Illinois State Fact Sheet

AARP State Fact Sheet

Source: AARP.org | January 2009

AARP Illinois is proud to represent and serve 1,762,041 AARP members age 50+ in the state. 

We are committed to championing access to affordable, quality health care for all generations, providing the tools needed to save for retirement, and serving as a reliable information source on issues critical to Americans age 50+.  AARP and the AARP Foundation are also working to improve the lives of Illinoisans through vital services including job training and placement, and driver safety and tax assistance programs. 

Age 50+ voters:  70 percent of people age 50+ in Illinois voted in the 2008 election, sending a clear message that it's time for elected officials from both sides of the aisle to come together to solve our nation's problems.

AARP:  Working To Improve the Lives of All Illinoisans

Providing Real Relief:  We are working with Congress to support struggling workers by:

• Extending unemployment insurance for the 81,888 Illinoisans age 50+ hardest hit by the economic crisis.

Reforming Health Care:  We are working with Congress to fix our broken health care system by:

• Making quality health care more affordable for the families and employers in Illinois now spending nearly $12,000 a year on premiums alone; and
• Ensuring all Americans have access to care, especially the 267,521 uninsured Illinoisans age 50-64.

Helping the Most Vulnerable:  We are working with Congress to pass legislation that would help more low-income Americans with access to health care by:

• Strengthening the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid to ensure that more than 175,000 Illinois children and 2 million of the most vulnerable Illinoisans get the care they need.

Aging in Place:  We are working with Congress to ensure that the 89 percent of individuals age 50+ who wish to remain in their homes as long as possible can by:

• Removing the institutional bias in Medicaid – the largest payer of long-term services and supports – which, in 2007, spent only 23 percent of long-term care dollars in Illinois on home and community-based services for older adults and adults with physical disabilities and 77 percent on institutional care for the same population.

Strengthening Medicare:  We are working with Congress to improve and strengthen Medicare, which provides health care for 1,769,546 Illinoisans, by:

• Putting more emphasis on quality and efficiency, capping out-of-pocket expenses in Medicare, and making prescription drugs more affordable.

Ensuring Social Security:  We are working with Congress to strengthen Social Security for current and future generations by:

• Reaching a balanced and bipartisan solvency agreement that will preserve Social Security's role as a guaranteed floor of income security, as it now does, for 1,921,996 Illinoisans currently receiving Social Security.

Promoting Retirement Savings:  We are working with Congress to ensure that every American has a simple, dependable way to save for retirement at work by:

• Enacting Automatic IRA legislation, which would help many of the estimated 2,013,000 Illinoisans who currently do not have access to a retirement savings plan at work.

Addressing the Housing Crisis:  We are working with Congress to help people facing foreclosure so they can stay in their homes while paying off their debt, including:

• Allowing bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgage loans for primary residences, which would help 28,819 Illinoisans age 50+ who are in or near foreclosure.

AARP: Fighting for Illinoisans

More than 77,000 AARP Illinois activists are mobilized and engaging in federal and state issues affecting Illinoisans age 50+. Members of AARP's Grassroots, State Legislative Committee (SLC), and District Impact Teams are represented in all Illinois General Assembly Districts and in Illinois' Congressional Districts. These loyal and dedicated volunteers are working to support passage of legislation through tele-town halls, monthly conference calls, emails, volunteer trainings, and issue forums. Also, they serve as a direct line of communication between AARP members in their communities and federal and state elected officials, sharing with them the impact of their policy positions on Illinoisans age 50+.

In 2007, AARP, Business Roundtable, National Federation of Independent Business and the Service Employees International Union launched Divided We Fail (DWF) – a national effort to get elected officials to work on a bipartisan basis to fix health care and financial security. Half of the Illinois congressional delegation signed the DWF pledge.  Through the DWF initiative, we engaged more than 22,000 Illinoisans in the fight for affordable, quality health care and lifetime financial security. During the presidential election, AARP Illinois hosted fifteen Community Conversations across the state. In addition, we held an Opinion Leader Forum with the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and hosted Community Blitzes in Chicago, Peoria and Springfield.

AARP Illinois worked with partners during the past legislative session to successfully prevent major cuts to services to older adults who have chosen to remain at home. AARP has been an important coalition member in efforts to promote improved health care and expanded coverage in the state.

AARP Foundation: Serving Illinois

The AARP Foundation provides services that improve the lives of Illinoisans of all generations.

• AARP Tax-Aide is the nation's largest, free, volunteer-run tax preparation and assistance service available to low- and moderate-income taxpayers.  With 284 locations throughout Illinois, AARP-trained and IRS-certified volunteers helped 99,158 Illinoisans, including those eligible to file for their economic stimulus checks, and filed 3,737 EITC returns, putting $3,009,531 in the pockets of those who need it most.
• Older Workers:  There are more than 1,731,023 workers ages 50+ in Illinois, who provide value to public, private and nonprofit sectors. As the need to work later in life increases, older workers need to be prepared to meet the skill demands of the twenty-first century workplace. That's why the AARP Foundation provides assistance to older workers in need, through programs such as:

WorkSearch, which connects job seekers to viable community job opportunities to improve their economic self-sufficiency.  WorkSearch provides career information, job training, and related employment services to individuals with limited resources. If a job-seeker is 55 or older and income eligible, he or she may enroll in Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), which places older adults at local “host agencies” for on-the-job training and skill development with the goal of securing permanent employment.  In 2008, WorkSearch and SCSEP helped more than 774 Illinoisans connect to local job opportunities.

These and additional Foundation programs served more than 128,820 Illinoisans in 2008.

AARP Contact Information

Illinois: Bob Gallo, Illinois State Director; bgallo@aarp.org; 312-458-3604
Washington, DC:   Kristin Keckeisen, Senior Legislative Representative; kkeckeisen@aarp.org; 202-434-3767

_{References
Providing Real Relief: AARP Public Policy Institute Tabulations of the A132007 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007).
Reforming Health Care: Premiums: The Kaiser Family Foundation. 2008. State Health Facts.
Reforming Health Care:  Uninsured: AARP PPI Report:  "Health Care Reform:  What 50- to 64-Year-Olds Have at Stake"
Helping the Most Vulnerable: SCHIP, Medicaid: The Kaiser Family Foundation. 2008. State Health Facts.
Aging in Place: AARP Public Policy Institute, 2008. A Balancing Act: State Long Term Care Reform.
Strengthening Medicare: The Kaiser Family Foundation. 2008. State Health Facts.
Ensuring Social Security: Social Security Administration. 2007. OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County.
Promoting Retirement Savings: Based on data from the US Census, State and County Business Patterns and Current Populations Survey statistics on Pension Coverage. 2004.
Addressing the Housing Crisis: AARP Public Policy Institute. 2008. A First Look at Older Americans and the Mortgage Crisis.}