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Agenda Taking Shape for White House Conference on Aging
SeniorJournal.com
August 23, 2005
A draft agenda for the White House Conference on Aging has been released. It focuses on six areas: retirement planning, working in later life, livable communities for older Americans, health and long-term care, social involvement and the change in the marketplace for seniors.
The 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA) will be held December 11-14, 2005 in Washington, D.C.
These conferences occur every ten years to make aging policy recommendations to the President and Congress, and to assist the public and private sectors in promoting dignity, health, independence and economic security of current and future generations of older persons.
Mini-conferences have been held across the country to help develop the agenda for the meeting.
Following are excerpts from the agenda planning document with some of the ideas being considered for each subject area. This was originally prepared in May and updated in August.
I. Planning along the Lifespan
A cornerstone of a successful retirement is planning for that event during a lifetime. It is essential to save for retirement starting at an early age when the miracle of compounding provides optimum leverage. We want to be sure we have the right incentives and the right financial education to provide workers with tools to plan for retirement. But, merely accumulating savings does not guarantee a secure retirement. Managing those assets through longer and longer life spans is a key component. Americans must plan and prepare for the risk of having assets depleted because of a long-term care episode. Moreover, retirees must be on guard against becoming victims of financial fraud and exploitation. Financial literacy is the essential component to enable Americans to plan for, and guard against, these risks.
II. The Workplace of the Future
For as many decades as we can remember, there has been a younger workforce on the heels of those planning to retire. With declining birthrates those demographics will change dramatically and will have a tremendous impact on the workplace of the future. In addition, Americans are living longer which means they will need more assets for longer retirements or work longer so that retirement assets last a lifetime.
Because the workforce is shrinking, older workers will be valuable members of the job bank of the future and, older workers will need the income that working longer will provide in order to fund their retirements.
III. Our Community
An important issue of livable communities for older Americans is the possibility for and desirability of aging in place. In order for this to happen there have to be available social and health services for people as they pass through the different phases of aging. Resources not only have to be in place but information describing them must be readily obtainable by service clients. A secondary effect of Baby Boomer parents moving from cities to suburbs after World War II, has been to make it more difficult for themselves and their children to remain in lifetime homes as they age. The suburban spread of the elder population makes it harder to deliver services and harder for residents to get to services especially as they become unable to drive. Some relatively obvious suggested solutions to the problem are better coordination between health and aging networks, improved information management systems, and finding ways to keep older drivers on the road longer, safely.
IV. Health and Long Term Living
Americans are living longer. That ever increasing life span, combined with the significant increase in the population reaching age 65, as the baby boomers age, will be major factors in shaping health care policy for the next ten years and beyond. The whole spectrum of health care, physical and mental health, will be impacted by these two factors. The importance of prevention, including personal responsibility for life style choices and adherence to preventive care protocols, are more important than ever as we strive to decrease or eliminate the negative impact of preventable illnesses. When acute or chronic illnesses do occur, the issue of access to appropriate medical and mental health services will also need to address issues of coordination of care across multiple settings and continuity of care over time. Living longer while afflicted with chronic illnesses will also require attention to choices that maximize function, quality of life, and independence in the living environment of choice for the individual. Research, particularly more focused on issues associated with aging, and the widespread dissemination and adoption of the information that the research reveals, will be a major contributor to the quality of health care.
V. Civic and Social Engagement
Social engagement is crucial to the physical and psychological well-being of elderly citizens. Being engaged in such activity is important for older persons in maintaining physical vigor and for getting the type of social interaction and mental stimulation necessary to continue living a full, robust life. It is just as importantly a way in which senior citizens can contribute to their communities. There are a wide range of available activities that may be helpful individually, to other citizens and more generally, to sustain the quality of civic life. There are opportunities for volunteers in hospitals, schools, and museums and with religious and service organizations, as well as in many other non-institutional settings. Key questions to be addressed regarding Baby Boomers as they age are, what will be their level of participation in volunteerism and, what types of activities will attract them.
VI. Marketplace
There are an increasing number of new products and operational practices that intend to help the elderly cope with life circumstances that have become difficult. They include personal mobility and communication devices, housing and vehicle design, and pharmaceutical advances. Some of these are beginning to be marketed and others are in development. But some with potentially dramatic impacts on older persons, and the rest of the population, are completely unknown. For example, at the 1981 White House Conference, would it have been predicted that by 2005, travel agencies, libraries and stockbrokers would be on the brink of obsolescence? Or, would it have been predicted that the internet would exist and be as pervasive as it is?
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