How AARP is Working for You

The 2024 election season is in full swing, with early voting either underway or starting later this month in more than a dozen states ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5.

Voters 50-plus are expected to be a powerful voting bloc in this year’s crucial elections. With so much at stake, AARP wants to make it easier for older adults to get the information they need to cast their ballots.

As AARP has done in the past, we’ve published election guides for all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to help voters keep track of the changes and important deadlines related to the electoral process where they live.

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Most women, at some point in their lives, will care for a family member who has a chronic illness or condition, suffers an injury, or becomes frail as they age. And the majority of these caregivers are doing more than helping their loved ones with the activities of daily living—they’re in the workforce too, employed full- or part-time.

Women’s labor force participation is surging, with employment of so-called prime-age women (those ages 25–54) back to pre-pandemic levels.

However, lurking just below the surface of this seemingly good news is a big problem at the intersection of caregiving and financial stability for women. Recent research tells a story of caregiving’s financial downsides—made more severe by the effects of deep-rooted challenges to financial stability for women as a whole—creating an endemic, underreported condition of hardship.

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AARP’s top fraud expert joined White House officials and industry leaders recently in a meeting aimed at helping the federal government fight back against the use of artificial intelligence–enabled voice cloning to commit fraud.

“Fraud targeting consumers is already at a crisis level, and generative AI promises to make a dire situation far worse,” warned Kathy Stokes, AARP director of fraud prevention programs, at the Jan. 31 event held by the U.S. National Security Council.

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AARP applauds U.S. House and Senate lawmakers for introducing bipartisan legislation that would make it easier for family caregivers to interact with Medicare’s customer service helpline on behalf of a loved one.

Many Medicare beneficiaries are not aware that they can fill out a form to allow a family member to access their personal health information through 1-800-MEDICARE.

The Connecting Caregivers to Medicare Act would require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to educate beneficiaries and the public about the form and to train helpline operators to provide resources and information to family caregivers.

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As Congress faces new deadlines to avoid a government shutdown in early March, AARP is sending a clear message to federal lawmakers: Keep potential cuts to Social Security and Medicare out of any government spending bills.

“We are deeply concerned that some in Congress want to include a fiscal commission that could cut Social Security and Medicare in the upcoming must-pass spending bills,” Bill Sweeney, AARP senior vice president for government affairs, said Tuesday. “That’s just wrong. Social Security is not a driver of the nation’s debt, so it shouldn’t be cut to pay it off.”

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Vaccination for respiratory illnesses like flu, COVID-19 and RSV is the best way to protect yourself as these viruses surge across the country. But older adults can also boost their armor against these diseases by controlling stress levels, getting enough sleep and exercise and eating a diet packed with nutrients, health experts told listeners of an AARP tele-town hall Feb. 8.

Anand Parekh, M.D., chief medical adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and Virginia Caine, M.D., president-elect of the National Medical Association, joined AARP officials to discuss the “tripledemic” — the convergence of flu, COVID-19 and RSV cases around the country this winter — and answer questions from callers.

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Tax season is here, and AARP Foundation Tax-Aide volunteers are once again ready to help you prepare and file your taxes — for free.

The largest program of its kind in the nation, Tax-Aide has assisted more than 75 million taxpayers since being launched in 1968.

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AARP wrote to a group of U.S. congressional lawmakers this week urging Congress to include family caregivers in any legislation calling for a national paid leave policy.

“As Congress seeks ways to ensure America’s workforce can meet the demands of our economy, ensuring access to paid family caregiving leave, not just parental leave, is a vital part of the equation,” wrote Bill Sweeney, AARP senior vice president for government affairs.

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