Scorecard team, therefore, is seeking input on finding ways to better measure state progress toward a truly high-performing LTSS system.

In the News

Millions of workers retired during the pandemic. The economy needs them to "unretire," experts say.
CBS News

Why the Cost of Long-Term Care Is Out of Reach for the Middle Class
Next Avenue

Editor-in-Chief: Susan C. Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN
Senior Writer/Editor: Carl Levesque

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