Older Adults

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Nuclear Deterrence, COVID-19 and Infant Deaths, Criminal Justice Reform: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on why the United States doesn’t need more nuclear weapons, increased infant deaths during the pandemic, preventing veteran suicide, and more.

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Protecting the Elderly from Financial Exploitation

Older adults are more vulnerable to scams and more likely to have money and assets than their younger counterparts of the same race/ethnicity. Policy solutions that provide protection against financial fraud could help older adults to live more financially stable lives.

Katherine Grace Carman, Sierra Smucker

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Reframing Retirement

Retirement is a fluid concept. Many retirees would consider returning to the workforce if conditions were right and they could set their own pace. A reframing of the aging and retirement process would allow us to see the issue in a new way.

Bonnie Hagemann, Krishna B. Kumar @kbkumar_, et al.

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If You Build Automated Vehicles, Will Older Adults Come?

Whether older adults benefit from autonomous vehicles may hinge on taking explicit steps. Lessons can be learned from experiences with other technologies.

Laura Fraade-Blanar, Marjory S. Blumenthal @MarjorySB, et al.

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Humans Are Living Longer, So What Do We Do with All This Extra Time?

Medical and public health improvements over the past century have led to dramatic increases in longevity. New policies may be needed to ensure these extra years become mutually beneficial to all generations.

Andrew R. Hoehn @AndyHoehn, Bonnie Hagemann, et al.

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Learning from Existing Novel Approaches to Solving the Adult Social Care Crisis Is Better Than Reinventing the Wheel

The growing gap in the UK between the need for social care for older people and the provision of support arises not only from a crisis of funding, but also from a failure to learn from what is already being done well. Closing the gap might be achieved by learning from creative approaches already being tried and then implementing them.

Tom Ling, Jon Sussex, et al.

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Should You Consider Taking a Loved One Out of a Long-Term Care Facility Now?

As modern living is changing during this pandemic, so is assisted living. Already, many of us are facing difficult decisions about whether someone we know should stay in an assisted living facility or be taken out due to the coronavirus crisis. If you're in the position to bring someone to hunker down with you, is it even a good idea?

Lori Frank @LoriBethFrank, Sharon Inouye, et al.

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Turning Off Power to Combat Wildfires Could Harm the Very People Who Need Protection

While intentionally shutting off power may be a practical way to prevent power lines from sparking wildfires, is it worth the risks? Until more thoughtful and comprehensive decisions are made, planned power outages need to be planned better.

Joie D. Acosta, Regina A. Shih @ReginaShih

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How AVs Could Provide Independence for Older Drivers

Giving up driving has been linked to depression and isolation in older adults, as well as early entry into nursing home facilities. Autonomous vehicles could help improve the well-being of older adults by allowing them to maintain independence while still giving up their car keys.

Laura Fraade-Blanar

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Why Unretirement Is Working for Older Americans

Significant numbers of older Americans move in and out of the workforce. One in five workers today is 55 or older. By 2024, that number will be one in four. Older workers report having more meaningful work and more workplace flexibility than their younger peers.

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An Uneven Future: An Ageing Population Needs Innovation, but Not at the Expense of Equal Care

Expected increases in life expectancy together with increasingly complex physical and mental illness will continue to exert huge pressures on health systems. How should the UK prepare for the challenges ahead?

Camilla d'Angelo

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The Neighborhood Park: An Underused Oasis

Most neighborhood parks are underutilized, especially in the mornings and on weekdays. But with a modest amount of redesign, investment, and marketing, parks could lead more people to engage in routine physical activity.

Deborah A. Cohen, Catherine J. Nagel

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Living Longer, Working Longer

When people live longer, the costs of Social Security and Medicare increase and threaten the sustainability of these programs. Households also worry about how to finance more retirement years. But people are working longer, and if they continue to do so, they will reduce some of the problems.

Michael D. Hurd, Susann Rohwedder

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Bridging the Global Age Gap

The Trans-Pacific Partnership offers hope for balancing the world's rapidly aging with its jobless youth. As long-term care for the elderly becomes a pressing need in many developed countries, services such as monitoring and reminding people to take their medications could be provided remotely from countries with an abundance of younger workers.

Krishna B. Kumar @kbkumar_

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Charging Older Adults Higher Premiums Could Cost Taxpayers

Under the Affordable Care Act, older adults cannot be charged more than three times as much as 21- to 24-year-olds for the same plan. Changing this rule to 5-to-1 may not be a cost-effective way to encourage enrollment among the young and healthy.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner, Evan Saltzman