Aging Policy and the States

The time has come foreconomic well-being and security of older Americans to once again be the central issue in aging policy. Economic security—often deWned by levels of retirement income, but more appro-priately meaning having suYcient income to cover normal living expenses—has in recent years received less attention than healthcare and long-term care. The implication from geron-tologists and policy makers is that older people can meet their basic needs without public sub-sidies (e.g., food stamps, Medicaid, subsidized housing) (Russell, Bruce, and Conahan, 2006). Now, sea changes in pension plans and the sta-bility of Wnancial markets and questions about the adequacy of savings rates, combined with recent attacks on Social Security, require us to focus anew on the importance of income for economic security of older adults. MEASURING ECONOMIC WELL-BEING Historically, economic well-being in the retirement years has been measured by the types of income sources, segregated by quintiles or quartiles, and by proportions of those in poverty. The relative importance of diVerent sources and shares of retirement income (Social Security, pensions, sav-ings, continued employ-ment, and public sub-sidies) for diVerent groups of the elderly has been a central focus (see Clark et al., 2004). Because the principal problem of aging was initially cast as poverty (and became a rationale for the enact-ment of Social Security), studies of the eco-nomic status of elders traditionally centered on poverty. Over time, examining the income dis-tribution and median income of people age 65-plus was seen as providing additional insights into their economic well-being. Since the mid 1970s, the trend in median household income of older people has been positive: from $19,08