Program Lesson 12 Societal and Political Aspects of Aging


Older voters have considerable clout in the political arena	Older Americans Act funded nutrition programs include balanced meals, social interaction, and health maintenance tips	Medicare and Medicaid form the core of the national health care system for older adults	Development of long-term care policy is an important challenge for the 21st Century

Summary of the Video and Text

Video

The video is comprised of three segments. The first explains how the status of older adults corresponds to the resources they control. It also explores the roles older adults currently play in the political arena. The second segment presents information on a number of social programs developed to meet the needs of older adults in the U.S., including: Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Medicaid, the Older American’s Act, and various housing programs. The third segment focuses on long term care. Because long term care is so expensive and because the demand for long term care is growing, its financing is a major policy issue facing the U.S.

Video Quote: Representative Neil Abercrombie comments on the political status of older adults

Rep. Neil Abercrombie: "I can tell you for a flat fact that the older voter is the single most potent force in the political spectrum today. No question about it for good or for ill. That's why having a firm grip on what programmatically is needed and how to finance those programs on a mass basis, on a national basis, is fundamental to the economic and social security of the United States of America."

Text

Chapter 16, "Social Policies to Address Social Problems," presents information on how and why social policies are developed, traces the historical development of aging policy in the U.S., and describes several income and service programs that benefit older Americans.

Chapter 17, "Health and Long-Term Care Policy and Programs," discusses health programs that benefit older Americans, including Medicare, Medicaid, Title XX, and the Older Americans Act. Presented also are problems with the current method of financing acute and long-term care for the elderly and various strategies being piloted or being considered that may contain health care costs.

Video Quote: Robert Atchley, Ph.D., comments on older adults' and society's views on Social Security as an entitlement

Robert Atchley: "Older people see their entitlement to retirement as something they've earned; they've worked hard for it...the money that went into creating that retirement pension and those entitlements under Social Security was wages they didn't get. Part of the rhetoric about Social Security, for example, talks about how we're 'supporting these older people.' And I find that very interesting as language. If you just think about language and what it tells you about the way things are in a society. We talk about the burden and dependency of the older population. Well, I don't know about you, but when I go collect on my automobile insurance, I don't think of myself as a dependent. When I go to make a claim on my medical insurance, I don't think of myself as a dependent. I think of myself as having paid insurance premiums, and I'm gonna go collect on what I'm entitled to collect. Well, I don't see very much difference between entitlement to collect on an automobile insurance policy or a medical insurance policy, and entitlement to collect on a retirement insurance policy. Which is exactly what Social Security is."

Video Quote: Jeanette Takamura, Ph.D., sees long-term care policy as an important family issue facing our society

Jeanette Takamura: "Certainly one of the things that our country is struggling with is how to handle the cost of long-term care. And I think we're struggling on a policy level, but we're also very much struggling on a family level. You know, caregivers are in fact burning out a lot more rapidly sometimes than the people they are giving care to. So when we look at long-term care, what we know is that somehow what we have to do is to address that issue. Not just for now, not just for one year, but in a way that will truly permit future generations to feel some kind of protection and security. So that in fact we don't see our generations pitted against each other. I view the issue of long-term care as totally a family issue."

Features of the Study and Faculty Guides

Study Guide (MySocKit)

Key points of the lesson, integrating video and text, are elucidated under the learning objective topics. Self-study questions help students prepare for exams. Descriptions of discussion and essay/research topics provide instructions for a variety of activities that may be assigned by the instructor. The Study Guide also provides a glossary of key terms and concepts covered in the telecourse and a listing of participants in the video.

Faculty Guide

The descriptions of discussion and essay/research topics presented in the Study Guide are reprinted in the Faculty Guide with tips for assigning the activities effectively. In addition, in-class activity suggestions and exam questions/answers are included. The Guide offers options appropriate for faculty using the telecourse in different settings, e.g., in-class, distance learning, interactive television, or a combination of formats. A Video Index helps instructors find segments of the video by time code and topic.