Thirteen years from now, 1 in 4 Oahu residents will have celebrated their 60th birthday. And as a state, demographers say, Hawaii is aging more rapidly and living longer than any other state.
Many of us will live 20 to 30 years longer than our parents and grandparents. It’s up to us to keep tabs on our health security, financial resilience and personal fulfillment — or as Jo Ann Jenkins, AARP’s CEO puts it: “health, wealth and self.”
Each of us has a personal responsibility to pursue healthful everyday habits, save money for senior years as early as possible and help build “livable” communities tailored for multigenerational housing, transportation, education, employment and leisure, said Jenkins, who last year authored a book titled “Disrupting Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age.”
A longer life expectancy, Jenkins said, will not mean “just tacking it on to the end of retirement.” For many, it will involve expanding employment years with multiple careers. “It’s a whole different way of thinking about aging” that underscores growing older with dignity and purpose. It calls for smashing negative stereotypes, empowering senior generations and redefining the workplace as well as society in its entirety.
Jenkins, whose nonprofit includes some 38 million members age 50 and older, does not buy the popular notion that 50 is the new 40, or even 45. Rather, she maintains in her book that disrupting outdated and unnecessary constraints is about “owning your age — and creating a bold new path to living your best life at every age.” That means 50 is 50.
Today, a 10-year-old in the United States has a 50 percent chance of living to age 104. And by the year 2030, for the first time in history, the number of people age 60 and older is expected to exceed the number of children age 10 and younger, according to federal projections.
By embracing “this idea of what I call ‘living 100,’” Jenkins said, “we almost need to do away with the word ‘retire.’”
Jenkins, who was a featured speaker at the annual Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival earlier this month, met with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s editorial board and local AARP leaders to discuss the organization’s ongoing advocacy efforts and social change.
Question: What’s your reaction to the American Health Care Act (AHCA) as passed by the House of Representatives on May 4?
Answer: The AARP has adamantly opposed AHCA because it hurts so many of our members and other people of all ages across the country. We’re disappointed that that was able to pass the House. … It’s so important for not only our members, but all Americans to have access to adequate health care.
I actually think this version was worse than the first one because it basically delegates or puts the burden on the states to come up with options in terms of how to address the risk pool. It also does not keep in place the very important part of pre-existing conditions. … There are issues that need to be addressed in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). And our members tell us they recognize that change needs to be made, but this wasn’t the change that they were expecting or wanted. They don’t necessarily want repeal and replace. They want “fix.”
It’s going to be important for both sides (U.S. House and Senate) as well as organizations like AARP, hospitals and doctors to come together and figure out how to fix this and stabilize the insurance market as well as the important work of addressing pre-existing conditions and bringing down the cost of prescription drugs.
Q: Earlier this month, Hawaii’s state lawmakers passed a bill to allocate $600,000 to draft framework for a kupuna caregivers program — respite support for people caring for elders while remaining in the workforce. Thoughts?
A: Hawaii really is right at the forefront of addressing these issues around caregivers. (There are an estimated 154,000 unpaid family caregivers in the islands, with the average caregiver being a 62-year-old woman caring for an elderly parent or husband while still working.)
I often talk about positive aging. Assuming that people have taken care of themselves, have lived in good health — 60 percent of our health outcomes are based on the choices we make each day about health and eating and exercise; 20 percent, on the health care you receive; and 20 percent is your DNA. We really control 80 percent of our health outcomes.
Having said that, people are living longer, and there is this growing need for caregivers (nationwide) — and so many unpaid caregivers, meaning someone taking care of a family member or friend. If they were being paid, there would be an annual cost of about $450 billion to the economy. We need to address this growing shortage of caregivers … and how we take care of caregivers.
We’re certainly going to be watching Hawaii because this is the first state to pass this kind of particular legislation. (House Bill 607 aims to provide eligible caregivers with a financial voucher, which would be applied to bills for home care aids and others who can provide adult day care, transportation, personal care and various homemaking services.)
It’s one of the few issues in Washington that regardless of whether you’re talking to a House or Senate Republican or Democrat, every one of those members has a caregiving story in their own family — either with a spouse or a parent. So, we’ve been having some very fruitful conversations at that national level — at least with the recognition that this is a huge problem that we need to address as a society — in how we’re going to take care of people as they continue to age.
Q: How does AARP advocate for the elderly poor?
A: My first job at AARP was heading up the AARP Foundation, which is focused on helping low-income vulnerable across country in four areas: hunger, housing, income and isolation. We know that those areas are interconnected. We know that if you’re unemployed or have reached an age where you’re no longer working, you’re more likely to be isolated. … We know that someone who lives alone is five times as likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes — all of those kinds of issues.
We put in a considerable amount of work on the Older Americans Act (OAA). An extension was passed last year. (The OAA provides services such as home-delivered and congregate meals, preventive health services, transportation, job training, and other supportive services for about 11 million older adults.)
Also, AARP Foundation’s BACK TO WORK 50+ is a very aggressive effort. Regardless of income levels, it helps people who have transitioned out of a job … to assess skill sets and gives them assistance needed to get back in the workforce of business. We also know that people age 50 and older is the fastest-growing (segment) for small business in the U.S.
As we look at things like the AHCA, which would hurt the people who are most vulnerable, it’s important that the AARP advocates at the national level around protecting programs and services that give people a lift up or a hand up in trying to keep them either in the workplace or providing adequate services, whether it be financial, health-related or “keeping the mind active” in their communities.
Q: Does the work marketplace welcome older people?
A: We’re doing research right now. At AARP we have four generations in the workplace at the same time, approaching five. … Multiple generations can mean more productivity, when the younger tech-savvy people are working with the older, more experienced people. … Companies such as IBM and Intel are engaging on dual projects and teams that involve that sort of professional mentorship.
Q: What do you think about the idea of raising the age for Medicare?
A: Social Security and Medicare were put in place a little over 80 years ago — when retirement age was expected to be around 62 and life expectancy was 67 or 68. Now the fastest-growing age segment in this country is people over the age of 85 and the second, over the age of 100. Our members tell us that they want to make sure these programs are there for … future generations but they also recognize that we have to make some adjustments.
We work every day with our policy team to think about the impact on the low-income vulnerable, such as women who may not have paid as much (as men) into Social Security or Medicare. … It is going to be something that needs to be a bipartisan solution. … That’s being discussed in Congress right now — that the burden is being put on the older person rather than across the board, with the industry sharing some of those costs.
Q: Thoughts on housing?
A: We’re certainly working with HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) on trying to set a national policy on housing for those age 50 and older. Also, we’re working with the builder community … to start designing housing that’s “ageless,” so that more people can live with independence and don’t have to move out and into a facility. Why did we ever make door knobs round (when lever is equally functional and can be easier on older hands)?
