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Ballots ready: Time to decide

Voters will begin casting ballots this month for president, governor, and other candidates and ballot measures.
County election departments will mail ballots to registered voters Oct. 18. Voters will have until Nov. 5, election day, to mail them back or deposit them in official drop boxes.
Another key date is Oct. 28, the last day new voter registrations can be accepted for the election.
Information is available from the Pierce County election department (253-798-7430, piercecountyelections.org) and the King County elections office (206-296-8683, elections@kingcounty.gov).

The Senior Scene by — October 17, 2024 in News

Adults middle-age and older believe old age begins later in life than their peers did decades ago, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.
“Life expectancy has increased, which might contribute to a later perceived onset of old age. Also, some aspects of health have improved, so that people of a certain age who were regarded as old in the past may no longer be considered old nowadays,” said the study’s author, Markus Wettstein, a doctor of philosophy with Humboldt University in Germany.

People working longer before retiring could be a factor, too, researchers said. 

Wettstein, along with colleagues at Stanford University, the University of Luxembourg and the University of Greifswald (Germany), examined data from 14,056 participants in the German Aging Survey, which includes people in Germany born between 1911 and 1974. Participants responded to questions up to eight times over 25 years (1996-2021), when they were between 40 and 100 years old. Additional participants (40 to 85 years old) were recruited as later generations entered midlife and old age.

Among the many questions survey participants answered was, “At what age would you describe someone as old?” The researchers found that compared with the earliest-born participants, later-born participants reported a later perceived onset of old age. For example, when participants born in 1911 were 65, they set the beginning of old age at 71. Participants born in 1956 said old age begins at 74, on average, when they were 65.
However, the researchers also found that the trend toward a later perceived onset of old age has slowed in recent years. “The trend toward postponing old age is not linear and might not necessarily continue in the future,” Wettstein said.
The researchers also looked at how individual participants’ perceptions of old age changed as they got older. The perception of the onset of old age was pushed further out. At age 64, the average participant said old age started at 74. At 74, they said old age started at 76. On average, the perceived onset of old age increased by about one year for every four to five years of actual aging.
Women, on average, said old age started two years later than men – and that the difference between men and women had increased over time. They also found that people who reported being more lonely, in worse health, and feeling older said old age began earlier, on average, than those who were less lonely, in better health, and felt younger.
The results may have implications for when and how people prepare for their own aging, as well as how people think about older adults in general, Wettstein said.
“Perhaps the onset of old age is postponed because people consider being old to be an undesirable state,” Wettstein said.

The study was published in the journal Psychology and Aging.
Future research should examine whether the trend toward a “postponement” of old age continues and investigate more diverse populations in other countries, including non-Western countries, to understand how perceptions of aging vary by country and culture, according to the researchers. 

The Senior Scene by — October 9, 2024 in News

Employees of a senior living community in Seattle are calling on its owner to address what they call threats to workers’ rights and the care of residents.

During picketing scheduled for Oct. 10 at Aegis Ravenna on 15th Avenue Northeast, the employees planned to accuse Aegis Living of union-busting tactics and unfair labor practices. The union workers, members of SEIU 775, also claimed that understaffing and low wages contribute to staff turnover and compromise the care of residents.

The Aegis Ravenna workers organized under SEIU in March 2023 but are without a contract after 20 months of negotiations, the union said.

In formal statements, Aegis Living has said it seeks to “foster a strong and unified team environment.”

In 2021, Aegis Living settled a $16 million class-action lawsuit with Washington and California residents of its communities who claimed the company was misleading about staffing levels and violated consumer protection and elder abuse laws.

Aegis, founded in 1997, operates 39 assisted-living and memory-care communities in Washington, California, and Nevada. The Washington locations are in King County.

The Senior Scene by — October 9, 2024 in News
Voter initiative threatens state’s help for long-term care

(Pictured: Cathy MacCaul (left), her daughters, and her mother, Betty.)

COMMENTARY

By Cathy MacCaul

AARP knows that family caregivers are the backbone of our nation’s long-term care system.  In Washington state, 820,000 family caregivers provide $16.8 billion in unpaid long-term care annually, spending an average of $7,200 a year out of their own pockets.

My caregiving journey started early.  In my 20s, my parents welcomed my grandmother into our home after my grandfather passed away and she was no longer able to care for herself because of dementia. It was a labor of love, but caring for my grandmother placed an incredible strain on my parents. Providing for her needs meant they had to adjust their work schedules and other sacrifices, which meant I stepped in when I could.

During this time, my mom and I had several conversations about how she wanted to be cared for, considering our family history and the likelihood that she would deal with dementia in her later years. Even so, I never thought I would be the primary caregiver for my mother, but I did know that whatever her health circumstances, she wanted to stay in her home as long as possible.

That knowledge guided me when she ended up hospitalized after complications from COVID. I moved in for what I thought would be a temporary stay until she recovered. Nearly three years later, I live with my mom because she is no longer able to take care of herself. Stepping in as her primary caregiver, my job is to keep her healthy, calm, happy, active, and engaged with her friends. And, while she is strong and capable, there are days when she doesn’t remember who I am or how to make a sandwich.

As the advocacy director for AARP, I know the challenges that caring for a loved one brings to bear. My mom has an in-home care provider who works three to four days a week so I can go to work. I’m also fortunate to work for an organization that provides flexibility when we must step in to care for loved ones. Other workers aren’t as lucky. Too many caregivers – often working women who step in as family caregivers – must reduce hours or step away from a job altogether. 

While I am a fierce advocate for my mother, I am also a fierce advocate for older adults. One of the things I have learned over the last 10 years working for AARP is the long-term care system is flawed. There are too many hurdles and barriers to accessing help when you’re a middle-class family. It’s up to all of us to make sure we remove those barriers and hurdles so that families can do what they want: Love and care for their families as long as possible.

Currently, Washington has a program that will provide financial assistance to families when they face serious long-term illness, injury, or disability. Our public long-term care insurance program supports family caregivers who help their older parents, spouses, and other loved ones remain in their homes, where they have told us they want to be.

This November, voters will have a chance to weigh in on ballot initiative 2124, which aims to make this program voluntary. If it passes, it will take away a program that helps families provide care when they need it most. It will also leave families with the choice of paying for care services out of pocket or purchasing expensive, often unattainable long-term care insurance.

At AARP, we have worked steadily since 2019 to improve this program and make sure it is the best it can be. We’ve expanded coverage to near-retirees, and this year, we made the program portable if we move out of state. 

This November, AARP is asking you to vote no on Initiative 2124. It hurts working Washingtonians and our families and hinders our ability to care for family members and do what we do best: Be a family. 

Cathy MacCaul is AARP Washington’s advocacy director.

ABOUT I-2124

Initiative 2124 would, if passed by voters, allow employees and self-employed individuals to opt out of coverage under WA Cares, the state’s long-term services and supports trust health care program. Someone opting out wouldn’t be required to pay the payroll tax assessed on employees’ wages that funds the program.

Supporters of I-2124 say it allows people to choose, as consumers, whether they want WA Cares. Opponents of the initiative say its passage would take away a source of paying for long-term care.

WA Cares provides long-term health services benefits (home health care, adult day care, nursing home care, and group home care) to qualifying individuals. The first state-operated long-term care insurance program in the country, it was created in 2019  through legislation approved by the Washington Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee. Employers were required to begin deducting the tax from paychecks beginning in 2023 with a tax rate of 58 cents per $100 of earnings, meaning an employee earning $50,000 a year would be required to pay $290 per year and an employee earning $150,000 a year would be required to pay $870 per year. Benefits were capped at $36,500 per individual over their lifetime.

Information about WA Cares is available at wacaresfund.wa.gov.

The Senior Scene by — October 1, 2024 in News