Older Americans have a great deal at stake in the Nov. 6 congressional, local elections

The cover story in the AARP Bulletin this month lists 10 ways the Nov. 6 midterm elections will affect older Americans.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- "This year's midterm elections will impact older Americans for decades," AARP Bulletin reports.

AARP, whose stated mission is "empowering people to choose how they live as they age," lists the issues elected officials will be grappling with in the coming term:

Shoring up Social Security, rising drug prices, Medicare funding, growing or slowing Medicaid, the future of health insurance, bolstering retirement savings, lower retirement taxes, fixing pension shortfalls, more help for caregivers, and fraud against and abuse of people who are 65-plus.

100 percent nonpartisan

"This is one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime," political scholar Norman Ornstein recently told AARP editors about the 2018 midterm elections [on Nov. 6], "and we wholeheartedly agree."

"We are at a moment in which important decisions need to be made on many matters key to the lives of older Americans," AARP Bulletin reports.

"Some are obvious, like the future funding and structure of Medicare and our health-care system. 

"At the same time, many states are grappling with issues related to worker discrimination, retirement savings, underfunded pensions [New Jersey], Medicaid, caregiving and more.

"Those we put in office could shape the resolutions of these issues for decades to come," says AARP, adding the group is "100 percent nonpartisan."

"But we do want you to know about the issues facing older Americans, the ways each issue can be addressed, and the policies that our organization believes will best serve all older Americans.

"So vote. For you, your loved ones and America."

Shoring up Social Security

"Social Security's trust fund will fall short by 2034; if that happens, benefits would drop by about 20 percent, a 2018 government report says.

"Some elected officials have proposed cutting Social Security as part of deficit reduction.... And if Republicans still control Congress next year, Social Security's cost-of-living adjustment could face a major change."

Rising drug prices

"Prescription drug costs are increasing at a rate 10 times faster than inflation, and state legislatures, Congress and the federal government are starting to take on pharmaceutical companies.

"AARP supports allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, permitting the importation of safe lower-cost drugs, and speeding generic drugs to market."

Medicare funding

"Medicare's trust fund will fall short by 2026, according to a report by the program's trustees in June.

"House Republicans have proposed a budget that would give seniors a voucher-type option to enroll in private health plans, and have proposed other changes that would squeeze $537 billion out of Medicare.

"Whether that proposal moves ahead could depend on who controls Congress after November."

To read the rest of the AARP report, see:

10 Ways the Election Will Affect Older Americans 

New Jersey ballot

On Nov. 6, New Jersey residents will be voting for a U.S. senator and a member of the House of Representatives.

In Bergen County, the county executive is seeking another term, as are two members of the Board of Freeholders.

The ballot also includes two public questions seeking funding for programs in New Jersey and Hackensack.