We are pleased that the Supreme Court decided to protect the current and future health insurance of millions of Americans in today’s King v. Burwell decision. Three years after the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act as the law of the land, we are grateful the court once again dismissed this latest ill-advised attempt to undermine the law, by protecting health coverage for 6.4 million enrollees, who will retain access to tax credit subsidies that make coverage possible.
“The road to enactment will be filled with potholes and roadblocks,” said Senator Tom Harkin in 1988 during a joint committee hearing on S. 2345, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). “But if we stick together as a community…I believe we will succeed.” Decades later, ADA advocacy continues to serve as an inspiring model for the aging and disability community as we work together to advance our shared goals.
We have some hopeful news regarding Justice in Aging’s lawsuit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) for SSA’s demand that lawfully married same sex couples receiving SSI pay back overpayments caused by SSA’s refusal to recognize their marriage in timely fashion.
Where do you want to live as you grow old and —very likely, at some point — lose the ability to take care of yourself? Probably, you want to remain at home, with necessary assistance along with ongoing contact with friends and family. Alternatively, you probably do not want to move into a nursing home.
The misguided policy that nearly made Rosa Martinez homeless is rearing its ugly head again. Rosa Martinez, a California woman whose disability benefits were stopped because the Social Security Administration mistook her for a Florida woman with the same name, was Justice in Aging’s lead Plaintiff in the case Martinez v. Astrue.
In this last post of our series for Older Americans Month, let’s look to the future. Here are five things we can do now for a better shared future in 2050.
May is a time for celebrations and honoring accomplishments. The month kicks off with Mother’s Day and ends with graduations and end-of-school parties. At Justice in Aging, May celebrations also include Older Americans Month and the 50th anniversary of the Older Americans Act (OAA).
Imagine if there were a program that would help older adults living in poverty meet their basic needs: pay for rent, buy groceries, and stay safe and warm. Imagine if this same solution also helped people with disabilities of all ages. Sounds pretty powerful, right?
In celebration of May as Older Americans Month, we’re taking a deeper look at the multifaceted realm of aging: people, programs, and plans for the future. The first in the series focuses on what millennials (the generation following Gen X—with birthdates from the early 80s to the early aughts) need to know about aging. As it becomes harder to parse aging issues from national issues, more and more young people are taking a stake in the challenges facing older adults as shared challenges of navigating American life.
