Divided We Fail at AARP Life@50+

At the best attended Life@50+ event ever, Divided We Fail inspired a lot of passion and excitement from the attendees.

Divided We Fail Panel Discussion

One of the highlights of the event was a panel discussion on Saturday, September 9th. Juan Williams, Senior Correspondent for National Public Radio and noted author, moderated. Yvonne Staton, an AARP member and volunteer, shared her heart-wrenching story about how her early retirement from a prominent airline was anything but secure. Following Yvonne, State Senator Ted Gatsas (R-NH) shared his experience as both a legislator and small-business owner. He mentioned how he was committed to ensuring that his employees would have access to affordable healthcare and financial security.

The third panelist, Jerry Ripperger, Director of Consumer Health at Principal Financial, gave the corporate perspective of healthcare and financial security in this country. He remarked that individuals, government and business need to work together to fixing the healthcare and financial security problems in this country and offered ideas on how employers and employees can work together.

Following Mr. Ripperger, Dallas Salisbury, CEO of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, presented an overview of the policy challenges contributing to the precarious state of financial security and healthcare. Nancy LeaMond, Group Executive Officer for AARP's Office of Social Impact, wrapped up the session by talking about the Divided We Fail campaign and how audience members could join us in our efforts to end gridlock and find commonsense solutions to fix health care and financial security.

Divided We Fail Booth

In addition to the session, the DWF booth at the exhibition hall was a huge success. Close to 7,000 new DWF voter pledges were signed at the booth.

Besides signing pledges, the attendees shared their personal stories, many of whom were inspired by Yvonne's moving tale, and had their pictures taken with the Divided We Fail mascot.