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.

Comparing Adequacy Adjustments to Social Security: How Well Do They Target Different Beneficiaries?

This report by Melissa Favreault and Karen Smith at the Urban Institute examines the distributive effects of ten popular adequacy adjustments, identifying how each adjustment would impact different groups of people broken down by a) lifetime earnings, (b) poverty status, (c) years of low-wage work, (d) total lifetime work effort, and (e) age.  

The U.S. Essential Workforce Ages 50 and Older: A Snapshot

During the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis, as businesses either closed or moved employees to telework, the vital importance of a segment of the overall working population, the essential workforce, came to light for Americans. These workers perform jobs that are necessary to critical infrastructure operations.

Financial Access Challenges for Older Adults

Nearly 15 million households 50 and older face gaps in financial access that increase both their costs and risk. This fact sheet examines these gaps, including findings on bank account ownership, account access methods, and credit activity. 

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Vaccine Hesitancy among Older Adults, with Implications for COVID-19 Vaccination and Beyond

This report explores vaccine hesitancy among older adults, the attitudes that drive vaccine hesitancy, and the relationship between hesitancy toward the influenza vaccine and hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccines.

Putting People First by Strengthening Medicare for the Future

This report highlights and describes in detail seven innovative programs that represent a variety of approaches and span a wide range of Medicare services.

Influenza Vaccinations among Adults 50 and Older: Slow Progress over the Past Decade

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a real urgency to get more people vaccinated against the flu this year. But older adults, who are most at risk of serious illness and death from both COVID-19 and seasonal flu, are, in an effort to avoid the coronavirus, skipping opportunities to get their annual influenza vaccine.

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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

LTSS Choices: Paying Family Caregivers to Provide Care during the Pandemic-and Beyond

Medicaid is the primary funder of long-term services and supports (LTSS) in the United States. It provides those services and supports either through institutional care (i.e., nursing home care) or home- and community-based services (HCBS). This report explains that one cost-effective HCBS option with multiple advantages is to pay family members to provide care for older people and adults with physical disabilities.

Recognition of Family Caregivers in Managed Long-Term Services and Supports

Based on a study of managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) programs, this report examines provisions in MLTSS contracts that are important for the support of family caregivers. The study comprised the review of 31 MLTSS programs for older adults and adults with physical disabilities in 23 states in 2019.

Fast-tracking Approval for Publicly Funded LTSS: Presumptive Eligibility

Part of the Long-Term Services & Supports State Scorecard Promising Practices, this paper examines Presumptive Eligibility programs in five states -- Michigan, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington – comparing key features and making recommendations for effective programs that increase access to Long-Term Services and Supports. 

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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.

Managing a Paid Job and Family Caregiving is a Growing Reality

The 2020 Caregiving in the U.S. report revealed an increase of more than 5 million employed family caregivers since 2015. This report takes a deeper look into the Caregiving in the US data at the nearly 30 million Americans who are caring for an ill friend or family member while also working at a paying job. It highlights the impacts and challenges of managing both responsibilities, and it identifies what’s changed since 2015.

Caregiving in the United States 2020

First conducted in 1997 by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 update presents a portrait of unpaid family caregivers. Family caregivers now encompass more than one in five Americans. The study also reveals that family caregivers are in worse health compared to five years ago. 

Valuing the Invaluable 2019 Update: Charting a Path Forward

Part of a series of papers on the economic value of family caregiving, this report updates national and individual state estimates of the economic value of family caregiving using the most current data available. In 2017, about 41 million family caregivers in the United States provided an estimated 34 billion hours of care to an adult with limitations in daily activities. The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was approximately $470 billion. 

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