Health & Wellbeing

AARP is focused on making Charlotte and the region more livable for people of all ages. Walkable Charlotte Week, our Livable Communities Listening Sessions, and the upcoming Making a More Livable Mecklenburg livable communities summit are helping to engage people 50+ on the effort to meet the challenges of the coming demographic changes. This week AARP North Carolina's local team in Charlotte conducted Walkable Charlotte Week, which aimed to raise awareness about the issue of walkability and why that is an essential component of creating a livable community.

Since being launched earlier this summer, the new AARP Coffee and Conversation series has engaged hundreds of AARP members and 50+ Charlotteans on a variety of issues. As a new program coming from the new AARP office in Charlotte, it has been an exciting time for the staff and AARP volunteers who organize and facilitate those programs. With October's full offering of new sessions approaching (see below for the list of October's programs), the excitement is building even more, as October marks the beginning of the Affordable Care Act's "marketplaces" and the time when more people want simple answers to sometimes complex questions.

In June AARP North Carolina rolled out Coffee and Conversation, a new series of informal but informative programs on relevant topics for AARP members and people 50+ in Charlotte. The feedback from those programs was fantastic and so we are pleased to present our August line up of programs, which continues our discussions on health and our community.

AARP and partners across the state and nation are working to address what has been a silent crisis in North Carolina called “food insecurity.” In the Tarheel state, nearly one-in-ten adults ages 50 and over are food insecure, in other words, at risk of going hungry.

By Andrew Behm

By Mary Bethel - Associate State Director, Advocacy

Are you looking for a fun way to socialize and get important information? Are you tuning out the divisive political debates and looking for a more enjoyable and productive way to keep up on issues important to people 50+?

Do you know how the Health Care Law will directly affect you, your family or your place of business? If you are like many people, you may have questions about what the law means for you. Join AARP for a free, 60-minute webinar on Thursday, March 21 at 2:00 p.m. to get an overview of the changes and improvements in the law. Go to http://bit.ly/15pvTEQ to register. During the session, we will help you separate facts from fiction and explain what the health care law means for

By Bridgette A. Lacy for AARP

RALEIGH – The American Academy of Actuaries estimates healthcare insurance premiums will rise by two percent if states do not expand Medicaid as the Affordable Care Act provided. According to a 2011 survey of employers by Kaiser Family Foundation, healthcare premiums cost on average $15,046 a year, including $10,944 paid by employers and $4,129 paid by employees. A two percent rise would mean $301 hike for employers and employees to pay together.