Invisible Consequences: How Federal Policy Shapes Economic Security for Older Adults
2–3 PM Eastern | 11–12 AM Pacific
Format:
Live Workshop
Price:
There is no cost to attend this event.
Certificates & Credits:
Continuing Education credits are not available for this course.
Description:
Explore how legislative changes—especially the Older Americans Act, the Big Beautiful Bill and Social Security adjustments—affect older adults even when they are not the intended policy targets. Discuss how eligibility rules, documentation requirements and reporting burdens create barriers to benefits such as Medicaid, SNAP, housing and caregiver assistance. Examine how policy shifts influence housing stability, consumer debt (including mortgages and student loans) and caregiving supports, all of which shape real-world access to basic security.
Proposed policy solutions include—simplifying eligibility and documentation across aging-related programs, expanding automatic enrollment for means-tested benefits, and funding the Older Americans Act at levels that sustain caregiving and housing stability.
Projected fiscal impact: These reforms would require moderate federal and state administrative modernization investments (estimated $2–$4 billion) but could yield long-term savings of 5%–10% in benefit administration and healthcare costs by reducing duplication, fraud and delayed access to preventive services.
Presenters:
Orion Bell, MBA, is president and CEO at the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, having joined Benjamin Rose in 2019 with more than 30 years’ leadership experience in not-for-profit management. Prior to Benjamin Rose, he served as president and CEO at CICOA Aging and In-Home Solutions, the largest of Indiana’s 16 Area Agencies on Aging, overseeing a staff of 240 and an operating budget of $27 million. Bell is an active member of ASA’s Economic Security Advisory Council.
Robert “Bob” Blancato is national coordinator of the bipartisan 3,000-member Elder Justice Coalition, and president of Matz, Blancato and Associates, executive director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs, and national coordinator of the Defeat Malnutrition Today coalition. He has testified numerous times before House and Senate committees, served 17 years as a staffer in Congress, having been appointed by President Clinton to be executive director of the 1995 White House Conference on Aging, one of four he participated in. He serves as second vice chair of the AARP board and on the AARP Foundation board, as well as on the board of the National Hispanic Council on Aging.
Judith Kozlowski is an independent elder justice consultant and a senior fellow at the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement. She was a subject matter expert with the DOJ Elder Justice Initiative for more than 10 years, and prior to that, senior advisor to the HHS Assistant Secretary for Aging and at the ACL, where she helped develop national policy initiatives concerning elder abuse and financial exploitation. Kozlowski helped establish the Office for the Financial Protection of Older Americans at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She co-chairs ASA’s Economic Security Advisory Council.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the policy design process and unintended effects on aging populations, caregivers and households carrying long-term debt.
- Analyze real-world case studies of eligibility exclusion in Medicaid, SNAP and housing programs.
- Identify advocacy strategies to reduce administrative and procedural inequalities and to strengthen the caregiving and housing safety net.
Who should attend this session:
- National, state and local aging advocates
- Public policy staff at nonprofits, associations and foundations
- Government relations and policy analysts focused on aging, health or economic security
- Think tank and research teams
- Government and public-sector administrators
Thank you to our partners:
