Advocacy

The following letter to the editor from AARP Nebraska State Director Connie Benjamin was recently published in several Nebraska newspapers.

AARP Nebraska recently honored family caregiver, Teresa Thompson from Lincoln, during the annual Nebraska Caregiver Coalition luncheon held at the Governor’s Mansion.

The Aging Nebraskans Task Force invites the public to attend upcoming town hall meetings on Alzheimer’s Disease in Kearney on Aug. 27, Omaha on Sept. 15 and Alliance on Sept. 29.

About 33,000 older Nebraskans currently have Alzheimer’s disease. That number is expected to jump by more than 20 percent in the next ten years as the population ages and the oldest boomers turn 80.

Family caregivers in Nebraska provided 182 million hours of care—worth an estimated $2.5 billion—to their parents, spouses, partners, and other adult loved ones in 2013, according to AARP Public Policy Institute’s new report, Valuing the Invaluable: 2015 Update. The total estimated economic value of uncompensated care provided by the nation’s family caregivers surpassed total Medicaid spending ($449 billion), and nearly equaled the annual sales ($469 billion) of the four largest U.S. tech companies combined (Apple, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Microsoft) in 2013.

AARP Nebraska will host listening sessions on key legislative issues affecting older Nebraskans in eight communities across the state from June 16 to June 26.

Last night the U.S. Senate voted on the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 (H.R. 2) that permanently replaces the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula used to calculate reimbursements to physicians under Medicare. The Senate also voted on the Cardin-Vitter “Seniors’ Amendment” which was a Key Vote for AARP.

Thousands of older Nebraskans qualify for a break on their property taxes but may not know it. AARP Nebraska urges homeowners age 65 plus to take a close look at the homestead exemption since the law was changed in 2014 to cover more people.

AARP Nebraska Executive Council Member Kathy Ward recently shared her personal story with the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee in support of LB 405. Among AARP Nebraska's top priority bills for the 2015 legislative session, LB 405 calls for development of a state plan to address Alzheimer’s and the impact on families.

AARP says regressive measure would drive up health care and prescription drug costs