Monthly Archive for May, 2011

Time to Support Older Americans and their Caregivers, Not Undermine Them

Published on May 31, 2011 in Portia Wu and Work & Family. 1 Comment

Portia Wu, Vice President, NPWF

Respect your elders. Many of us have been given that advice by our parents, grandparents, teachers and mentors for as long as we can remember. So why don’t our public policies better address the needs of our country’s seniors and their families, and why do some lawmakers seem poised to dismantle the policies that older Americans rely on?

May was Older Americans Month – a time to honor the seniors in our lives for the important roles they play in our communities and families. Sadly, many older Americans today are not living the comfortable post-retirement lives they hoped for and expected. Tough economic times and fast-rising prices have cost them their savings and made it infinitely harder for many to make ends meet. Some are depending on loved ones for the care they need to age in the homes and communities they love, but their caregivers can’t help as much as they would like because they, themselves, are struggling to meet the demands of their jobs and their families with no paid time away from work.

Everyone suffers because workers in our country lack the basic workplace protections that allow them to hold jobs and be family caregivers. Common sense policies like paid sick days and paid family leave can make it possible for workers to provide elder care to ill or frail loved ones – but too many jobs fail to offer paid leave, and the country lacks a national standard.

For the caregivers of older adults, this can pose enormous challenges. There are at least 43.5 million caregivers of adults over 50 in this country, and most of them have paying jobs in addition to their caregiving responsibilities. Working caregivers’ responsibilities can become unmanageable when times are tough and employers fail to provide flexible work schedules and paid sick time or paid family leave. Too many caregivers are being forced to choose between their loved ones’ health and their own paycheck when an elderly parent or relative suffers an injury or serious illness.

The absence of sensible family friendly policies also penalizes seniors who want or need to hold jobs to help support themselves later in life. Older adults are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions requiring regular care, including diabetes, asthma and hypertension. Nine in 10 adults over age 65 are living with at least one chronic condition and 77 percent have at least two. In order to stay healthy, productive and in the workforce, older adults need to be able to manage their health through routine doctor appointments, treatments and preventive care. Without workplace policies that enable them to do so, they have to choose between health care and financial security.

That is an impossible choice – one nobody should have to make. That’s why it is so disturbing that, instead of ensuring that workplaces adopt family friendly policies, some lawmakers are recklessly putting programs that are critical to seniors – like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security – on the chopping block. Dismantling these programs is dangerous and would cause great harm to seniors in this country.

National Partnership President Debra L. Ness recently said that the future for older Americans isn’t looking pretty. She couldn’t be more right, of course, but we can improve the picture by abandoning plans for irresponsible cuts and adopting family friendly policies that help workers hold jobs and care for family members who need care and support.

As Older Americans Month comes to an end, we should all think about the ways we can support the seniors in our lives. Now is the time to adopt policies that make it possible for people of any age to hold jobs and care for family members; and now is the time to protect – not slash – the programs seniors rely on.

Seniors in America Today: “Not a Pretty Picture”

Published on May 12, 2011 in Campaign for Better Care, Debra Ness and Health Care. 1 Comment

Debra Ness, President

Earlier this week, I was privileged to be a part of Volunteers of America’s third annual discussion on aging issues. I was on a panel with Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief; Mike King, National President and CEO of Volunteers of America, Inc.; and Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, AARP Executive Vice President of Multicultural Markets and Engagement.  Our topic:  How our nation’s public policies affect older Americans, especially women.  Medical journalist and best-selling author Dr. Bob Arnot moderated the discussion, which addressed how to improve the U.S. health care system, how women can best prepare for old age and care for their loved ones, and how we can press for better coordinated care that lessens the burdens on family caregivers.

During the panel, I talked about the work of the Campaign for Better Care to improve care for the oldest and sickest patients, and described the good-news-bad-news reality of women aging in America.  The good news is that women are living longer. The bad news is that they are living poorer and sicker.  And when you take a hard look – in particular at the lot of older women and their family caregivers – it isn’t a pretty picture.  In the workplace, women experience persistent discrimination and lower earnings on average than men. In the workforce, they face employer policies that make it extremely difficult to be both wage-earners and caregivers.  In the obstacle course that is the U.S. health care system, they are forced to jump through hoops to secure the care they need.

My fellow panelists each brought valuable, personal perspectives on caring for the aged. Arianna Huffington talked about the cultural issues involved, as well as the distinct joy she derived from caring for her own late mother. Mike King seconded those sentiments, adding that caring for his mother was an honor.

Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez stressed that we need to educate ourselves to better prepare for aging, and create livable communities that offer long term care services.  She also raised an issue that doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it should:  the fact in that in some underserved communities, doctors’ offices are vanishing, forging an even stronger link between poverty and poor health.

We also discussed the current debate about the federal deficit.  I wanted to stand up and cheer when Mike stated a principle that we all should embrace: “We’re not going to balance the budget on the backs of the older Americans who built this country. It’s not fair.  We have to stand up and say that.”

Some time after Mike made that statement of conscience about what we must not do, a woman in the audience asked a great question about what we should do.  What kind of strategies can we employ, she asked, to advance change in Congress? I told her what I believe:  that one way to influence lawmakers and policymakers is through the Campaign for Better Care.  We launched this nonpartisan campaign last year to organize Americans across the political spectrum to make their voices heard.  By recounting their real-life struggles in the U.S. health care system, members are giving policymakers both the incentive and the information needed to create change.  Older women and their caregivers desperately need a health care system that delivers timely, coordinated, appropriate, affordable care.  The Campaign is focused on changing our health care system so that the oldest and sickest patient can get this kind of care and live in their communities for as long as possible.

I commend Volunteers of America for organizing such a fantastic discussion.  In preparation for this week’s event, Volunteers of America commissioned a nationwide survey to find out how the elderly and their caregivers are faring during these tough economic times. Its white paper on the findings – “Boomer Bust 2011: Still Unprepared and Unaware” – is well worth reading, and passing along.  If you weren’t able to attend the panel, an archived webcast of it is available here.

It’s Time for a Family Friendly America

Published on May 6, 2011 in Vicki Shabo and Work & Family. 0 Comments

Vicki Shabo, Director of Work and Family Programs

Mother’s Day. It’s a day when we shower the mothers in our lives with well-deserved compliments and gifts that show our appreciation. The heartfelt thanks, expressed in cards, flowers and chocolates, certainly have their place, but mothers today also need something much more lasting – policies that let them meet their own needs and those of their families.

Today, too many mothers have to choose between the health and wellbeing of their families and their economic security because the United States lacks comprehensive policies that support working parents. Policies like paid family leave, paid sick days and protections for breastfeeding mothers go a long way in helping working parents manage the dual demands of work and family, and too few states have put these policies in place. Nor has the federal government.

Mothers want and need these policies. That’s why, for this Mother’s Day, we created an interactive map that outlines the existing and pending family friendly laws in each state. The map paints a picture of a nation with a long way to go to meet the needs of mothers, fathers and the countless family members who depend on them.

It’s time for a family friendly America. A country where all workers can make enough to pay the bills and support their families, and have workplace protections that allow them to care for their children, spouses, parents and loved ones. In this America, no mother would be forced to sacrifice her job and financial security because her child gets sick and needs care. No child would have critical preventive care delayed because his parents couldn’t afford to miss work, or risk their jobs. And no older adult would be unnecessarily forced into costly institutional care because her child couldn’t take leave from work to help care for her.

A few states have made real progress toward this vision by enacting legislation that expands upon federal law in significant ways. California, for example, passed a paid family leave law in 2002 that allows both private and public-sector workers to take up to six weeks of leave with partial pay to care for a new child or a seriously ill family member. It was a major victory for California families and has been proven a big success. New Jersey has a similarly designed and successful program. Unfortunately, these programs are few and far between.

Nationally, we have the Family and Medical Leave Act – a historic piece of legislation that has enabled millions of workers to take job-protected time away from work to recover from an illness or care for a loved one. But millions of workers either aren’t eligible or cannot afford to take the unpaid leave it provides.

Some further progress came last year with a provision in the health reform law that guarantees breastfeeding mothers a time and place to express breast milk when they return to work.

But even with these advances, progress is simply too slow for working mothers and their families.

So this Mother’s Day, as we show our love for the mothers in our lives and buy those flowers and chocolates, let’s also spend time thinking about how we can build a country that is truly family friendly. You can even share your thoughts with us here. Find out what is happening in your state and commit to getting involved. Talk to your elected officials about the importance of policies that demonstrate a true commitment to improving the lives of working families. And then, together, let’s build a truly family friendly America – the best gift we can give our mothers.

Relentless. Deceptive. Dangerous.

Published on May 5, 2011 in Debra Ness, Health Care, Repro Health Watch and Reproductive Health. 2 Comments Tags: .

Debra Ness, President

The “war on women” in the House of Representatives rages on.

We’re only four months into the new Congress, and already the House has attempted to defund and repeal health care reform; defund Planned Parenthood; and eliminate the Title X family planning program that provides comprehensive preventive health care services to millions of low-income women. The majority in the House was even willing to shut down the federal government in order to get their way.

They are relentless – and they are just getting started.

Yesterday, the House passed H.R. 3,  deceptively called the ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. This callous bill threatens women’s health by eliminating insurance coverage for abortion care for millions of women. It would permanently deny insurance coverage for abortion care in federally supported health plans and then impose this extreme anti-choice ideology on the private insurance market. The bill would raise taxes and increase costs on   individuals and small businesses with private health plans that cover this basic service.

If women’s lives and the well-being of women and their families mattered to the majority in the House, Members would have rejected this appalling bill – but instead they took one more step down the road that puts women in danger and denies our access to basic reproductive health care.

We must prevent this legislation from becoming law. We can’t let opponents take away our access to the full range of reproductive health services.

The ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act’ is deceptive, politically-motivated and dangerous to women. It isn’t just about ensuring that taxpayers don’t pay for insurance coverage of abortion.  Unjust federal laws already do that – and for decades these policies have  been causing grave harm to low-income women, military women, and other women who face unintended pregnancies and rely on federally supported health insurance plans. H.R. 3 would make those restrictions permanent in U.S. law and extend these harmful restrictions to the private market.

The bottom line:  H.R. 3 is about making abortion and other reproductive health care less accessible for all women. Its supporters don’t want abortion to be legal, so they are doing all they can to make it more difficult and costly for women to safely get this legal and routine medical procedure. Restricting insurance coverage of abortion does not reduce the need for abortion; such policies simply force women seeking abortion care to obtain services later in pregnancy when it is more costly and difficult.

Please join us in urging the Senate to reject this dangerous bill.