Are you navigating the complexities of senior living options or wrestling with the future of healthcare and Social Security? Fear not, as Jeff Johnson, State Director of AARP Florida, joins us to illuminate these pressing issues with the wisdom only a true advocate for seniors can provide. Discover the ins and outs of retirement housing, from selecting an ideal community to understanding the nuances of home care. Jeff's deep dive into AARP's support for the elderly touches on their unwavering commitment to enhancing the lives of those over 50 by emphasizing health, wealth, and self.
Peel back the layers of healthcare challenges with us, as Jeff reveals AARP's strategies to combat the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs and the importance of comprehensive Medicare coverage. Learn how to stay active in both mind and body with AARP's resources, and navigate the Medicare maze with confidence. This episode is a beacon for seniors and caregivers alike, spotlighting long-term care advocacy and the essential support networks that bolster our beloved elders and their tireless caregivers.
As we wrap up our enlightening conversation, Jeff sheds light on the urgent efforts AARP is spearheading to ensure Social Security's endurance. With the clock ticking towards legislative action, understanding this cornerstone of American retirement is more crucial than ever. Moreover, arm yourself with knowledge against the ever-growing threat of scams with AARP's FraudWatch network. This episode is a treasure trove of insights, arming you with the tools and resources to protect and empower the senior community. Join us for a journey that promises not just answers, but actionable advice for thriving in the golden years.
SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by TransMed Care Long Distance Medical Transportation
The background music is written, performed and produced exclusively by purple-planet.com.
https://www.purple-planet.com/
*SeniorLivingGuide.com Webinars and Podcast represents the opinions and expertise of our guests. The content here is for informational and educational purposes. It does not necessarily represent the views, recommendations, opinions or advice of Fairfax Publishing/SeniorLivingGuide.com or its employees
Are you navigating the complexities of senior living options or wrestling with the future of healthcare and Social Security? Fear not, as Jeff Johnson, State Director of AARP Florida, joins us to illuminate these pressing issues with the wisdom only a true advocate for seniors can provide. Discover the ins and outs of retirement housing, from selecting an ideal community to understanding the nuances of home care. Jeff's deep dive into AARP's support for the elderly touches on their unwavering commitment to enhancing the lives of those over 50 by emphasizing health, wealth, and self.
Peel back the layers of healthcare challenges with us, as Jeff reveals AARP's strategies to combat the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs and the importance of comprehensive Medicare coverage. Learn how to stay active in both mind and body with AARP's resources, and navigate the Medicare maze with confidence. This episode is a beacon for seniors and caregivers alike, spotlighting long-term care advocacy and the essential support networks that bolster our beloved elders and their tireless caregivers.
As we wrap up our enlightening conversation, Jeff sheds light on the urgent efforts AARP is spearheading to ensure Social Security's endurance. With the clock ticking towards legislative action, understanding this cornerstone of American retirement is more crucial than ever. Moreover, arm yourself with knowledge against the ever-growing threat of scams with AARP's FraudWatch network. This episode is a treasure trove of insights, arming you with the tools and resources to protect and empower the senior community. Join us for a journey that promises not just answers, but actionable advice for thriving in the golden years.
SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by TransMed Care Long Distance Medical Transportation
The background music is written, performed and produced exclusively by purple-planet.com.
https://www.purple-planet.com/
*SeniorLivingGuide.com Webinars and Podcast represents the opinions and expertise of our guests. The content here is for informational and educational purposes. It does not necessarily represent the views, recommendations, opinions or advice of Fairfax Publishing/SeniorLivingGuide.com or its employees
Are you navigating the complexities of senior living options or wrestling with the future of healthcare and Social Security? Fear not, as Jeff Johnson, State Director of AARP Florida, joins us to illuminate these pressing issues with the wisdom only a true advocate for seniors can provide. Discover the ins and outs of retirement housing, from selecting an ideal community to understanding the nuances of home care. Jeff's deep dive into AARP's support for the elderly touches on their unwavering commitment to enhancing the lives of those over 50 by emphasizing health, wealth, and self.
Peel back the layers of healthcare challenges with us, as Jeff reveals AARP's strategies to combat the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs and the importance of comprehensive Medicare coverage. Learn how to stay active in both mind and body with AARP's resources, and navigate the Medicare maze with confidence. This episode is a beacon for seniors and caregivers alike, spotlighting long-term care advocacy and the essential support networks that bolster our beloved elders and their tireless caregivers.
As we wrap up our enlightening conversation, Jeff sheds light on the urgent efforts AARP is spearheading to ensure Social Security's endurance. With the clock ticking towards legislative action, understanding this cornerstone of American retirement is more crucial than ever. Moreover, arm yourself with knowledge against the ever-growing threat of scams with AARP's FraudWatch network. This episode is a treasure trove of insights, arming you with the tools and resources to protect and empower the senior community. Join us for a journey that promises not just answers, but actionable advice for thriving in the golden years.
Chapters:
Senior Living Solutions and Resources
Healthcare and Aging With AARP
Long-Term Care Advocacy and Support
Advocacy for Affordable Healthcare and Retirement
Advocacy for Social Security Solvency
Protecting Consumers From Fraud and Scams
trans:
SeniorLivingGuide.com podcast discusses topics which are relevant to the everyday lives of seniors and their caregivers. We are joined by experts who share their knowledge on a variety of issues. SeniorLivingGuide.com podcast offers solutions and resources to create the best quality of life as we age. And now let's welcome your host, Darleen Mahoney.
Speaker 2: 0:27
Does the idea of searching for senior housing solutions seem overwhelming and you just aren't sure where to even begin? SeniorLivingGuide.comhttps://www.seniorlivingguide.com/ is created just for you. We are here to make sure your senior housing search is easy to navigate and right at your fingertips. We provide details on communities to include retirement 55 plus, independent assisted living, skilled nursing, memory care and even home health and home care solutions, all in one easy to navigate website allowing you to decide which best fits your needs and connecting you directly with those communities and senior solutions. Visit us online today at SeniorLivingGuidecom and you can start destressing. I would like to thank and express our sincere gratitude to our SeniorLivingGuidecom podcast sponsor. Transmed Care Long Distance Medical Transportation. When a loved one with a disability or medical condition needs to relocate, transmed Care is here to help with safe and secure nationwide medical transport services, with an emphasis on comfort and care.
Speaker 3: 1:57
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Speaker 2: 2:29
And we are welcoming today to our podcast Jeff Johnson. He is the State Director of AARP Florida and he joined the team in 2000. Jeff is a board member also of the St Petersburg College Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions and the President of the Florida Council of Aging, and is immediate past chair of the board of Florida Civil Advance. So those are also super cool. We're so excited to have Jeff on our podcast today, so I am going to have him tell us a little bit about himself. What motivated him to become a part of AARP.
Speaker 4: 3:07
Sure, yeah, happy to, and thanks so much for having me on this, darlie, and I'm really excited to be here. So my journey to AARP was a little bit through the back door. I actually was working in marketing. I was working with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They were then the Devil Rays and Major League Baseball. We had an AARP night at the ballpark and I got to know the staff there and I thought, well, you know, this seems like a real job. Aarp is a real organization that grownups belong to. So I'll go do this for six months or a year and then find something else that I want to do, and that was like 23 years ago, because the reality is I've realized that the work that AARP does on behalf of those 50 and older is important for all of us at any age and just kind of span such a broad range of issues that it is impossible to get bored at this organization. There is always something really fascinating right around the corner.
Speaker 2: 3:59
Yeah, I think it's important especially when you're working in senior you know, with a senior demographic, senior living, senior housing, senior healthcare, senior everything to be passionate. And for me it's so easy to be passionate about seniors and what's best for them and helping to be a resource for them. So I love it when we get someone else on here that has the same passions for what they're doing and working with seniors on their behalf. So I do want to really talk about on this podcast what AARP offers, because I don't know that. A lot of people really know what it is. I do know that I have yet to get my AARP card in the mail and I'm a little thankful for that because I'm not at the age, but when it does, what can I expect? What is AARP?
Speaker 4: 4:48
You would think that'd be a simple question, darlene. Not so much. So. Aarp is really a nonprofit membership organization that's a nonpartisan advocate for those 50 and older, and we do our work by advocating in the halls of Congress and legislature, your local city council. But we also do it by advocating in the marketplace. So a lot of people know they've seen ads on TV for products that are marketed under the AARP name, or they've seen probably at the parent's house or at the doctor's office in AARP magazine, which is the, I think, the biggest magazine in the country. Those are vehicles for us to try to get the word out to help people who are 50 and over, who want help in figuring out how to live their best life. And so we do that through advocacy. We do that through kind of programmatic or communications offerings that just give people tools so that they can navigate the transitions that happen in the second half of life.
Speaker 2: 5:40
So there's a few things that you offer health, wealth and self. So I do like all three of those. Today we're really going to cover the health and the wealth. We'll hit the self on another podcast, which is just one more reason for people to come back and listen. So I did want to talk to you about the health. So what are some pressing health issues that are facing senior adults today? I mean, I'm sure there's a huge gamut, but I'm sure there's a top list.
Speaker 4: 6:06
Yeah for sure. So when you talk to people who are 50 and older, keep in mind that that's really, in many respects, a couple of different generations with a couple of different sets of issues. So for all of them, whether you're 50 and still in the workforce and you're getting your health insurance or your employer, or you're 75 and you're getting your healthcare through Medicare, cost of healthcare is a major issue. When we talk to members this is true in Florida, but frankly it's true across the country about what keeps them up at night One of the biggest things is the cost of prescription drugs and the unpredictability of that, because people never really know what their next visit to the doctor might show that they need to be able to address. And for so long, frankly, since AARP was founded back in 1958, the cost of prescription drugs has been one of those huge variables that can make or break somebody. So we focus on that, but we also focus on making sure that there's quality of care. So people who need healthcare need to make sure that there are doctors and specialists and hospitals and all of those things that we rely on available to them. And then I'd say maybe the third thing I'll throw out there, that is less of an advocacy issue and more of a kind of a programmatic one is how do we help people stay healthy? Because it's not just about managing illness, but it's also really trying to build a life that you can continue to thrive, whatever your age, and that includes helping people do the things that are important in order to stay sharp mentally, stay sharp physically and stay active in their community.
Speaker 2: 7:38
Right, so whole self.
Speaker 4: 7:40
Absolutely so. For instance, one of the things that, when we talk to our members, they tell us consistently over my more than two decades here is that brain health, staying sharp, is one of the things that's really important to them. Maybe they've had a family member who has struggled with dementia or another cognitive impairment, or maybe it's just like I am tired of forgetting where I put my keys. But people want to stay sharp. Well, it turns out when you talk to the best researchers in the country and in the world, which AARP does through its global council on brain health, the things that are important for staying sharp are not that app or that game or that supplement. Necessarily. They're things like eating right, sleeping, exercise, having friends, having a reason to get up out of bed every day and being curious. Well, those are things that help us not only mentally but physically as well, and so promoting that kind of culture, promoting tools that help people tackle those things, is super important, an area that we focused a lot on, especially in the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: 8:42
Yeah, absolutely. And the other thing is I know AARP is 50 and up we're getting dementia diagnosis is much earlier than we have in the past. I feel like it's we're really starting to see it trend a little bit younger. So it's really important for even those that are 50 that might not concede consider themselves seniors, to consider you're not going to be young forever and you really do need to have a proactive lifestyle.
Speaker 4: 9:05
Absolutely true, and one of the things that I think was a significant issue for us, and something that I would suggest for your listeners, is a mental shift that it takes. When I started, I was not eligible for AARP based on age, and I am now, but what I've learned over that time is we're all aging, aging is the alternative to death, and so every one of us, at every moment, is aging, and so we are trying to help people realize that seniors are not a them or or an other, but they're us, because we're all aging and we all hope to be at different stages of life that we can enjoy, no matter what our chronological age is.
Speaker 2: 9:42
Absolutely. I tell young people all the time you will get older.
Speaker 4: 9:45
Yep.
Speaker 2: 9:46
When you're young you think it's never going to happen to you. You're just going to be young forever. But the order you get, the faster it goes to.
Speaker 4: 9:51
So yeah, for sure. For sure for good and for bad, right.
Speaker 2: 9:55
Exactly, exactly. I did want to ask you about Medicare. Does AARP advocate for those folks that are on Medicare?
Speaker 4: 10:03
We do quite a bit, and so one of the things that we focus on is making sure that the options that are available to people who are in the Medicare program are strong. I mentioned earlier prescription drugs and it was not that long ago that Medicare did not have a prescription drug benefit. Aarp was instrumental in making sure that prescription drugs was added as a benefit. So people who sign up for Medicare will talk about the part D is in David or D is in drug benefit. It's not that new, but it is new enough. But we continue to have to fight. So it's things like making sure that the money is well spent, making sure that coverage is as comprehensive as possible. We continue to work on how do we allow, for instance, for vision and dental to get covered under Medicare. There are some Medicare Advantage programs, which are managed care programs, that may cover pieces of that, but we think that those are important parts of living healthy at any age and they ought to be part of the basic Medicare package. And then it's always again try to manage costs and make sure that taxpayer money is going where it needs to, that those who need care can get what they need and that the Medicare program is solvent for years and years to come, which is, I think, one of the challenges that we face, that we have to advocate for.
Speaker 2: 11:18
Absolutely. And the other question I have. So Medicare is complicated. My dad had dementia and when I started taking over his Medicare it hurt my brain. So I don't know how a lot of seniors navigate that, especially if they have cognitive impairments trying to figure out what's covered, what's not covered, what do they have, what do they not have. Is that something that you help with as well? Do you help assist seniors to understand what they have?
Speaker 4: 11:45
Yeah, we do. Thanks, darlene. So a couple of things on that. First of all, I mentioned at the beginning that one of the things that AARP is sort of known for is that we do advocate in the marketplace, and so there are products and services, including Medicare related products, that carry the AARP name. Frankly, it's not my job to talk about them, but what is my job to talk about is the AARP website, and toll free number has opportunities to answer a host of questions related to Medicare, because I could not agree more. It is complicated. I have family members with finance degrees who are just completely flummoxed by all the letters, right? The other thing that I'll say, in addition to what we do at the national level so we've got a website, we've got a call center, we do webinars and we have speakers who will speak to groups about those Medicare choices. But the other thing that I think I would really reinforce is that at the state level this is true in Florida, but it's true in other states as well there are volunteer run programs that the state has. So it's not AARP. In Florida it's called the Shine program. In many places it's called the Ship program. These are folks who have become experts on Medicare and kind of health insurance in general and serve as a navigator, if you will, somebody to help people who are struggling with the decision points around Medicare, both on the enrollment side and then also in terms of just you know. You get claims or explanations of benefits and you're trying to figure out what it means and what you have to pay. They're wonderful resources in every community in the country and I think it'd be. Aarp's job is to help support what's already great in the community. That's a good example.
Speaker 2: 13:28
Absolutely, and we'll have to include those links. So you said shineorg, is that what you said?
Speaker 4: 13:32
Yeah, shine is the name of the program here in Florida. Again, it goes by different names in every state, but we can definitely make sure you've got links for the show notes.
Speaker 2: 13:41
Oh, that would be amazing and I wanted to ask you. So some folks will also get long-term care.
Speaker 4: 13:47
Yes.
Speaker 2: 13:49
Tell us a little bit more about that, and how does AARP advocate in that arena?
Speaker 4: 13:54
No, thank you Darleen, because this is an area that, from a state perspective, state offices focus a lot on, including in Florida, because most people think Medicare covers everything until they're on Medicare and they realize it doesn't If Medicare does cover things like rehabilitative care. So if you have a hip replacement, there is a level of care provided in a nursing home or rehab center to help you get back on your feet. But for people who need help with just everyday activities of daily living. So this is not about managing a particular condition so much as it is about making sure somebody can get up out of bed, get to the bathroom, get dressed, eat, those basic activities of daily living. That's what long-term care provides. And most people, if you ask them, somewhere around 90, 95% will say if I need that, I would love to be able to do that, get that care at home. And so we advocate to make sure that the state programs that exist that do provide that care at home have the resources they need. And spoiler, they usually don't. They're long wait lists in Florida and many other states as well. But then for some people the level of their kind of physical frailty, the level of their need, is such that they need to be in a nursing home for that level of care, and for that it's really important that we were sure that those nursing homes provide high quality care. Now, I bet you, a lot of your listeners, have heard about long-term care insurance, and that is one way that people can save for or plan for the possibility that they will need this type of care down the road, and that's something where most of our advocacy is around making sure that the whatever insurance products get offered, or ones that actually deliver what they promise to the people who buy them.
Speaker 2: 15:38
Right, I love the fact that you're talking about people that are in long-term care that potentially could still be in care at home, because I think that's getting more and more important. I know my aunt had a stroke not too long ago and it's a de-habilitating stroke. I mean, she's still not even able to speak and her husband just wanted her home but they didn't have the finances to have 24 seven care and they've really gotten a lot of help through Medicare and I was really surprised at what they are doing to help him care for her at home. So I was really worried about him because I mean, that's a lot of work I can't even imagine and he's doing great and that the help that he's getting has been really sufficient for their needs. So it is good to hear those success stories from that aspect.
Speaker 4: 16:27
If I can darling. I mean, I think that you just hit on something that I hear all the time to from people. Those of us who may not think of ourselves as senior are often dealing with these issues as family caregivers, as daughters and sons, as spouses, as nieces and nephews, and we never talk about them. There are a bunch of shows, there are a lot of classes for people who are about to have a child, and everybody celebrates that and everybody knows what's gonna happen and you have a plan. You can kind of know the process. We don't have that fleshed out in a way that everybody knows. Hey, when mom gets, you know to the point where she's gonna need help. Here are the resources, here the here the tips, here are the life hacks. You know all of those things and I think that that's one of the things that, if we're smart as a society, will get better at, and it's something that airpiece put a lot of attention to your point. If the services of whether it's Medicare or Medicaid or a state program, can help support the family member family members there are something like three million family caregivers in Florida, something like 45 million across the country who are providing care, and if we paid them what they would get on the open market. If you needed to hire somebody for that, that would be a bigger chunk of the economy than like Walmart is. I mean, it's significant and so it would be smart for all of us if we figure out how do we help those family members keep at it and keep themselves healthy so they can take care of their loved one, and that's why I am. He focuses so much on family caregivers at our work.
Speaker 2: 17:53
No, I appreciate that and I know that on this podcast, we have talked to a lot of people who want to provide resources to caregivers. Whether it be support groups online or in person, or in chat rooms or Facebook, you know where it's a closed group of people that are all going through the same thing is so important for them to have that Help, and a lot of what I just spoke about is just your mental help and potentially your physical as well, but it still isn't always dealing specifically with the needs that those caregivers are going to, all the needs that they're going to need to provide the best care for their loved one that's living in home Absolutely.
Speaker 4: 18:34
Absolutely, and, darlene, you've you've heard this, I'm sure, a lot of times. People who are family caregivers the first thing that they need to hear is that they're not the only ones doing this. And so the podcast that you do, you know the program and you do the guests that you've had on, who have groups that, yeah, that doesn't solve the problem of being a family caregiver, but just mentally and emotionally it can be a significant comfort just to know you're not alone and to have people to bounce ideas off of. How did you manage this? Or do you have any, you know, do you have any great ideas for that problem?
Speaker 2: 19:09
Yeah, to your point. I just think it's funny that you said you know they have all the stuff before you have a baby, and I always think of what to expect when you're expecting. Yeah and I think why is there? There should be a book. Someone needs to come out with what to expect when you're getting ready to take care of a senior or someone that's cognitively impaired, or life hacks for the caregiver. I think we have a book title I don't know if that's taken, but I think that would be a great book that would be easy for you know, an easy read, and with all the things that people need mentally, physically, and that emotional, emotionally, and then even you know some of the things that seniors need that you're going to be able, you're going to have to be able to do if you don't have full time care. So, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4: 19:52
And just kind of on that real quick. So a rp's website has a whole section as a caregiver resource center that has a lot of those answers, and one of the things that we've done in the last year that I think is an exciting step forward in helping get that out to the people need it Is we're working with the local two one one programs, which course all over the country, so that they have our prepared a care guide. It's a real simple guide, and some of the two one ones are going farther and actually providing staff to provide counseling and, you know, on the ground support and connecting them to the resources that are in that community, because we started that partnership not that there are other organizations out there that we could partner with, but what we discovered is a bunch of the people something like a third of the people who call two one one for whatever problem are also family caregivers. That was a prompted their call, and the two one one operators didn't necessarily have those resources. So it's not the sexy book on the shelf yet though, you know, but it's trying to get the information to where people are looking for help. Absolutely, that's great. That's great that you also provided the information for our listeners so they can connect if they need to.
Speaker 2: 20:57
So I did want to ask you. You talked a little bit about advocating for affordable prescription drugs and health care coverage on a national scale. So how do these impact our older adults? The efforts that a rp is making? Yeah sure.
Speaker 4: 21:11
So we we often hear the stories from people who are trying to decide whether to fill a prescription or to get food or to keep the lights on, and so the fact that we are now entering a phase where Medicare is negotiating drug prices with the drug manufacturers to lower drug prices, that they're capping the maximum that you can pay out of pocket for prescription drugs and Medicare those kinds of changes are really significant. They're capping the price on insulin, which is really important, and so we continue to do that at the national level, while at the state level, we also look for opportunities. Whether the in the state of Florida, for instance, and in about four or five other states, there are programs to try to import drugs from countries. It's the exact same pharmaceutical but it's much cheaper, so are there ways that we can import those prices, if you will, from other countries? And it is really all about how do we help people get the information that they need, and it is really all about how do we help people afford the drugs that we know we're going to allow them to continue to live healthy lives, because without that, again, too often what happens is people will try to skimp on medication that the doctor prescribed for a reason and that leads to bad health outcomes if you don't take it as it's prescribed.
Speaker 2: 22:23
I'm so excited to hear about the advocacy on the side of prescriptions, because for everyone prescriptions are really high but for seniors that are specifically on a really fixed income they don't have a lot of disposable money Choosing to eat or take a prescription. To me it's heartbreaking to even hear that that's happening and we all know it's happening. That's a hard pill to swallow. No pun intended, yeah, for me. It just makes me sad to hear that that's going on. So what other health care access and affordability concerns is AARP working on?
Speaker 4: 23:00
One of the biggest things that I think we're flagging at the state level though again is true in other states too is we're looking at the future and you look at the demographics. So Florida is a state, as you know, that it continues to grow, and it continues to grow with older adults who have health care needs and, at the same time, we're seeing a generation of health care providers who are preparing for retirement. The reality is, whether we're talking about specialists or general practitioners, or nurses or frontline workers, we don't have enough of them to go around right now and we have a real concern about what's coming down the road. So in Florida, the legislature is trying to figure out whatever it can do to increase the number of residential slots so medical residents can study here in Florida and hopefully stay in practice, the nursing education, the whole range of health care professionals, to try to attract the workforce that we need to provide the care that we know we're going to need. I think that's a big issue across the country. I think that, whether it's because of the generational gaps between the size of the Baby Boom generation that is now retiring versus the smaller generations behind it, or if it's the kind of the shadow of COVID. That made a lot of people just kind of so miserable in the experience of providing care that they've decided they want to go do something else, or other factors as well. It's really important for us going forward that we build the health care workforce back up to provide the level of care that we need, and so AARP is doing a lot of work with legislators and others to try to figure out how do we entice people, how do we get to high school students and remind them that this is a great career, and how do we make sure that those who are just starting off and may be in kind of that frontline worker role have the pathway to make it into a real career that can provide them the life that they want.
Speaker 2: 24:45
Oh my gosh, that's amazing and it's daunting to think that we are having a deficit on the medical side of health care, and that's something I really didn't realize until you just mentioned it. So it's something that you know I don't think a lot of people think about. It's good to bring that to the frontline of people's minds so that they have the opportunity to jump on board and take the deficit away and kind of get some more folks in the workplace. So I did want to take a break because I think we're going to jump into wealth related information and things that AARP provides. So we're going to take a quick break for our podcast. Sponsors TransMedCare. Long Distance Medical Transportation.
Speaker 5: 25:26
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Speaker 2: 25:55
And we are back and we are with Jeff, with AARP Florida, and we did want to go into some wealth related questions regarding how AARP can assist seniors or families and caregivers. Maybe the first thing people think about in the terms of retirement is social security. So talk about, if you don't mind, a little bit about how AARP advocates for social security and what resources it has for members and others who are trying to understand the program, because social security, just like Medicare, can be quite complicated.
Speaker 4: 26:32
Yeah, you know, absolutely true, and I think that the social security. There are a couple of things. So, first of all, let's talk about that, the complicated nature of it, and trying to figure out when do I claim my social security benefits, what are the advantages and disadvantages of claiming at 62 or full retirement age, or even waiting longer than that. So the AARP website, aarporg, has a whole section on social security with lots of tools to help you figure out for yourself what makes sense for you, because every person's choice is going to be a little bit different there, based on what's going on in their lives, what their financial situation is all sorts of factors. And so that is maybe the biggest thing that we can do, because I know that the Social Security Administration is supposed to provide some help and they do their best, but they're woefully underfunded. One of the things that AARP has done, just kind of on a regular advocacy basis, if you will, is to push the federal government to make sure that they fund the Social Security Administration so that they can do the things that we need them to do, things like processing claims, processing applications and answering questions. So there was a time where there were a fair number of Social Security staff members who would go out in the community and answer questions out of health fair or go to a big event and provide resources, and most of those have been cut back over time or just not replaced, and so I think, in terms of helping people who are trying to make that decision have the tools that they need, we do what we can Again the website, we do Tellitown halls, we do free webinars, and all of these are open to anybody. You don't have to be an AARP member in order to participate in any of those, but all with the goal of helping you navigate that and figure out what is the right choice for you. So that is like the first big bucket on Social Security, but I think the other one and when people think about advocacy they go to pretty quickly is we know that Social Security is a great program that keeps something like 30% of those 65 and over out of poverty. It is the biggest anti-poverty program that America has ever had and it's by far the most successful. And come the mid 2030s, it will not be able to pay full benefits, and so we can make changes now to try to address that, and by we I mean Congress, and so a lot of our advocacy at the federal level. Maybe the thing that people look to therapy to do, if nothing else, is to advocate to make sure Social Security remains solvent for not only for the current generation of retirees but for future generations of retirees as well. So 2030.
Speaker 2: 29:08
So explain that one more time really quick, because I caught that date which is not too far away in the future.
Speaker 4: 29:14
No, it's not. It's actually 2030. It waffles between 2033 and 2034 based on what's going on in the economy. So basically, years ago, decades ago, the government set up a process where Social Security would take more in than it paid out in benefits and it would bank the rest. It would save it in the Social Security trust fund, because they knew that baby boomers were a big generation and that when they hit Social Security age, they were going to take out more than future generations were going to be paying in at that stretch. So the goal of this whole trust fund was to make sure that Social Security was able to pay out the benefits that were promised to those of us who have worked in the system. So it's so far, so good. It's working really well. However, 2033 or 2034, the Social Security trust fund will be completely depleted, so it would have spent all of that money that had been banked, that had been saved, and so it will only have the money that's coming in from current workers to pay out benefits. So if you're an employee, as you know right now, you're paying in a percentage, your employer's paying in a percentage it all goes into the Social Security system and it goes out in benefits If we don't do anything when that date comes and again it's been 2034 and 2033, so it'll be a little fuzzy on that because it will vary Social Security will continue to collect money from our paychecks and it will continue to pay out benefits, but it would only have enough money to pay out about three quarters of the benefits that it's promised. And most people who are looking at Social Security as the bedrock of their retirement, their financial security, can't afford to give a quarter of their Social Security check back. And that's essentially what happens if we don't do anything. This has happened before, not that we've gotten to that point, but we've gotten to the point where Social Security risked insolvency before and Congress has been able to come together and create a fix. But our position, aarp's position, is you'd rather do that now, when you can gradually make changes, than wait until 2032 or 2033, panic and have to make something dramatic.
Speaker 2: 31:23
Exactly and thank you for explaining that, because I really didn't. I knew that. You know you hear the news in the talk about. You know social security is not going to remain solvent for very long and then it's going to go away or whatever. But that's a better explanation. That's just very simple and cut and dry. So I do appreciate that and I absolutely agree that getting on board and on top of this now we should be doing that that should be like one of the biggest things that we're talking about within our legislation to make sure that everyone is continued to be covered, because you and I both know that once you become a senior, your expenses do not go down, they go up. Senior housing is very expensive. It's probably more expensive than a lot of people ever paid on a mortgage for some. You know some communities you can't really live off of social security, in my opinion, in 2024.
Speaker 4: 32:14
No, I absolutely agree. I think that the reality is it is a really good message for those of your listeners who are not retirement age is that social security is something that you can plan on as a piece of your retirement. You don't want it to be the entirety of your retirement. Now it is going to be for people. There are people who you know worked in jobs that didn't have pensions, worked in jobs that they were unable to save enough to put into 401K or IRA or some other retirement vehicle. They just don't have a lot of savings. And in Florida, for instance and this is pretty representative of what you see in other states for roughly half of the people who are 65 and over, social security is their biggest source of income and for between a quarter and a third of them it is almost all of their income. It's 90% or more of their income, and that just for kind of a baseline. The average social security check is about $1,500 a month, so that's not a whole lot. We have people here in the place where I work in the building who are waiting for their social security check so that they can afford a new place to live because, to your point, the senior apartment where they were living is facing a big rent increase and in Florida, like some other parts of the country, is going through a major housing boom and that's driving up costs and prices on housing across the board. So even though we think about housing as a community question or a self issue, the reality is whether it's that or whether it's health a lot of times it really boils down to money, and social security provides that baseline. That is inflation protected. That gives you something as a foundation on which you can build.
Speaker 2: 33:52
Absolutely so. What other initiatives is AARP, and even specifically in Florida, undertaking to promote the financial security and retirement planning for older adults?
Speaker 4: 34:04
Anybody who talks to me for more than a few minutes realizes pretty quickly I'm not a financial professional, so you should not trust my advice on anything related to how to manage your money. However, there are great resources that AARP has on its website, that AARP has speakers in the community out talking about that. We do national webinars for those who live in places who don't have, you know, local opportunities to go here somebody and don't want to go to the website to sort through to help people figure out how to plan for retirement and how to plan in retirement. You know there is a fair amount of emphasis in our culture about making sure you save for the future, which is great, and a lot of times we hear from people who say, hey, I finally made it to this finish line, I think I can retire. Now what happened? I have a modest chunk of money in a 401k and I don't know, like, how does that work? So we have we have answers to those kinds of questions as well that we provide and at the same time, we recognize that there are a lot of people especially in Florida, because it is such a small business state who don't have a 401k. They don't have a way to have, you know, retirement savings pulled out of their paycheck, you know, before it goes through taxation and before they think of other ways to spend it. And so we're advocating for ways for whether it's the state or whether it's local companies or whether it's through a national system to help and send people to save for retirement, because the reality is, as we said at the beginning, aging is something that all of us are going to do and, god willing, we'll do it for a long time. We need to plan for that from a health perspective, but we need to make sure we plan for that from a financial perspective.
Speaker 2: 35:39
Absolutely so. We've talked a lot of the about the things that ARP provides, the information that you've shared with us today. A lot of that's going to be on your website, correct?
Speaker 4: 35:49
Absolutely. Arporg has a wealth of information. It can be a little dizzying, I will tell you. The best thing from my perspective to do is, when you go to that website, if there's a particular issue you care about, like social security or financial security, you'll see that there's a heading for that. You click on that heading and it'll take you to articles and tools and phone numbers. If you'd rather do phone numbers, all of those things.
Speaker 2: 36:13
Right, because you mentioned webinars and different things and navigating and finding what you need is just going to be available on the website. You just kind of have to dig a little deep.
Speaker 4: 36:21
Exactly, exactly, for those who are old school, who may or may not be listening to podcasts, I don't know, but for those who are, as you mentioned, I think, before, and I did too, arp does have a magazine and a newspaper that go out to everybody in the country, and we will do occasional other mailings out there, and sometimes we'll do a tell-it-all hall where we just call people who have given us their phone numbers for that purpose so that they can be looped into what's going on. But the website is, frankly, still the best tool.
Speaker 2: 36:49
The best tool. So I did want to ask you. I know one thing we've talked about on this podcast is fraud, seniors and related to fraud, Because, honestly, it's getting rampant. It's not just the occasional. I'm hearing more and more and more of it at a faster pace than I ever had for fraud for seniors. So what does ARP do to help protect against that?
Speaker 4: 37:11
Oh darling, that's a great question because I totally agree with you. I think that fraud only continues to become more prevalent. I think that I am really concerned about what happens as artificial intelligence improves the quality of what fraudsters can do, because right now, when you think about it, it's true, for those of the workforce as well as retirees, most of the training is to spot the fraud by looking for things like bad grammar or typos or weird email addresses. Technology is going to help the fraudsters, just like it helps the rest of us, to get a little bit more polished, a little bit more professional about it. That is a concern. Here's what ARP does. On the programmatic side. Arp has a FraudWatch network. Again, I'm going to point to that same website. You'll see a big section on fraud. The FraudWatch network has a really awesome range of tools. First of all, there's a map of where frauds are being reported, what types of frauds. If there's somebody in your neighborhood who's going door-to-door trying to get you to buy a water purifier that doesn't make any sense for you to do, you'll see where people have reported that and be able to stay ahead of that game. There'll be fact sheets on how to identify these different types of frauds, what different scams are out there. There's a toll-free number you can call If you're not sure if you've been a victim of fraud and they'll connect you to the law enforcement folks who can help make sure, if it's a fraud, that the scammer is prosecuted or is chased down. We have a really good podcast about fraud. It's another tool in the toolkit. As you know is a really effective means of communicating. It is the most popular thing that our speakers provided community our presentations around fraud. At the same time, on the advocacy side, we are always looking for what are the holes we can close, what are the problems that we can resolve. A lot of this is people breaking the law. Changing the law doesn't necessarily change that very much. However, sometimes there will be a little glitch. For instance, this year in Florida we discovered that there are cases where somebody knows that somebody has gotten their bank account information and they go to the bank and the bank says, sorry, we can't really do anything about it until X, y and Z happen. We're trying to figure out how do we expedite that so that if you come in with a law enforcement official and you both say, look, this account needs to be frozen right now, or else I'm going to lose what I've got in there that they're able to freeze it until the law enforcement system can work through whether charges need to be pressed or whether there needs to be kind of a more permanent action taken. That's a glitch that we didn't know about until the law enforcement people came to us and said, look, we're seeing this in a retirement community in the state. Will you work with us on it? Which, of course, that's the sort of thing that we're always on the lookout for.
Speaker 2: 40:07
Yeah, and I have. Some of my feedback is don't click on it when in doubt. Don't buy gift cards for anyone that is just requesting, and don't cash checks.
Speaker 4: 40:19
Yep.
Speaker 2: 40:20
From people you don't know, because those to me are like some of the more old school.
Speaker 4: 40:24
Right.
Speaker 2: 40:25
It's not that they're still out there, because a lot of it is right now AI.
Speaker 4: 40:28
Yeah, yeah, well, absolutely, and the things that are really scary. So, first of all, darlene, couldn't agree more with the things that you said and, in addition, we've even been hearing from people who are pulling money out of crypto ATMs in order to pay people that they think mean well by them and are actually defrauding them. So, yes, there's always a wrinkle. The thing that concerns me is you often hear about grandparent scams, where you get an email from you know, your grandchild and I'm in a prison in London and you know need you to help spring me or whatever, and with artificial intelligence, the ability to mimic that voice of your grandchild becomes so much better. It becomes a whole lot harder to avoid those kinds of scams, and so learning to take a deep breath before doing anything that involves your financial information is just a habit that we have to drill ourselves on, because I am frankly afraid that, more and more, we're going to have to deal with that kind of fraud.
Speaker 2: 41:30
Exactly, you get that call. Don't panic, think for a minute.
Speaker 4: 41:33
Exactly.
Speaker 2: 41:34
It's not going to cost you anything. And then if you do have someone that calls you that is your quote, unquote, grandson or whatever say you know what, I'll call you back or you'll have to call me back, and then you call them because I guarantee you a lot of the time, or most of the time, they're going to answer the phone and they're going to not know what you're talking about.
Speaker 4: 41:51
Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 2: 41:53
So, before we wrap up, I just wanted to find out is there anything else that AARP is working on to protect consumers?
Speaker 4: 42:00
Sure, yeah, and I think the main thing that I'll hit on right here is in states. Every state has a utilities commission. In Florida it's a public service commission that regulates power rates and they will regulate other things too. But we work especially hard on making sure that the Florida Public Service Commission hears from consumers whenever they're thinking about what rates the local power companies should be able to charge, because the reality is, power companies are doing very well financially for themselves and we, the ratepayers, are footing the bill. And so AARP works with AARP members at others who just need to protect their pocketbooks, frankly, to be active in that process, and that's something that I think a lot of people think of from the senior perspective, if you will. They think of the person on a limited means who's trying to balance prescription drugs and keeping the power on, and that's important. But the reality is, it doesn't matter who you are. Why should you be paying more than you have to just so that somebody who's a shareholder in an investor owned utility can make a bigger profit? So this is an opportunity for all of us to engage, try to protect ourselves as consumers.
Speaker 2: 43:10
Yeah, I appreciate all of that. Well, before we wrap up, I did want to mention that the website is AARPorg.
Speaker 4: 43:17
And if you want stuff that's specifically for Florida, aarporg slash FL will get you to the Florida specific information. But a lot of the things that I mentioned are things that are useful for everybody and so you do not have to be a member that you may register for that site. So make sure that you've got suggestions for other things that be useful for you, but you do not have to be an AARP member to take advantage of any of the things that I've described today, because the reality is, when AARP was founded, it was to advocate for those 50 and over, and what we do, we do for all.
Speaker 2: 43:47
So my next question is if they're not in Florida, is it AARPorg slash and then the initials of the state that they're located in?
Speaker 4: 43:56
Yes, in most cases I think in every case that's true. I'm very provincial, I don't really care what happens in Idaho, but that should be the case. The other thing you can do is, as with every website, there's a search bar at the top. If you put in Idaho, it'll take you to the Idaho state page. You'll be able to go from there.
Speaker 2: 44:12
Good deal. Is there anything else you wanted to mention before we close out this podcast?
Speaker 4: 44:17
I know there's a lot more that we can talk about, Darlie. I just appreciate the time to do this and I hope that we're able to talk a little bit more in the future about some of the other topics that AARP works on.
Speaker 2: 44:26
Absolutely. I'm really looking forward to it. Thank you so much for joining us today, jeff. I really appreciate it and, once again, if you're listening, visit AARPorg for more information and all of these resources that we just chatted about. They're available online. Again, thank you for joining us on this podcast. If you enjoy this podcast, please listen for more podcasts. They are available on Spotify, apple Podcasts, good Pods and more.