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The AARP Public Policy Institute's nonpartisan policy analysis focuses on issues of critical importance to older Americans and draws on the work of experts across the ideological spectrum.

Financial Security

Fighting Financial Exploitation on Person-to-Person Payment Platforms: What Consumers Want

While use of these Person-to-Person (P2P) payment services has continued to grow, financial exploitation perpetrated on P2P platforms has also been on the rise. 

The Effect of a Universal Automatic IRA With Emergency Savings on Household Wealth

This report models the effects of an Automatic Individual Retirement Account (Auto IRA), a simple retirement savings program that is currently in use in several states, along with a feature for emergency savings.

How Do Americans View Social Security? 

This report finds that, broadly consistent with other polling, Social Security has been and continues to be viewed favorably, enjoying widespread popularity across many socioeconomic and political groups.

The Scope of Elder Financial Exploitation: What It Costs Victims

This report, using a first-of-its-kind methodology to measure the annual financial cost of elder financial exploitation (EFE) in the United States, finds that victims over age 60 lose $28.3 billion each year.

US Small Business Employment and Older Workers

This paper provides details on older workers’ prominent position in what remains a key driver of the labor force and overall economy: small businesses.

Monthly Employment Data Digest

The latest monthly digest of employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) examines the findings from the Employment Situation Report. It takes a closer look at employment data for people ages 55 and over, including labor force participation, employment rates, and duration of unemployment.

See more Financial Security Reports

Health Security

Millions of People Pay Medicare Late-Enrollment Penalties for Life after Missing Key Deadlines

This Spotlight report describes Medicare’s enrollment rules, the situations in which late-enrollment penalties apply (and when they don’t), how many people are paying these penalties, and who is most likely to incur penalties.

The Importance of Prescription Drugs to Midlife Medicaid Enrollees

This Fact Sheet considers how adults ages 50 to 64 enrolled in Medicaid, hereafter “midlife Medicaid enrollees,” use one Medicaid benefit: outpatient prescription drugs.

A New Era for State Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs That Serve Older Adults

This report examines the existing State Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs (SPAPs) and their characteristics and highlights how specific federal prescription drug reforms could generate savings for SPAPs.

Trends in Retail Prices of Prescription Drugs Widely Used by Older Americans, 2006 to 2020

This report is the latest in the AARP Public Policy Institute’s Rx Price Watch series and presents both annual and 15-year cumulative price changes through the end of 2020 for a combined set of 943 prescription drugs widely used by older adults.

Food Insecurity Increased to 1 in 10 Adults Ages 50 and Older in 2022

This AARP Public Policy Institute Fact Sheet describes trends in food insecurity and selected characteristics of food-insecure adults ages 50 and older.

Medicare Savings Program Enrollment Increases When States Expand Financial Eligibility Criteria

This AARP Insight reports findings from an analysis of MSP enrollment patterns in a sample of four states before and after the states expanded MSP eligibility criteria.

Policy Options to Improve Older Adults’ Health Insurance Affordability

A new series of four briefs explores a range of state and federal policy options that could increase access to affordable health insurance and potentially reduce health disparities among individuals ages 50 to 64.  

Eliminating Access to No-Cost Preventive Health Services Could Affect More Than 12 Million Adults Ages 50 to 64

A Texas federal court recently ruled that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision of requiring most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services without cost-sharing was unconstitutional, putting access to no-cost critical preventive health services in jeopardy for millions of Americans. 

Medication Literacy Series: Drug Formularies

This fact sheet highlights the essential components of drug formularies and considers the challenges that older adults face when responding to the impacts and implications of formularies annually and throughout the plan year.

Trends in Retail Prices of Generic Prescription Drugs Widely Used by Older Americans, 2006 to 2020

The findings of this report highlight the pricing dynamics in the generic drug market when compared with those in the brand name drug market. 

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Susan Reinhard is senior vice president and director of AARP Public Policy Institute. Read her latest blogs on family caregiving, healthy living, nursing and more. Read Susan's Blogs

Long-Term Services & Supports State Scorecard

A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Adults, People with Physical Disabilities, and Family Caregivers

Independent Living/Long-Term Services and Support

Nursing Home Workforce Issues and Inequities

This Spotlight examines nursing home worker issues, including low wages and benefits and lack of career advancement opportunities.

Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Nursing Homes

This Spotlight explores the history of racial and ethnic inequities in nursing homes, discusses trends in nursing home admissions by race and ethnicity, and proposes recommendations for change. 

National Inventory of Self-Directed Long-Term Services and Supports Programs

The National Inventory of Self‑Directed Long-Term Services and Supports Programs builds upon the 2023 LTSS State Scorecard and previous inventories and provides an overview of all publicly funded self-directed LTSS nationwide.

Respite Services: A Critical Support for Family CaregiversA

This paper explores respite, are provided to an older adult or person with disabilities so that their family caregiver can get a short break from their care responsibilities, its impact on family caregivers, and barriers to its use. 

Innovation and Opportunity: A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Adults, People with Physical Disabilities, and Family Caregivers

The 2023 LTSS State Scorecard (the Scorecard) is a compilation of state data and analysis based on a new vision of a high-performing state long-term services and supports (LTSS) system. Released every three years, the Scorecard uses data from a wide range of sources to describe how state LTSS systems are performing.  

Advancing Racial and Ethnic Equity in Long-Term Services and Supports

This issue brief highlights research on inequities in LTSS related to the Scorecard’s five domains. This paper further outlines potential data sources to assess these inequities and discusses implications for how AARP plans to address these inequities through the Scorecard.

Expanding ADU Development and Occupancy: Solutions for Removing Local Barriers to ADU Construction

This guide is intended to help community leaders, planners, and housing practitioners and advocates identify and overcome specific challenges that limit the local supply and legal occupancy of ADUs.

Valuing the Invaluable 2023 Update: Strengthening Supports for Family Caregivers

This report pulls from multiple sources to profile who family caregivers are and the challenges they face and includes several first-person accounts of the experience.

CAPABLE: A Model of Empowering Older Adults to Remain Independent

This paper highlights the Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) model, designed to keep older adults in the community and to improve their ability to remain independent. 

See More Independent Living/LTSS Reports

Family Caregiving

A Closer Look at Sandwich Generation Caregivers of Medicare Beneficiaries

This report uses qualitative and quantitative data to depict sandwich generation caregivers to Medicare beneficiaries and the care they provide. 

Valuing the Invaluable 2023 Update: Strengthening Supports for Family Caregivers 

Family caregivers fill an essential role in our fractured long-term services and supports (LTSS) system. In 2021, the estimated economic value of family caregivers’ unpaid contributions was approximately $600 billion, based on about 38 million caregivers providing an average of 18 hours of care per week for a total of 36 billion hours of care, at an average value of $16.59 per hour.

Family Caregiver Considerations for the Future of Hospital at Home Programs 

The declaration of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) accelerated an already burgeoning movement of health care into the home. An increasing number of health care systems are choosing to invest in homebased care in new and innovative ways, and consumers are using these services at unprecedented levels. The Hospital at Home (HaH) model shifts care into the home setting and delivers acute hospital-level care to eligible patients where they live instead of in a hospital. 

Caring Locally for Caregivers: How State and Local Laws Protect Family Caregivers from Discrimination at Work

Workplace discrimination against employees who care for adult family members, called Family Responsibilities Discrimination (FRD) or caregiver discrimination, is an escalating problem that can disadvantage employees and put employers at legal risk. This report details the ways in which state and local laws fill in the gaps left by federal law by prohibiting employment discrimination that occurs because of family caregiving.

See More Caregiving Reports 

Livable Communities

Innovations in Rural Public Transportation: Data Standards Undergird Equity

This report explains how transportation systems built with open and universal data standards can allow rural residents to experience more seamless travel on public transportation without reliance on a personal automobile.

RideSheet: Rural Transportation Benefits from New Coordination Technology

This report offers a firsthand look at Lake County, Oregon’s experience using a new open-source software product called RideSheet to provide demand-responsive transportation. 

Older Adults, New Mobility, and Automated Vehicles

This report provides a framework for harnessing emerging technology for individual and societal benefits.

See More Livable Communities Reports

 

Center to Champion Nursing in America

Transforming the Workforce to Provide Better Chronic Care

This series explores the evolution of primary care systems to better meet the needs of consumers with complex health conditions. It demonstrates that changes in the workforce are required to empower consumers to better manage their health.

Removing Barriers to Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Care: Hospital Privileges

Granting hospital privileges to nurse practitioners and other advanced practice registered nurses reduces costs, increases consumer choice, and improves healthcare quality.

Removing Barriers to Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Care: Home Health and Hospice Services

Allowing nurse practitioners and other advanced practice registered nurses to certify patients for Medicare coverage of home health services would increase access and efficiency.  

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