Each year, the month of May is proclaimed Older Americans Month in the United States. The Administration on Aging (AoA) develops a theme for Older Americans Month and disseminates the theme to the entire aging network. The 2009 theme is “Living Today for a Better Tomorrow” and “reflects AoA’s continued focus on prevention efforts and programs throughout the country that are helping older adults have better health as they age and avoid the risks of chronic disease, disability and injury.”
So, the good news is that older Americans and now, enter the Baby Boomer generation, are living longer and enjoying an increased quality of life. The bad news is that the funding needed to finance a longer life span may not be sufficient to support retirees using traditional financial strategies such as Social Security and Medicare.
This is especially true when you include the Baby Boomer generation that will add the largest group of retirees in history to Social Security and Medicare. Another disadvantage is that the number of workers whose FICA payroll taxes will support all these retirees continues to shrink as the average family size decreases. How will President Obama and Congress create reforms that will be fair to older Americans and also be fair to those whose taxes support these popular entitlements?
Lesson Plan
Continue reading
