OVERVIEW
The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans (FLARA), a non-profit organization based in Wellington, Florida. FLARA actively pursues and promotes legislation and public policies for the best interest of current and future retired Floridians. Through the active civic involvement of its more than 200,000 members, FLARA advocates for programs and activities at all levels of government. FLARA's central goal is to help Florida's growing population of seniors remain self-sufficient.
This document, developed in consultation with many other state and national organizations that represent seniors, presents FLARA's priority issues and proposals to assist older Floridians.
Older Americans will face challenges on several fronts in 2010. Health care costs continue to rise dramatically and outpace general inflation. Seniors increasingly use more of their income for out of pocket health care costs. In addition, the economic downtown, which began in 2008, threatens seniors? financial security. Social services, on which millions rely for basic needs, are severely strained. Basic energy and food costs have risen dramatically. This all has come at a time when the oldest members of the Baby Boom generation are beginning to retiree in large numbers, the start of a wave of retirements that will nearly double the number of older Americans. The need for health care services, long-term care, economic security, and housing will grow increasingly urgent as the American population ages.
Current and future retirees, and their families, will need strong Social Security and Medicare systems, access to affordable long-term care, and strong pension systems in order to attain a comfortable quality of life. However, structural changes to the Medicare program and attempts to cut Social Security benefits, as well as current tax policy, which is skewed toward the wealthiest Americans, represent major threats to the security of today's and tomorrow's retirees.
The 2008 elections gave our nation a great opportunity to fundamentally change how Americans pay for and receive their health care. The country today has a once-in-a generation opportunity to create lasting, positive change.
The entire country has suffered from rising food and oil prices, job losses and a declining stock market. But often these conditions have taken their worst toll on seniors. Those who live on fixed incomes found themselves paying more for basic necessities. Those with investment income watched it devalue at the time in their lives when they needed it most. As the state and federal governments set priorities for 2010, FLARA proposes that several initiatives to benefit seniors be taken up immediately, most importantly, improvements to the nation's elder health care plan.
For additional information on FLARA's plan and agenda for 2010, please see FLARA's 2010 Elder Life Plan & Legislative Agenda below in PDF format.
