Home & Family

Illness can cause an insurmountable amount of debt for couples -- especially when it requires long term care. These families facing debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's can't afford afford to pay for expensive long term care out of pocket but they also can't afford Medical Assistance. To qualify for Medical Assistance, couples are often forced to deplete their assets in order to qualify which means in order to care for one spouse both must enter poverty. For too many the only way to avoid this is divorce. Families should not have to go to such extremes to keep their loved ones safe and protected.

Learn how Chris Gardner, entrepreneur and inspiration behind the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, persevered through overwhelming challenges. After enduring many hardships with his young son – including homelessness – Chris created a successful career for himself.

AARP today listed Virginia, Minnesota’s Southside neighborhood as one of the top 10 most livable neighborhoods in the nation. The list was part of the unveiling of AARP’s Livability Index, a first of its kind resource that allows people to determine how well their communities are meeting their current and future needs. People, policy makers and the private sector can use the Livability Index to measure how their location – down to the neighborhood level – rates across a comprehensive range of metrics that reflect the resident experience.

ST. PAUL -- AARP Minnesota today applauded the efforts of State Senator Bobby Champion and State Representative Rick Hansen for their work on authoring bipartisan legislation to help hundreds-of-thousands of Minnesotan citizens who are caring for their parents or loved ones. The legislation (SF 840 and HF 568) has now been approved by both legislative chambers, but certain differences in the two bills still must be addressed.

Strengthening protections for vulnerable adults and standing up to consumer fraud are two of AARP Minnesota’s biggest priorities. In 2013, one legislative proposal combines both of these into a single bill and, as you might have assumed, has that strong backing of AARP.

AARP recently joined forces with Experience Corps, one of the nation’s most highly regarded service programs, which engages older adult volunteers to help improve K-3 literacy in underserved schools.