Nevada State Fact Sheet

AARP State Fact Sheet

Source: AARP.org | January 2009

AARP Nevada is proud to represent and serve 333,684 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 Nevadans through vital services, including job training and placement, driver safety, and tax assistance programs. 

Age 50+ voters:  66 percent of Nevadans age 50+ 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 Nevadans

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

• Extending unemployment insurance for the 14,500 Nevadans 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 Nevada now spending nearly $10,000 a year on premiums alone; and
• Ensuring all Americans have access to quality care, especially the 69,065 uninsured Nevadans 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 nearly 30,000 Nevada children and almost 258,000 of the most vulnerable Nevadans 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:

• Expanding access to home and community-based services through Medicaid – the largest payer of long-term care – which spent only 34 percent of long-term care dollars in Nevada on home- and community- based services for older adults and adults with physical disabilities and 66 percent on institutional care for the same population in 2007.

Strengthening Medicare:  We are working with Congress to improve and strengthen Medicare, which provides health care for 327,629 Nevadans, 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 362,534 Nevadans currently receiving Social Security benefits.

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 485,000 Nevadans 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 by:

• Allowing bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgage loans for primary residences, which would help 7,448 Nevadans age 50+ who are in or near foreclosure.

AARP: Fighting for Nevadans

AARP has more than 53,000 Nevada activists working to engage federal and state elected officials on issues of importance to older adults and their families.  These activists are able to make their voices heard on critical public policy through tele-town halls, emails, telephone calls, issue forums, letters, legislative and policy meetings, and community events.  These advocates cover all areas of Nevada and have deep connections in their communities.  Advocacy efforts provide direct communication between AARP members and federal and state elected officials, sharing with them the impact of public policy on Nevadans age 50+.

In 2007, AARP, the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the Service Employees International Union launched Divided We Fail (DWF) – a national initiative to compel elected officials to work on a bipartisan basis to fix health care and financial security. The entire Nevada congressional delegation supports the DWF pledge. To advance the fight for solutions to our nation's health and financial security problems, AARP Nevada held community conversations, town hall forums, and opinion leader discussions across the state.  Through DWF, AARP activists engaged Nevadans in 70 cities and towns at candidate events, community health fairs, residential developments and facilities, senior centers, chambers of commerce, local governments, schools and job fairs in the fight for affordable, quality health care and long-term financial security.

AARP Nevada activists have engaged with their federal and state elected officials over essential issues, including Medicare and the Medicare veto-override, preventing securitization of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement to preserve senior services in the state, Medicaid program changes, and budget cuts.

AARP Foundation: Serving Nevadans 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 44 locations throughout Nevada, AARP-trained and IRS-certified volunteers helped 28,371 Nevadans, including those eligible to file for their economic stimulus checks, and filed EITC 1,271 returns, putting $1,176,966 in the pockets of those who need it most.
• Older Workers:  There are more than 343,255 age 50+ workers in Nevada, providing 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 the 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 1,052 Nevadans connect to local job opportunities.

These and additional Foundation programs served more than 34,881 Nevadans in 2008.

AARP Contact Information

Nevada: Barry Gold, Nevada State Associate Director - Advocacy; bgold@aarp.org; 702-938-3236
Washington, DC: Greg Wang, Senior Legislative Representative; gwang@aarp.org; 202-434-3742

_{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 & County Business Patterns & 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.}