Choice A – Issues and programs
Choose one of the three options below. You don’t have to answer all of my questions and you might want to add some topics of your own. Include at least 3 references to quality materials- course readings (text and web links, not Content Guides), on-line resources, journal articles or news articles from quality publications or the web sites of organizations that have expertise and/or advocate a position on the issue. Suggested length- 1000 words)
Aging in Place :
How does the “ecological model of housing” and the concept of “environmental press” described on page 414-417 of Issues in Aging help tp explain why people choose to age in place and the challenges that they face? ( Issues in Aging is all you need for this part of the question) What are “Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities”? Are there any of them in or near your hometown or any you are familiar with? What makes housing, communities, neighborhoods or transportation systems “elder friendly” ? What are the advantages of rural, suburban and urban communities for their older residents? What could we do to make communities more elder friendly? In responding to the last question, feel free to consider technological innovations and housing modifications. .
Long Term Care:
What does the term mean and why is this an important issue? Why are policy makers concerned about the cost of providing long term care as the US population ages? Issues in Aging, the AARP Fact sheet and especially the Scan Foundation web site will be good resources, especially SCAN’s resources on providing care for older adults, especially their suggestions for integrating Medicare and Medicaid coverage, person centered care and long term care financing. (You can cite different pages and reports at their site as separate references) SCAN promotes the idea that it is possible to improve care and reduce costs at the same time. Identify and explain several of their ideas that seem to be promising and feasible or not and explain why.
Aging Services in other nations- for students who would prefer to focus on the nations that they or their older adult family members live in
If you are not a US citizen or resident or if you have older adult relatives living in another country and would prefer to write about some aspect of aging services in another country like health care, income support or senior housing emphasizing why they are needed, , how they are provided and funded, availability, quality, whatever seems most relevant to you.. 3 references, including at least one in English so I can take a look at it.. ESC’s library data base includes lots of articles from research journals around the world, mostly in English so you would probably be able to find resources to do this.
Choice B – Congress and Aging Policy – A Two Step Project
Step one: Congressional and Senate web sites allow constituents to share their opinions by posting an email message. Select a policy issue or program that you consider to be especially important for older adults (i.e. controlling the cost of Medicare, providing more assistance for long term care, for or against raising the age of Social Security eligibility , lowering the age at which people can receive Social Security to help older adults who can’t work during the Corona virus crisis and reduce the unemployment that will result from it ,applying the Social Security tax to all wage and salary income and not just income up to the cap (about $128,000 in 2018, reducing high drug prices ) ) and write a brief, factual and persuasive memo to your representative about the issue and what you would like to see him or her do about it, given the limits of what they can do given political constraints ( a Senator or Representative in Congress can not make law on her own. A member of the minority party can not succeed in passing legislation unless it has wide bipartisan support) . I would like to see a separate list including at least three references for this part but do not include that in your memo because your Representative or Senator’s staff would not ). I think it would be an excellent idea to send your message or some comments related to your representative or Senator knows that one of his or her constituents was thinking about aging issues. You can usually post brief messages to their web sites. ( 250 words)
Step two: Visit their official web sites and/or the web sites of the political parties that they are aligned with and see what they have to say about issues like Social Security, Medicare, high drug prices, Medicaid , tax policy and other issues that are related to aging policy. . Do they take clear, logical positions that reflect the importance and complexity of the issues and a realistic sense of how to pay for services? How does the information you see at these political sites compare to the information and ideas we covered during this module. Be specific and remember to focus on how policy impacts on older adults. . Do they state how they voted on recent relevant legislation ( i.e. the attempted repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act which would have had a major impact on older adults who have preexisting conditions but are not yet eligible for Medicare or reauthorizing the Older Americans Act in 2016 )? This information is not hard to find with a google search. I would like to see two or three references in this part of your report. (250-500 words)