The White House is preparing for more than a new administration…
The seniors are coming. That’s what the White House is preparing for after it held its Conference on Aging, where the private and public sector discussed how to address the coming “age wave” of seniors who wish to remain in their homes during retirement.
The White House recently released a final report from the sixth Conference on Aging that was hosted in July 2015, outlining a push for more caregiver support to homebound seniors and technology solutions that enable independence.
The aging conference has been conducted every decade since 1961 and brings together older Americans and their families, caregivers and advocates. 2015 was the 50th anniversaries for some of the most important federal programs for seniors: Medicare, Medicaid and the Older Americans act. Not to mention, Social Security also turned 80 this year.
One of the key announcements was a proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would increase accessibility to nutrition for homebound seniors by allowing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to be used for food delivery services to these households.
The topic that attracted the most attention was caregiving, according to the WHCOA report. For most older Americans who live at home, family caregivers are doing most of the legwork for a variety of tasks. As more adults age in place, it is more likely this reliance on family members will shift to paid caregivers.
Within the private sector, technology was a clear focus of the conference, as companies such as Uber announced new community-based services to serve older adults living at home.