C. National Programs Which Affect Davis County Elders

    The Older Americans Act of 1965 established the Administration on Aging (AoA) and, as of 1991, the 672 area units on aging, each being called an Area Agency on Aging (AAA). In addition, the White House Conference on Aging is a feedback loop (sometimes called a “feed forward loop”) on the national level. It has not always been held every 10 years as is the requirement, but when it is held, the representatives that are elected to meet in Washington, D.C. are from the ranks of the senior citizens themselves. Interested parties, such as the State Aging Personnel, the AARP, and higher education members also attend, but their role is secondary to the senior citizens who have been elected by their peers back home.

    Of course, there are a great many special interest groups who lobby on both the state and national levels. AARP maintains a consistent lobby effort on a large number of issues. One of their recent publications, Beyond 50: A Report to  the Nation on Economic Security: first in a series is one of their many published feedback reports. Some of the more important points that this report comments on are:

1-     These gains, however, have not been shared across the entire spectrum of the 50+ population. 50+ America is characterized by a growing disparity between the rich and the poor

2-     While the poverty rate for Americans over 62 has declined remarkably, the probability of being poor at some point in old age remains quite high. In fact, this study reports that there is a 4 in 10 chance that an American will be poor at some time in his or her life after the age of 60.

       However, Social Security is the main impact that the Federal Government has on the older adults of Davis County. Social Security, as amended in 1965, includes Medicare and Medicaid along with the pension program.

          In 1950 the federal government authorized states to use federal/state funds under the Social Security Act of 1935 to provide medical care to the indigent.

          President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Medicaid and Medicare programs in 1965. Replacing all previous programs, Medicaid became the largest public assistance program in the nation (Karger, et al., 1994, p. 282).

    Social Security has another, more descriptive name: “OASDHI.”  The letters stand for programs for Old Age (the pension), Survivors of the death of the bread winner (income to subsidize the family), Disability income (for those who are completely  disabled before turning 65), and Hospital Insurance, which is the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The national web site for Social Security is found at: www.ssa.gov. The Medicare web site is separate and is found at: www.medicare.gov.

   Beyond Social Security are other programs that may assist the older adult, including the previously mentioned Older Americans Act of 1965 (OAA), and also the Supplemental Security Income Act (SSI) of 1974.

    Nationally, the percentage of the Federal Budget that is spent on Social Security pensions has risen from 16% in 1970 to 23% in 2001 and Medicare was only 3% of the Federal Budget in 1970 but was 12% in 2001 (Hooyman et al., 2005, p.592).

    Hooyman et al., (2005) measures the recipients of Social Security dollars in 2003. The government claimed that 64% of the money went to retired workers, 11% went to adult survivors of deceased workers, 11% to disabled workers, 8% to children under 18 years of age (survivors of deceased workers), and 6% to the spouses of retired or disabled workers (p. 602). With regard to Supplemental Security Income (SSI), they reported that 6.3% of Social Security recipients also received SSI in 1999 (p.446).

    Assessment of the dollars that Medicare spent in 1998 shows that 58% of the money was paid to hospitals, 24% to physicians, 5% to home health care, 5% to skilled nursing home care, and 8% is listed as “other” (Hooyman et al., 2005, p. 632). When measuring long-term care, 39% of the money in 1998 came from Medicaid, 29% from the consumers own pocket, 18% from Medicare, 8% from private health insurance, and 6% is listed as other (p. 642).

    When measuring the percentage of the social welfare budget (all Federal spending for the welfare of the citizens) of 1991, Karger et al. (1994) found that the largest segment was spent on the Social Security pension benefit at 46%, followed by Medicare at 21%, Medicaid at 15%, unemployment insurance at 6%, Aid to Families with Dependent Children at 4%, SSI at 3%, as also was housing programs, with food stamps (all ages) coming in at 2% and the rest at 1% (p.238).

     President Bush has made reinforcing Social Security an important project during his second term of office and the debate has been reported by AARP, Time magazine, and many other news outlets. Anderson (2004) shows how Social Security for the elderly is part of the Goal-directed Internal Function: “Income maintenance for the elderly, as provided for in the Social Security Act, cannot be realized without the collection and allocation of necessary revenues; the sharp debate over Social Security funding illustrates this very well” (p. 34).