Fighting For You Every Day

AARP applauds Arizona lawmakers and Gov. Katie Hobbs for enacting legislation to strengthen state oversight of assisted living and other long-term care facilities and set tougher penalties for those that fail to prevent abuse.

“This is a significant piece of legislation aimed at enhancing the safety, oversight and quality of long-term care across Arizona,” AARP Arizona State Director Dana Marie Kennedy said during the governor’s bill signing ceremony on April 8.

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All financial professionals who give advice on retirement saving plans will be required to act solely in their clients’ best interest under a new federal rule finalized by the Department of Labor today.

AARP fought hard for the rule, which closes loopholes that allow some financial professionals to steer retirement savers toward products that offer higher commissions or other perks and often come with high fees, rather than toward investments that best meet the clients’ needs.

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AARP has been nominated for 7 Shorty Awards recognizing the best content on social media and other digital platforms, and you can help us win an Audience Honor award.

Finalists include AARP’s TikTok channels, our podcasts Today’s Tips and The Perfect Scam, and the YouTube series Going Tiny with AARP, featuring real-life stories of people 50 and older who live in tiny homes.

You can vote for your favorite every day through April 30.

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AARP wrote a letter to U.S. House members this week strongly supporting a bill that aims to make it easier for millions of family caregivers to navigate federal health and financial programs on behalf of their loved ones.

We’re urging Congress to quickly pass the bipartisan Alleviating Barriers for Caregivers (ABC) Act, which would require federal agencies to eliminate red tape and improve customer service for family caregivers who engage with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

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When Jim Mangi first became a caregiver to his wife, Kathleen Schmidt, who has Alzheimer’s, he says he felt like many other caregivers.

“Completely unprepared. Clueless,” recalled Mangi, 75, of Saline, Michigan. “I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know where to turn.”

One year ago today, President Joe Biden announced a sweeping executive order on caregiving to help make it easier for people like Mangi. The order recognizes family caregivers as a national priority and aims to better include and support them through federal programs.

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Millions of people across the country may lose internet access next month when federal funding runs out for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). But AARP continues its fight to keep the internet discount program going.

We wrote to congressional lawmakers last week urging them to include the ACP as part of legislation that would restore the federal government’s ability to auction the rights to radio frequencies to commercial entities.

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Expanded Medicare coverage of telehealth services can help ensure older adults have access to the health care they need. But it’s also one way the federal government can ease the strain on family caregivers, AARP wrote in comments submitted to congressional lawmakers this week.

“Telehealth may offer working or long-distance family caregivers an alternative way to participate in their loved one’s medical care,” we wrote. “By reducing travel, wait times and costs associated with in-person care, telehealth can also allow caregivers more time to tend to their own needs, which can alleviate some of the stress linked with balancing caregiving responsibilities with other obligations.”

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Four more states have enacted AARP-backed laws that protect consumers from unfair real estate agreements, in which brokers trade a small up-front cash payment for the future right to sell a person’s home.

Also known as homeowner benefit agreements, these contracts have been marketed to cash-strapped homeowners — particularly older adults — and can be binding for up to 40 years.

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