Health Care on a Budget: An Analysis of Spending by Medicare Households

The Kaiser Family Foundation has issued a report which shows that one in four Medicare households devotes more than one quarter of their total household expenditures to health care. This group includes a disproportionate share of Medicare households that are low- and middle-income.

Full report is available

Retiree Health VEBAs: A New Twist On An Old Paradigm

The Kaiser Family Foundation's issue brief provides an overview of stand-alone Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association trusts, which employers utilize to rid themselves of future obligations to pay retiree health benefits by making a significant payment which approximates the projected cost of these benefits. The paper include three case studies, including the VEBAs at the Big Three automakers.

Full issue brief is available

A Process Evaluation of the Implementation of the Lutheran Wellspring Alliance of the Carolinas

American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging has issued a process evaluation of the implementation of the Wellspring model in the Lutheran Carolina nursing homes. The model emphasizes resident-centered care, team orientation across departments and positions, critical thinking and use of quality information to improve nursing homes as a place to live and work.

Full report is available

Urban Institute Reports on Social Security

The Urban Institute has issued several briefs that examine issues surrounding Social Security:

Minimum Benefits in Social Security Could Reduce Aged Poverty explores two potential minimum-benefit designs and shows that an effective minimum benefit could help protect the highest-risk groups (long-service, low-wage workers,espcially African Americans, Hispanics, and unmarried women).
Full report is available

Would Raising the Social Security Retirement Age Harm Low-Income Groups? examines the future distributional impacts of raising the retirement age by about three years. Raising the retirement age hits lower-income workers less hard than other groups because the disability program provides some protection. However, it still increases poverty rates. Combining the retirement age change with an enhanced minimum benefit increases lifetime benefits for the lowest earners and substantially cuts the Social Security deficit without significantly increasing poverty rates.
Full text is available

Urban Institute Reports on Retirement

The Urban Institute's brief, What Happens to Health Benefits After Retirement?, examines the availability and cost of health insurance at ages 55 to 64 and changes in coverage after retirement. Today most workers with employer health benefits retain their coverage when they retire early, although their required premium contributions have increased sharply over the past 10 years. In the future, however, steady declines in the share of younger workers with access to retiree health benefits may jeopardize income security for the next generation of retirees.
Full report is available

How Long Do Boomers Plan To Work? states that the solvency of the U.S. retirement system partially hinges on how long baby boomers stay in the workforce. If they retire as early, the number of workers per retiree will soon plummet, reducing the tax base and squeezing budgets for Social Security and all other government programs. But new research shows that as the boomers approach retirement they intend to work longer than people born a dozen years earlier, promoting economic growth and partly offsetting the economic pressures created by an aging population.
Full Report is available

Racial Differences in Baby Boomers' Retirement Expectations reports that, though recent evidence suggests baby boomers intend to work longer than previous generations, some demographic groups appear less likely to delay retirement. On average, African Americans expect to work less at older ages than other racial groups, even after considering differences in education, health, wealth, and other factors. Possible explanations include labor market discrimination, family care responsibilities, and lower levels of job satisfaction. African American boomers risk jeopardizing their retirement security if they leave the labor force at relatively young ages.
Full report is available

Promoting Economic Security at Older Ages through Workforce Development

The Urban Institute has published the testimony of Richard W. Johnson, Senior Fellow of The Urban Institute to Senate Special Committee on Aging of the U.S. Congress. In his testimony, Mr. Johnson argues that Congress could improve the economic security of older people with limited education in retirement and in the years leading up to retirement by increasing government-funded employment and training services.

Full report is available

The Role of ERISA Preemption in Health Reform: Opportunities and Limits

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has issued a report which examines judicial interpretations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and discusses the opportunities to enact health care reform initiatives. This paper discusses:

ERISA's preemption provisions;

ERISA challenges to state regulation of health plans and insurers;

ERISA's potential application in smaller-scale health care regulation;

ERISA and state tort lawsuits; and

Ways ERISA preemption could be changed by Congress or regulatory action.

Full report is available

Improving Affordability, Expanding Coverage: Opinions about Health Care Reform in Utah

AARP commissioned a survey to understand perception about health, concerns about the future of health care, and support for specific ways to improve and expand access to health care coverage. Findings include:

Utah residents are worried about the affordability of health care

Utah residents believe that all Utahns should have access to health care.

Utah residents say employers, insurance companies, individuals, workers, health care providers, and the government should contribute in order to provide health care coverage.

Utah residents support health care reform proposals that promote health care affordability and accessibility.

Full report is available

Caregiving and End of Life Issues: A Survey of AARP Members in Florida

AARP commissioned a survey of members on caregiving and end-of-life issues. Key findings included:

13% are providing unpaid care for a relative, friend, spouse, companion, or partner

A third have been providing care for at least 6 years, and 45% have been providing care for 1-5 years

If they could choose where to die, 58% would choose to die at home

9 in 10 have heard of hospice services, and 8 in 10 have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of them

64% have talked with their spouse, partner, or another family member about their wishes for care at the end of life

57% have completed a last will and testament, and 53% have completed a living will.

Full report is available

Across the States 2009: Profiles of Long-Term Care and Independent Living

AARP has issued a report that helps inform policy discussions among public and private sector leaders in long-term care throughout the United States. The report is published every two to three years. Earlier reports are available.

Full report is available