Expand Social Security Caucus

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We are really glad to have you here at the White House Conference on Aging's fifth and final regional forum at Boston's Edward M. Kennedy institute. Isn't this a great venue? [Applause] To kick off our dialogue and discussion today, I would like to share a video that will provide some exciting and long awaited good news not just for older Americans but for all Americans. [Applause] >> ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome to the stage the regional director of the United States Department of Health and Human Services Ms. Rachel Kaprielian. [Applause] >> RACHEL KAPRIELIAN: Looking forward to the future and helping set the policy for future generations. I think that perfectly sums up our work here today. Our goal for July 13th and our ultimate aim as a society. Good morning! I'm Rachel Kaprielian, regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and it is my pleasure to invite and welcome you here to Boston, Bean Town to the fifth and final series of the 2015 White House Conference on Aging regional forums. I would first like to thank the City of Boston and the mayor for hosting us, although mayor Walsh could not be with us today, we want to extend a huge thank you to his leadership on the many important issues facing older Americans in the Boston area and in Massachusetts. I also want to recognize two extraordinary organizations that have helped make today possible. Along with the White House Conference on Aging this event is co sponsored and co planned with AARP and co planned with the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations thank you both for your tremendous leadership, commitment and contributions to this forum regarding older Americans. [Applause] I want to thank my colleagues at region 1 at Health and Human Services for their terrific contributions and I want to thank golden hearts and its director Donna Green for the wonderful arts display. Golden arts employs artists to improve the quality of life for the residents. The art work you will be seeing was created by residents from these centers. These creations are a wonderful tangible symbol of the contributions older adults can make in our society and the countless ways they can enrich our communities. We are so grateful to have these pieces on display here today. Today's forum is the final in a series of forums the White House Conference on Aging has held across the country for the past five months. These forums most importantly are envisioned as dialogues, not monologues, and we need everyone's voice to be a part of this conversation. For those of you watching our webcast, please go to the White House Conference on Aging website, Www.whitehouseconferenceonaging.gov. To find out how to share your thoughts and ideas. We encourage everyone to sign up on the website to learn about conference activities as we go forward. By listening, by learning and sharing with each other here today, these regional forums will help enhance the 2015 White House Conference on Aging, the lives of older Americans, and aspiring older Americans, and every American community. Thank you so much for joining us today for this important conversation. [Applause] >> ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome to the stage the dean of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, Dr. Ira Jackson. >> IRA JACKSON: Thanks so much. Good morning, and welcome to Columbia point the home of the John F. Kennedy presidential library, and the University of Massachusetts Boston, our capital city's only public research university. As you feel and see our campus is growing and rising, sorry for the inconvenience, but it's the price of progress as Vicki Kennedy likes to say, Columbia point these days is the place to be. Just two months ago, President Obama and Vice President Biden along with senators Warren and Markey and Congressman Lynch and others joined to dedicate this beautiful new institute built on our campus. On behalf of the Bill DeWalt, Bill, raise your hand, the museum's Executive Director, I'm pleased to formally welcome you as your joint cohost for this important concluding regional forum before the White House conference. Bill and I are particularly like the symbolism of our collaboration around this conference as there are probably few if any United States senators more closely aligned and associated with the needs of senior citizens than Ted Kennedy and there were probably few if any members of Congress who over their lifetimes did more to advance the cause of senior citizens than John W. McCormack who represented this district in Congress for 41 years. He headed helped shape Social Security 80 years ago, and he was Lyndon Johnson's principle legislative ally 50 years ago when Medicare and Medicaid were enacted into law. We at the University of Massachusetts, Boston keep that legacy alive through your gerontology department, the second oldest in the country, and our gerontology institute, both housed within the John W. McCormack Graduate School of policy and global studies. I hope you will allow this dean a proud indulgence by letting you know our doctoral program has produced 25% of the Ph.D.'s of gerontology in the world and that our gerontology institute started by Mike Dukakis in 1984 hosts the longest lifelong learning in the region. We house a pension action center that has recovered $45 million for seniors who have otherwise been defrauded and our center for social and demographic research on aging has produced a national elder security income index and healthy aging profiles for every city and town in Massachusetts. So I think it's clear that issues related to seniors, especially issues of economic security and social justice are part of our DNA at UMass Boston. So we are thrilled to be cohosting you today. We at UMASS Boston have a special competence in long-term services and support and we stand ready and eager to assist you in shaping the agenda for action at the White House conference and in helping to implement what I'm confident will be your bold recommendations. Thanks for all you do on behalf of senior citizens and on behalf of both the Edward M. Kennedy Institute and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, I wish you a great and productive day. Thanks so much! [Applause] >> ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome to the stage caregiver Kindalay Cummings. [Applause] >> KINDALAY CUMMINGS: Good morning. I'm Kindalay Cummings, and I have been working in healthcare for 25 years, spending the last seven years as a personal care attendant and home care worker. I have the honor this morning of introducing Congressman Stephen Lynch from the eighth district of Massachusetts representing the Boston area and the south shore. As a former ironworker Congressman Lynch understands better than anyone the struggle that working families face. I have lived on the other side of the Commonwealth, out in Springfield, I'm active in my community, church, and union, bringing together PC As in my area meeting with legislators and advocating for a starting wage of $15 for home care workers. As a personal care attendant, I currently care for a 72 year old man receiving care through MassHealth. I also follow tear my time to care for his wife who at 77 years old requires care but does not qualify for PCA services. Home care is hard work. It takes a special person to provide care and support in people's homes. You need to have a good heart and a lot of love. It also requires a large skill set from cooking and cleaning to providing medical care. I usually work over 40 hours a week caring for my consumer and his wife. I go above and beyond without always getting paid because I'm dedicated to making sure they receive great care. At the same time, I work hard to care for my own four children and four grandchildren. My daughter, Jovenia is the reason I am so passionate about care. She is 33 years old and she was born with severe cerebral palsy. She does not walk, talk or see, but she has a huge smile and a lot of love. I work full time and my PCA job is my only source of income. So you can imagine on home care workers' pay it's a struggle for me to support our family. My husband and I often have to make difficult choices, balancing our mortgage payment and activities for our children with the high cost of propane to heat our home. That's why $15 an hour is so important. Under the current contract personnel care attendants like me make $13.38 an hour. Many of us work to provide great care and yet some of us don't even have health insurance for ourselves. We just can't make ends meet. We can help insure there are good people entering the field of home care if we insure home care workers make a living wage. Have healthcare benefits, quality training and earned paid time off. Congressman Lynch is a cofounder of labor and working family caulk caucus. Was formed to protect worker's rights and educate members of Congress on issue that's impact American families. He learned his trade as an ironworker by going through the apprenticeship program, something we are starting in home care so caregivers can learn and earn on the job. In Congress, he has been a strong ally of SEIU. And he is committed to lifting standards and healthcare and home care for workers across the country. Congressman Lynch knows that without a strong Medicaid and Medicare program, close to 200,000 people in his district would be at risk. He knows that these programs must be improved and strengthened and not dismantled. And we at SEIU are fortunate to have him as an ally. Please, help me welcome Congressman Stephen Lynch. [Applause] >> STEPHEN LYNCH: Good morning. Kindalay, thank you very much for your generous and kind introduction. It is wonderful to be with you. I'm sure that Kindalay's constituents, I guess, the people that she advocates for, are older Americans as well as people with disabilities and the people for whom she advocates understand how blessed they are to have her as someone speaking on their behalf, and also her union is so important. Her daughter, Jovenia and seniors that she cares for are so lucky to have a passionate advocate and thoughtful caregiver in their lives. It's an honor to be with you here this morning and at the White House Conference on Aging regional meeting. It is fitting, I think, that we meet here today at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate. Since 54 years ago, Ted, brother of John F. Kennedy, held the White House Conference on Aging. These events provide critical momentum for key improvements in our country's aging policies. Over the past 50 years the input received during this conference and these dialogues has shaped Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the Older Americans Act. As the life of expectancy of Americans continues to grow, we must insure that the older years continue to be some of the best ones of one's life. In order to do so, we must guarantee that Americans can age with dignity and independence. Back in 1961 president Kennedy marked, and I quote, "the increase in the life span and the number of our senior citizens presents this nation with increased opportunities, the opportunity to draw upon their skill and sagacity, and the opportunity to provide the respect and recognition they have earned." President Kennedy continued" it is not enough for a great nation merely to have added new years to life. Our objective must also be to add new life to those years." It's interesting. I Googled last night his remarks back in 1961, the life expectancy for males in this country when he entered that quote was 64 years old. And today it is, and I would be rounding third if it were still 64 years old, and today it is 76 years old for the average life expectancy for males. For women, the life expectancy back then was 70 years of age. And today it is 81. So you can see, this is one of the most dramatic increases in the average life expectancy in any country for that short of period of time, so there is much to be proud of, but there is yet much to be accomplished. I think we all know or we all approach the question of healthcare and aging and the challenges that that presents to us from our own perspective. In my life, when I got married, well, I'm Irish, so my in laws moved in. And my mother in law, my father in law, my sister in law was handicapped. So my father in law who was a retired meter reader had a terrible struggle with diabetes, and he lived with us for the last 15 years of his life. And as of you are who are familiar with that disease, it was, it was traumatic. Multiple amputations. He lived in our home. We retrofitted it. Fortunately I come from the building trade, so the carpenters and the ironworkers came in and built a ramp and widened the doorway so the wheelchair could fit in the bathroom, did those things. My father passed away last year at age 92, an old salty ironworker. My mom is 91. She will have, she will be 92 later on this month. So that's the perspective that I have of the healthcare system most immediately in my family, and I think it's true for all of us, although I'm sure many have a professional perspective as well. But it brought me to really appreciate well, first of all, my wife's family is blessed seven kids, and myself, my mother and father were very smart and had five daughters. And so my father in law, my dad, my mom, have never had to be put in a nursing home. My sisters for the past three or four years have basically provided 24 hour, seven day a week, 365 days a year care for my mom and dad, and the same for my wife's family with their dad. And fortunately we have been blessed by the ability to call upon home healthcare workers, and the VNA, and other professional groups to help us with that. We had, with my mom and dad, you know, a couple of days a week we would have someone come in with the bathing and some of the more, you know, medical aspects with filling prescriptions and things like that. But it has really brought me to realize the blessing that our home healthcare workers are and personal care assistants, and those groups that are willing to help when families want to try to keep their loved ones, their parents in the home. And that's why I have become a strong advocate on behalf of how we pay those home healthcare aides, those people who rescue us and help us improve the quality of life for our seniors. And we haven't done enough. We need to have a floor on wages for those in the healthcare industry. And in places like Boston and New York and San Francisco where the cost of living is exceedingly high, we have to make sure that their wages in cities are appropriately adjusted upward so they can live as workers with a modicum of dignity. Unfortunately even with the most recent changes, our healthcare industry continues to devolve into a business, a bottom line business, and that's something that we all have to, a challenge we all have to try to meet. But certainly hearing enough complaints, I'm blessed to have three V.A. hospitals in my district, and more and more of the V.A. system has become care for the aging because we have such a huge population of World War II and Korean veterans and now Vietnam veterans who are, perhaps, for the first time in their lives relying on the V.A. system, and we are blessed to have those facilities in Brockton and West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, but we have to make sure that those institutions have the resources as well. We have to have a full spectrum response to the needs of the aging and aged in our society. So I think it's time, certainly in this conference that we commit the next decade to insuring that we add new life to those years, older Americans deserve a secure retirement, dependable long term services and support systems and the opportunity to Age In Place and engage in local communities. Important collaborations are necessary to make this a reality from federal, state and local elected officials and agencies to caregivers to our service organizations around the country. By bringing together the various knowledge and resources of available, we can proudly enable senior citizens to achieve a higher standard of living and an active and meaningful role in our local communities. As a member of Congress, I have been a long time advocate of preserving Social Security for current retirees and working to strengthen it for the future as a corner stone of the retirement plan for American seniors. Social Security provides guaranteed lifelong benefits to almost 60 million Americans and it's the main source of income for many old are older Americans especially women and minorities. Privatization is not an option. I remember back just before the Great Recession in 2008 that there was an active, an active effort by some led by the Republican Party. I don't mean to be partisan in this chamber, but I'm sure they have heard it before that they wanted to put a significant part of Social Security earnings into the stock market. That idea has gone away, thank goodness, after the stock mark lost about 40% of its value. Imagine where we would have been if the Democrats had not stood up and stopped that effort. [Applause] I think it's time that Congress begin to strengthen this program program on a bipartisan basis to restore long term solvency so Americans know it's a benefit they can rely on as they have for the last 80 years promoting a secure retirement will reduce the risk of older Americans outliving their assets and will provide for more enriching retirement. Congress can play a role by reauthorizing the Older Americans Act. This legislation was first past 50 years ago, and provides critical grant funding for state and community programs on aging. The reauthorization of the Older Americans Act is something we should tackle in order to provide security and stability for the various services and initiatives authorized under that legislation. [Applause] From meals on wheels, which is ever present in my district, to family caregiver support, the Older Americans Act incorporates a wide array of aging services that Americans, the country depend on. These services help maximize the independence and well-being of senior citizens and will also assist caregivers with financial support. As we all know, it's not easy getting old, but with the assistance of family, friends and care workers, like Kindalay, it certainly can be made easier. These caregivers stand as the backbone for our aging population. They serve as advocates and provide assistance with day to day tasks in administering care and it's a demanding job, and they do it with pride. These workers deserve a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, particularly our direct care workers who are considered independent contractors and are currently paid in many cases less than $10 an hour. By righting this injustice and increasing that pay we will fairly pay these dedicated workers who do an important public service working with our older Americans. [Applause] In addition, from a profession and as I say a broad spectrum healthcare perspective, we will be able to better recruit and retain the home care work force as the demand continues to grow for their services. Most importantly, we will provide high quality care for senior citizens. Our senior citizens possess a wealth of knowledge and experience that is vital to improving the prospects for future generations. By providing seniors with a secure retirement and dependable services and support system, they are able to continue their important contributions to our local communities and our country as a whole. Almost 25% of Older Americans Act funding goes towards the senior community, which provides the opportunities for senior citizens to receive job training and give back to their cities and towns. In my own district, I have seen the immensely positive impact of RSVP, retired senior volunteer program, which connects seniors with volunteer opportunities such as serving veterans, teaching children how to read, and volunteering in food pantries. The number of hours these seniors dedicate is truly inspiring and in talking to them they feel so energized by the opportunity to stay involved in their communities. Older Americans have done an incredible amount of good for our country as they age, we must do all we can to give back to them. Your presence and involvement here today, your input to the White House Conference on Aging will play an important role in insuring we are doing the best job possible serving our senior citizens. 54 years ago president Kennedy recognized the need to provide seniors with the respect and dignity that they have earned and today we renew that commitment and look forward to providing older Americans with as meaningful, happy and has healthy retirement as possible. I want to thank you for your willingness to be involved in this issue. Thank you for your advocacy from so many different perspectives, God bless our seniors and God police these United States of America. Thank you! [Applause] >> ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, AARP's Executive Vice President Chief advocacy and engagement officer Ms. Nancy LeaMond. [Applause] >> NANCY LEAMOND: Good morning, everyone, and thank you so much for being here today. On behalf of AARP and our 800,000 members right here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I have the privilege of welcoming you to the final regional forum leading up to the White House Conference on Aging. AARP has been a proud sponsor of the conference since President Eisenhower hosted the first one in 1961. Over six decades these forums have affected millions of lives and as an incubator of new ideas and approaches. Helping to pave the way for Medicare, Medicaid and the Older Americans Act leading to the abolishment of mandatory retirement, creating Cost of Living Adjustments for Social Security benefits, and much more. While the goal of the conference, improving aging in America, hasn't changed since 1961, the landscape looks very different. After years of anticipating the great age wave, it is finally arrived. Simply put, we are an older society, getting older and staying older. By 2030, one in four Americans will be 50+. While the 65+ will have 72 million people in its ranks. Aging looks different than it used to. People are living an average nine years longer, innovations in technology, healthcare and retirement security have transformed the experience of getting older. And because of increased longevity and better health, we are working longer and channeling lifetimes of experience and skills to improving our communities. We also have a new mind set about getting older. It's called denial. As Nora Ephron famously said there is a reason why 40, 50 and 60 don't look the way they used to. And it's not because feminism or better living through exercise, it's because of hair dye. [Applause] As you can see, I'm clearly not an authority on that topic! Now, amid the shifting demographics, society is adapting creating new rules and placing new expectations on individuals, families, governments, and all institutions. People have to decide how to live out their so called bonus years, the two or three decades their grandparents didn't have. This is the era of the individual, everybody gets to be the CEO of my own life. For some, this is relatively easy, shuttling between primary homes and vacation homes, figuring out how to spend down assets, choosing between vocations and avocations but for many it's a serious challenge making limited retirement savings last for longer lifetimes, retooling themselves to stay relevant and wanted in the workplace, living independently into their later years in an era when more people need care and there are fewer family caregivers to support them. When we talk about aging, we usually focus on the challenges and to be sure, there are challenges, but there is also tremendous opportunity and innovation. And some of the most interesting things as all of you know well are happening from the ground up. Savvy businesses are developing products and offerings to serve this important and growing constituency. We have witnessed an explosion of entrepreneurial activity. Technology is improving the way we age. People want to stay in their homes and the home is rapidly becoming the new healthcare center where doctors visit patients by way of tablets and iPhones and people manage their chronic conditions often themselves. The 42 million people who provide care for their loved ones are raising their voices and their profile. Caregivers are the new provider group in the healthcare delivery system. Leaders across the country, both public and private, are retrofitting communities to accommodate people of all ages from shifting resources to home based care, to creating safer and smarter transportation policies that help people get around. State and federal governments are redesigning programs and searching for new approaches. Neighbors are supporting neighbors through the rise of The Villages movement which started not far from here on beckon Beacon Hill and boomers are joining recent college graduates in forming group homes. Now, just as institutions and communities are laboratories for innovation, so too are citizens who band together to bring about change. Today, all of you will have a chance to share your thoughts about four important areas associated with aging, retirement security, healthy aging, long term services and supports, and Elder Justice. As we prepare for the sixth White House Conference on Aging, this forum is your opportunity to bring your voice and your ideas to Washington. Whether you are here in this magnificent facility or tuning in across the country. We need innovation. We need coalitions and creative partnerships from all sectors, and we need responsible solutions that address the opportunities and the challenges before us. When future historians look back on the first half of the 21st century, they will judge today's leaders on how we seize the advantages and grapple effectively with the challenges of our aging more diverse country, and you are those leaders. Thank you so very much for joining us and have a wonderful conference! [Applause] And now we are going to pause for a few minutes. I ask you not to wander the wonderful building, but we will be back in a few minutes. Thank you very much. ,. >> ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen, please be seated our program will begin again in two minutes. Two minutes. Thank you. Now, please welcome back to the stage the Executive Vice President and chief advocacy and engagement officer of AARP, Ms. Nancy LeaMond. [Applause] >> NANCY LEAMOND: Thank you all. I'm back! And so are all of you! Grab your seats. And now it's my pleasure to introduce you to someone who truly needs no introduction and as a result I'm going to give a very short introduction. Senator Warren was elected to the United States Senate [cheers and applause] She was elected to the United States Senate in 2012 by the people of Massachusetts. In just a few years she has emerged as a leader in the Senate and a champion for people of all walks of life, including the middle class and including importantly for this discussion older Americans. At AARP we especially appreciate her work to protect and strengthen social programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And we applaud her leadership to improve laws so that all financial advisers put their clients' interests ahead of their own. But the truth is Senator Warren has been fighting for individuals and families for her entire career. She was at the forefront of consumer protection advocacy and her leadership was pivotal in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which pro techs Americans from financial exploitation and abuse. She has been recognized as one of the nation's top experts on bankruptcy and the financial pressures facing middle class Americans. She has fought for those policies and to level the playing field for small businesses. Senator Warren is a graduate of the University of Houston, and Rutgers School of Law, and we are thrilled she could join us today even having to get through a traffic accident ahead of her on the road. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Senator Elizabeth Warren. [Applause] >> ELIZABETH WARREN: Thank you very much! It is terrific to be here. Thank you for the kind introduction and thank you very much for the partnership in the work that very have been doing both on conflict of interest but everything else that relates to the health of America's seniors, both financial and otherwise. It is good to be here today in Boston! I am delighted to have a chance to join the White House Conference on Aging's final regional forum and I'm delighted to be here with Secretary Burwell that we will have administrator Therese McMillan, Congressman Lynch I understand will be joining us. We have all sorts of folks. We also have our now region 1 director, Rachel Kaprielian and we have our "U" UMASS, Massachusetts AARP President, Mike Festa, so we have a great group today, and so many of you to be able to talk about the powerfully important issues facing seniors in Massachusetts and across the country. I wanted to be part of this event because I'm always out here selling issues that I really want people to talk about and work on because there are important changes we need to make in Washington. Important things we need to address, and that happens only if enough people make us do it. And so partly I'm here today just to identify three issues that I believe are right at the top of the agenda in Washington that I hope everyone in this room will be focused on, will talk about, and will push back on Washington on changes that need to be made. The first obviously is around economic security for our seniors. We have hit a time that is becoming the perfect storm. Families face retirement deeper and deeper in debt and with less and less savings as years go by, and this financial crisis in 2008 that hit so hard in the housing industry and devastated savings that people had put into their houses hit especially hard then for seniors because it drove down net worth for many families that had concentrated in their housing. And what we see now is we see more and more people hit their retirement years, a third of all people that are within range of retirement have no savings at all. Another one third have less than a year's savings. So they have less and less in savings and more and more in debt at the time that they approach retirement. The second part of the problem, of course, is that fewer and fewer people have defined benefit plans. Over the last generation, the proportion of people who have defined benefit plans, retirement plans, has been cut in half. We are now down to about 18% of the working population, and that means that most people do not have that kind of protection. And that hits at the same time that there is much conversation about Social Security, and about cutting Social Security. Now, I don't think there is anyone in this room who does not already know how I feel about that. This is not the moment to talk about cutting Social Security. This is the moment to talk about strengthening Social Security and expanding Social Security. [Applause] Social Security provides a very modest payment, but a baseline for millions of Americans. For two thirds of those who receive Social Security, this is the primary income on which they survive, and for 15 million Americans, Social Security is all that stands between them and poverty. The idea that we would consider cutting back on Social Security is fundamentally wrong. It is wrong economically, and it is wrong morally. We need to strengthen Social Security. We must remember, you know, when Social Security was developed, people talk about, well, the world has changed. No kidding, the world has changed. The world changed from the time we first developed Social Security. And over and over the response in Washington was to make the adjustments that were needed. People lived a little longer, the population shifted, working population shifted, so the amount coming in, the amount going out changed, and we made modest adjustments over time so that nothing felt like a very big change. We just kept it a vital system as it needed to be. Now, Washington has gotten caught in gridlock for decades and we have not made the adjustments we need to make to Social Security. We need to be honest about what we need to do to strengthen Social Security, and to expand it for those who need it most. I think this is one of the central issues facing Washington, and certainly one of the central issues facing seniors. I want to make one more small pitch though before I leave this subject, and that is this is not just a topic for seniors. I am deeply grateful that we have a Conference on Aging and talk about the issue in this context, but let's get serious, everybody is aging! Including 20 year olds and 30 year olds. And the work world is changing for young people. The idea that they will spend years with a single employer, which had already begun to fall apart by the time my generation began to retire, has begun has almost disappeared for young people. They will have, many of them, multiple employers, many years of being self employed, being independent contractors. That means they will need a strong Social Security system more than ever. So I see strengthening Social Security as not only about honoring our promise to our seniors, it is about honoring our promises to our young people. That's how we have to unite on this! Second big issue that we are talking about in Washington and we are seeing some real movement on right now is the one Nancy mentioned and that's one about the conflict of interest rule. Just very briefly, I want to note this, you know, hard enough to be able to put a little money away for retirement, but people want to be able to rely on their retirement advisers, and there are many good retirement advisers out there, but there are enough loopholes in the law that it is possible to encounter retirement advisers who instead of putting their client's interest first put their own interests first and let's be blunt about what this means. Retirement advisers who take kickbacks in order to put people into really lousy retirement plans, that has to stop. The Department of Labor has issued new rules about conflict of interest. They have had strong support from AARP and from many of us in the United States Senate, and in the Congress, and this is one we have got to support the Department of Labor on. There is push back from the industry, and maybe that should be no surprise. It's estimated that every year those in the industry who put their own interests ahead of those of their clients drain about $17 billion out of the pockets of families that are trying to save for retirement. It's time for that to stop. The Department of Labor is behind it. AARP is behind it. I'm behind it. I hope everybody in this room is going to be behind it! [Applause] Thank you. And the third one I want to mention is Medicare and Medicaid. Powerfully important, you know, here we actually have good news. We talk about with Social Security right now, the importance of protecting Social Security, we need to make change in Washington. The good news on conflict of interest is we have already got the rule issued, now, what we have got to do is hang onto the rule and make sure that it makes it into final form and doesn't get repealed, but on the third one is benefit that's have come from the Affordable Care Act, something that I hope everybody keeps right at top of mind whenever anyone talks about what's happening with health insurance and the Affordable Care Act, and that is we are in the process and almost there of closing the doughnut hole. That is the good news. There is bad news on this front, and that is that the Republicans in their budget propose to repeal that. As part of rolling back the Affordable Care Act, they would reinstitute the doughnut hole that would mean for about 80,000 seniors here in Massachusetts that they would be paying about $920 a year in prescription drug costs alone because of this space in between in the pricing. So this is one where we are a little bit on defense with the Republicans about it. We have got the right rules that we need. We want to hang onto it. I should also point out another aspect of the Republican budget would be to roll back all of the free preventive healthcare services, the free annual exams seniors get, also roll backs that are planned in Medicaid, and as everyone in this room knows, principle recipients of Medicaid are seniors who are living in nursing homes and who need supplemental income in order to be able to pay the nursing home bills. So these are powerfully important pieces of how we support seniors most in need, how we help protect the health of all of our seniors, these are areas where we can't stand by and let the Republicans cut the budget and cut the services that are necessary for our seniors. So I just want to say about this, my job was just to get it kicked off, so there we go! I talk about these three issues, not because they are the only three. There are many things that I know will be addressed today. I look out here and see lots of people that I have had many good conversations with and smart thoughtful folks who will bring ideas to the table. That's what these hearings are for, but we have to stay focused on things that happen in Washington that will make a huge difference to today's seniors and tomorrow's seniors and the next day's seniors. So that means for me, we really have to be out there willing to fight to protect and expand Social Security, to fight, to say we are going to have a conflict of interest rule that protects every family that's trying to invest for retirement, and that we are going to protect the Affordable Care Act. So it is there for all of our citizens and particularly is there for our seniors. Thank you all for being here today, and I hope you have a great conference! I will be fighting for you! [Applause] Thank you. [Applause] >> ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome to the stage Mr. Jim White. >> JIM WHITE: Good morning. My name is names white I'm a lifelong Bostonian and 11 year member of the advisory committee to the MBTA. I have been serving as chairman for the last 3.5 years. It is a volunteer group comprised of seniors and periods whose persons with disabilities whose advice is to it is to offer recommendations to the MBTA about transportation matters that may affects seniors and persons with disabilities. We are talking about healthy aging today and all of us are here understand that healthy aging can only take place in communities where older adults can be active, find affordable and appropriate housing and, of course, access needed health and social services. Accessibility ultimately depends on transportation and someone who understands this is our next speaker and Acting Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration Therese McMillan. Ms. Therese McMillan joined the federal transit authority as deputy administrator on July 2nd, 2009. As deputy, she assisted the administrator in leading a staff of more than 500 in Washington, D.C. headquarters and in ten regional offices and implementing an annual budget of $10 billion. During her tenure as federal transit administrator, Ms. Therese McMillan has also played an integral leadership role in advancing several critical federal transportation administration priorities to improve the quality and delivery of transit services to the American public. Prior to coming to the Federal Transit Administration, she was the Deputy Executive Director for policy at the metropolitan transportation commission of the San Francisco Bay Area region. And through all of her work, she has been a leader in emphasizing the connection between healthy aging and the age friendly communities. It is now with great pleasure to introduce you to the federal transit administrator, Acting Administrator, Therese McMillan. [Applause] >> THERESE McMILLAN: Thank you so much for that kind introduction, Jim. It is such an honor to be able to follow Senator Warren and Congressman Lynch and to be here today with all of you. It's a real pleasure as well to join Secretary Burwell and our colleagues at the Department of Health and Human Services for 20 years our departments have worked shoulder to shoulder to improve the lives of older Americans, and that partnership is deepening thanks to our new rides to wellness initiative, a collaboration that also includes our colleagues at the Department of Agriculture. Working together across federal agencies, our aim is to help more people get the care they need to stay healthy and enjoy and contribute to their communities. Now that the Affordable Care Act has put health insurance in reach of more Americans it is imperative that we help them take advantage of preventive care and manage any chronic conditions so that as they age, they will have a good Foundation for continued health and independence. Last year the AARP published the results of a survey on livability. And they asked older adults what amenities they wanted most close to home. And the number one answer was a bus stop. More important than a grocery store, more important than a pharmacy, that's how important mobility and independence are. A bus stop is a common site in cities across the country and buses are able to penetrate further into neighborhoods moving block by block, but we could also add to that other options like subways, light rail, streetcars, and commuter rail all forms of public transport that can lessen or eliminate the need to own, maintain and operate a car. In fact, as our nation grows proportionately older, we are seeing the number of older adults in urban areas increase. In part because of those aging in place, but also because cities offer a wide range of transportation options that are becoming popular alternatives for those who want to remain engaged in their communities. Now, for those who do need or intend to keep driving, the national highway traffic safety administration offers an older Driver Safety Program that provides tools to evaluate and enhance their ability to do that safely. What's important is that we provide a range of options, not only about how to get around, but also where to live and those things are tightly bound together. That's why the Department of Transportation has been working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as the Environmental Protection Agency on a livability initiative that addresses the sustainability of communities including their social sustainability. Together we are working to make sure that Americans of all incomes at all stages of life can live and participate together in neighborhoods that are safe, healthy and accessible to a wide array of affordable transportation options. Now, many of you have seen how important the link is between transportation health and your work. But I'm not sure that link is obvious to everyone or that we always need to consider how deep and essential that link really is. So let's start with considering the most basic building block of good health, which is physical activity. A sedentary lifestyle is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and many other causes of death and disability. The CDC recommends that adults up to age 64 take a minimum 10 minute brisk walk three times a day, five days a week and continuing physical activity past that age is a predicator for good health. Now, of course, many of us aren't getting close to that amount of activity, but we do know a couple of things. First, communities that are designed in a way that encourages walking and biking in the course of everyday activities and errands can make it easier to reach that goal. And second, we know that people who use public transit walk a lot more than those who don't. And that's helping them get to that ideal. In addition to supporting public transit options that encourage physical activity, the Federal Transit Administration also works with the Federal Highway Administration to improve basic infrastructure like sidewalks and curb cuts, pedestrian overpasses and bike trails. And, of course, for those whose mobility is restricted, we provide paratransit services that are a lifeline in communities across the country. Now, good health also depends on nutrition and this too can depend on good transportation options. Infrequent or time consuming trips to a grocery store, particularly if you do not have a car, can mean that people buy and consume fewer fresh fruits and vegetables. It's even worse in those communities often low income and underserved where there are few stores that sell high quality fresh foods. In one study that looked at 50,000 neighborhood blocks in Detroit, researchers found that 92% of food retailers were really what is considered food outlets that is fast food restaurants or liquor stores. Only 8% were grocery stores of any size. A similar problem affects rural communities that often have a higher number of convenience stores that also serve fewer healthy foods. What makes these deficits particularly relevant for those of us here today is that these are also the kinds of neighborhoods where an increasing number of older Americans will be aging in place and their diets may be limited by their mobility. Affordable transit options that can make it feasible to get outside of these so called food deserts is a really important goal. The F.T.A. is working with the U.S.D.A. food and nutrition program to identify these gaps and we need to continue to consider how we can contribute to communities that support good nutrition. Here too our rides to wellness initiative is looking for answers. For instance, how can we modify current rules so that a trip to the doctor could be combined with a trip to the grocery store? Good nutrition is essential to good health and yet we are not used to thinking about how those two things work together. Now, the basics of good health are complimented by quality healthcare. As I mentioned earlier, our rides to wellness initiative is an effort to coordinate among federal departments to help better connect people with healthcare services. The Affordable Care Act has made good healthcare more accessible with goals such as more use of preventive care instead of emergency rooms, fewer necessary readmissions to hospitals, and better access to healthcare for populations who have been left out of the system in the past, for regular check ups and for health screenings. It's estimated though that 3.6 million Americans already miss or delay non emergency medical treatments every year simply because they lack transportation. Without affordable and reliable transportation, there is a danger that the promise and goals of the Affordable Care Act will go unmet. In many Cities, new and extended transit services are already providing an important and direct connection to medical services. For instance, Cleveland's health line bus rapid transit is so named because it connects other parts of the cities to the famous Cleveland clinic and their university hospital. And in Orlando, the sun rail commuter line that has been now in service for a year not only benefits those getting to and from work, but it also connects to the new health village at Florida hospital. So making strategic investments in public transport can improve access to healthcare for people at every stage of life. Now, we want to help people at every age not only for their own benefit, but also because our neighborhoods, our cities and our nation need them to be engaged in their communities. At the Department of Transportation, we talk a lot about extending ladders of opportunity to make it possible for everyone to get to work, to education, to healthcare, to shopping, to all of the good things that they need to connect to within their neighborhoods. It's one of America's well kept secrets, maybe too well kept, that older adults are often the ones helping extend those ladders to others. If we can help older Americans remain healthy and active, we have seen indisputable proof that they in turn help others, helping with child care or perhaps as volunteer drivers, bringing the gift of mobility to others. This is how we build and support sustainable livable communities. We make sure that everyone can participate throughout their lives and in return all of us are richer for that. Ladders of opportunity is actually a phrase we have borrowed from President Obama. It's fundamentally optimistic view of Americans and what we can do to accomplish together that we hinge our work around. I'm optimistic today, because we, your partners at the federal level, are working closely together to bring all of these various strengths to bear, but these are uncertain times. The current surface transportation law called map 21 was set to expire last September, and it was extended through May 31st to give Congress more time to act, and it's expected this week to be extended two more months to extend the debate of what we are going to do permanently even further. Now, the Obama Administration's proposal is known as the Grow America Act, and it's a six year bill that would provide $478 billion for transportation including an average 76% increase for public transport over current levels. This will allow us to expand services in fast growing suburbs, cities, small towns and rural America while maintaining existing transit systems to keep them safe and reliable. America needs a long term transportation bill that provides the funding, stability we need to keep up with a population that is growing and is growing older. Whatever form it takes, it should reflect those key priorities and remove the uncertainty that is hampering our ability to work with our state and local planners to plan ahead. Working together, we can build a transportation system that keeps our economy growing, allows every American to participate in their communities, and helps us to stay healthy and engaged. Thank you for inviting me to be here today, and to you for being a part of this important mission. [Applause] >> ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen we invite you to welcome to the stage a pharmacist from CVS health Mr. Kwadwo Asante. [Applause] >> KWADWO ASANTE: Good morning. My name is Kwadwo Asante, I'm a retail pharmacist with CVS helm and I'm the official advocate for Bethsaida center. I was born in Ghana and I came to the United States in 2004. America has been very good to me. It's given me so many opportunities and that's the reason why I want to give back to my community. In view of this, I'm proud of the congregation for million hearts. For those that don't know what million hearts is it is an initiative led by the CDC centers for Medicare and Medicaid services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is bringing together communities, health systems, non profit organizes, federal agencies, and private sector partners from across the country so that they will be able to prevent one million health heart attacks by 2017. It encourages faith based organizations to increase awareness and take action in preventing heart diseases. Moreso we try to encourage people to partake in health services as well. I'm very glad to be helping other people to enjoy a healthy heart. And someone that truly cares about the hearts and health of people in our communities across the country is our extraordinary Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Burwell. Secretary Burwell is committed to the mission of insuring that every American has access to the building blocks of healthy and productive lives. She has led a large accomplished organization both in the private and public sector. Most recently, she served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and prior to that, Secretary Burwell served as the President of the Wal Mart Foundation, and the President of the Global Development Program. And chief prevention officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. During the Clinton Administration, she served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the president, Chief of Staff to the Secretary of treasury, and the Staff Director of the National Economic Council. Secretary Burwell received degree from Harvard University, and Oxford University where she was a roads Rhodes Scholar it is my great pleasure and honor to welcome the U.S. Secretary 6 Health and Human Services, Secretary Burwell. [Applause] >> SYLVIA BURWELL: Thank you. Kwadwo Asante has done great work as an advocate with our million hearts initiative which I will talk to you more about later, and I want to thank you, Kwadwo Asante for all of your work. I think he has already gone back. I'm happy to join you today for the final White House of Conference on Aging regional forum. A lot of these people have made these forums a reality and I want to thank AARP and the Leadership Council of Aging organizations. As many of you know, we are just a month away from the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Medicare Medicaid and Older Americans Act. I will turn 50 a little before. [Applause] When President Johnson signed Medicare in 1965, President Truman for social service laid out the true heart of the bill when he said these people are our prideful responsibility. And they are entitled among other benefits to the best medical protection available. On that historic day, our nation didn't just pass another law. It made a promise to our parents, our grandparents, our spouses and our friends. We promised that after a lifetime of work and service of building a world for the next generation, we would give them more than indignity, poverty and sickness and we promised to fulfill that responsibility with actually pride. And 50 years later our nation's older Americans know that they can trust Medicare to be there for them when they need it. But we can do more to insure that all Americans have the health and community supports they need to thrive throughout their life spans. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The small choices we make to keep ourselves healthy have a big impact on our wellness, and while we can't stop the clock and I know that having tried to play basketball a few days ago, but by exercising and eating well, limiting stress, and engaging in social activities we can lay the Foundation for lifelong health. But we also know that these decisions aren't always easy. We all struggle to prioritize wellness, and that can be complicated by other factors that come with age. In the report profile of older Americans, the Administration on Aging found that only 41% of adults aged 64 to 74 and 27% of those over 75 reported that they engaged in regular physical activity. Obesity and diabetes can be a problem for this group as well. So as we think about supporting healthy living at every age, we must work to prevent illnesses before they strike. And though Medicare covers many preventive services, like immunization screenings and nutritional counseling, they can only help if our older Americans know about them and use them. It's important that we are getting the word out about these services. Another way we can help improve the health of our seniors is by changing the way that we approach their care. Right now many doctors and other providers operate in isolation. They are paid for each visit, screening and procedure performed, and that means they often miss the patient's big picture of health. Providers can make smarter decisions and we can get better outcomes when we put patients at the center of care. That means encouraging providers to use patients' electronic health records, to help them inform their decisions, promoting collaboration amongst of the patients' care team and empowering consumers to take a more active role in their health. With these improvements, we can create a health system with better care, smarter spending, and healthier people. Today we are announcing a new payment model to help support all of those goals in the area of heart health. Nearly 800,000 people die from cardiovascular disease in the United States each year. That's one in every three deaths, making heart disease and stroke the number one killer in the U.S. And perhaps more tragic is the knowledge that these deaths could have been avoided with better health decisions and better care. That's why our department launched the million hearts initiative in 2012 to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. The initiative focuses on educating patients and healthcare professionals about ways to reduce risk factors for these conditions including healthy food and healthy lifestyle choices. Today we are announcing a new component of this initiative, the million hearts cardiovascular risk reduction model. And we are requesting applications for this opportunity. Rather than paying providers only on a piecemeal basis for every new test or visit, this payment model will ask them to take a patient's whole health into consideration. It incentivizes providers to work with patients to create a personalized score card based on his or her risk for heart attack or stroke within the next ten years. Providers will then work with their patients to lower those risk stores through nutrition, statins or other treatments and then they will be paid based on how successful they are. Paying for quality instead of volume. We also recently awarded over $100 million in grants to give providers better tools to educate and treat their patients. The grants will help bring best practices guidelines and the latest research to 5,000 doctors and primary care providers in small practices. These efforts support work happening across our department, like the recently announced funding for a large scale clinical trial to determine the best dose of aspirin for patients who have had a heart attack or stroke. Meeting the needs of our older Americans is a top priority for this administration. And that's why the president's 2016 budget provides relief from increased prescription drug costs for those on Medicare by closing the part D doughnut hole for brand name drugs by 2017 rather than by 2020. It also provides more funding for nutrition and meal service programs, and supports low income housing that will help older Americans maintain stability. We are also very excited about the conference on July 13 will and you all should know that there are many ways to participate. There will be a live stream, and you can Tweet questions for our expert panel. We want to hear your stories, and we want to hear about the issues that matter to you. We are committed to supporting this community, and we will continue to advocate on their behalf. And that includes urging Congress to reauthorize the Older Americans Act. We need to seize this opportunity to update and renew its programs and continue working for the people it's intended to serve. These efforts are important, but we are learning from these forums around the country that we also need social change. Two big ideas have stood out as these regional forums have occurred. First, we need age friendly communities, and a holistic response to aging that is inclusive and culturally responsive. And second, we need a culture change as a nation. In our view of aging that recognizes that older adults bring experience and value to our communities that strengthen our society and can solve social problems. In other words, it's time to shift the conversation from one that assumes the aging population will overwhelm us to one that recognizes that older adults are an asset to our country and celebrate their contributions to improve lives of all generations. [Applause] When President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act he explained it this way. It's a corner stone in a structure which is being built but is by no means complete. President Johnson echoed those words in 1965 when he signed the Medicare legislation. And as we recognize this 50th anniversary, we need to celebrate the enormous progress that we have made for the men and women who came before us, but we must also recognize that we have more work to do to build a structure of wellness for all Americans. Fulfilling this promise to older Americans is no burden. We stand on their shoulders. We work in the industries they built, and we follow the paths that they paved. It is our obligation and our prideful responsibility to continue to improve, to continue to innovate, and to continue to insure that every American has the tools they need to lead a healthy and productive life. Together we are going to deliver on that promise for the next 50 years. Thank you. [Applause] >> ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome back to the stage the Executive Director of the White House Conference on Aging Ms. Nora Super. [Applause] It's been truly a pleasure to be here in Boston. Yesterday I went on a couple of site visits in this great city. I visited the age lamb at M.I.T., which is just an amazing place able to see cars and what they would be like in the future, very exciting. I actually did a simulation and got into a pretty awful accident, and when I lived in Boston awhile back, I remember driving in Boston was kind of scary. So I decided just to stay in the simulated car going forward, but there are many new technologies that they are developing to keep us safer as we drive or as we let others drive for us. So it's just some great exciting new technologies there. Also some robotic animals, they have a baby seal there that they have worked with dementia patients and others that help them bring calm and security and they don't have the clean-up associated with other pets. So I was thinking it might be a good investment for me. I also had the opportunity to visit the Leonard Florence center for living in Chelsea, which as you may know is built on the greenhouse model but took sort of a Boston twist that it has several homes in a high rise above each other, and just a wonderful place. I had the opportunity to talk to 105 year old woman there who during, as part of the physical fitness, national senior fitness day she was dancing which was amazing. She was such an inspiration. Also just want to give a shout out to the City of Boston for welcoming us yesterday for such a wonderful event down near the river where we had the national senior health and fitness day at Waterfront Park. People came from all over the city, and were led by Donna Richardson who you may know her claim to fame is a video called buns of steel. And she helped us, led us, she was on the president's commission on physical fitness and nutrition as well as Ernestine Shepherd who joined us from D.C. she is a 79 year old body builder. She is an amazing, beautiful woman, I encourage you to look at the pictures of that. She is truly an inspiration. Let me also say how happy I am to be at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. Senator Kennedy was the lion of the Senate, and he wasn't just a champion of older adults, but of connecting generations to advance our communities and address our most pressing problems. As you all I'm sure know he was I champion of healthcare reform throughout his career and then as he experienced his own long term care needs he became an advocate for long term services and support towards the end of his life recognizing that everyone wouldn't have the same supports as he had available to him and as was his way to make sure that all Americans could have the same access to resources. So it's wonderful to be here, and it's eerily similar to the Senate chamber, so it's just a great, beautiful venue. For those of you who aren't on site, I want to welcome everyone who is watching and participating in viewing sessions across the region. We are very grateful for your participation. We welcome an open dialogue about the issues most important to older Americans, their families, including the challenges we face, and solutions to better prepare for an aging society. It seems especially appropriate that we end these regional forums today here in Boston. On this very day, May 28th, in 1863, the 54th Massachusetts regiment, the nation's very first African American regiment left Boston to fight in the Civil War. Depicted in the blockbuster movie "Glory" the day of the 54th March for Boston was a seminal moment and for the first time called national attention to the differences and contributions that African Americans were making to our society. In much the same way these forums on the 2015 Conference on Aging are focusing spotlight not simply on the needs and challenges of older Americans but on the extraordinary difference and contributions older adults are making to families, communities and societies each and every day. Of course, that's not to say there isn't much work to be done as we address the changing landscape. These regional forums provide a very concrete way for individuals and organizations across the country to provide ideas and input on the most important issues. As you all know, we have been coming together across the country and listening to expert panels and breakout sessions on our four topic areas, retirement security, healthy aging, long term services and supports and Elder Justice. We also released four policy briefs, let's see if I can get this to work. There you go! Okay. To make sure that folks are giving us input, we are asking folks to get back to us by June 12th so that we can take all of our input and include it in our report that we plan to issue at the conference itself. So we also are Tweeting. I have seen many of you Tweeting. We have some great Tweets going around, so I encourage you to Tweet at WH aging and our hashtag is WHCOA. So I hope you heard earlier today that we announced the date for the July conference at the White House. It will be July 13th. We are very excited that the president will be there, and we will be using technology to make sure that we are communicating and allowing people to engage wherever they are. So please look for that announcement in ways that you too can engage. Many of our partners in this room have already told us that they will have viewing sessions all across the country, and we are very excited about this day where we focus on these issues.