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The AARP Public Policy Institute's nonpartisan policy analysis focuses on issues of critical importance to older Americans and draws on the work of experts across the ideological spectrum.

Two Reports Address How to Improve Social Security’s Minimum Benefit

Two AARP Public Policy Institute reports spotlight the opportunities and challenges of enhancing Social Security's minimum benefit. Both use the Urban Institute’s DYNASIM model (PDF), a dynamic microsimulation model designed to analyze the long-run distributional consequences of retirement and aging issues.

Preparing for the Unexpected: Understanding Emergency Savings and Why It Is Critical to Financial Well-Being

This report details how policymakers and other stakeholders can improve the design of emergency savings policies, strengthen workplace short-term savings programs, and target policies that enhance household financial well-being and racial equity.

Monthly Employment Data Digest

The latest monthly digest of employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) examines the findings from the Employment Situation Report. It takes a closer look at employment data for people ages 55 and over, including labor force participation, employment rates, and duration of unemployment.

Social Security Customer Service Challenges: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions

This report explores the causes of Social Security Administration’s (SSA) customer service challenges, examines their impacts on people utilizing these services, and highlights ways to improve SSA performance.

Does Saving for Emergencies Improve Productivity at Work?

This study explores the relationship between emergency savings–related behavior and workplace outcomes. It examines how financial insecurity may be reduced and workplace outcomes may be improved by helping workers to save for unexpected expenses.

How Banks and Credit Unions Can Better Serve and Protect People 50-Plus

To better understand how consumers’ banking practices and experiences have changed, AARP surveyed more than 2,000 adults ages 18 or older. The research reveals an evolving landscape of banking practices, generational differences, and the age-friendly banking services consumers want their financial institutions to prioritize.

See more Financial Security Reports

Site-Neutral Payment for Outpatient Care: Why It Matters for People with Medicare

This Spotlight explores the implications of traditional Medicare’s site-based provider payments for the program’s spending, the health care system, and the millions of people who rely on the program for their health care—including paying more out of pocket for services they receive in certain settings when those services could be provided safely and effectively in lower-cost settings.

Nearly 10 Million Households with Adults Ages 50 and Older Participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2022

This Fact Sheet describes selected characteristics of households with adults ages 50 and older as well as individuals ages 50 and older who participated in SNAP in FY 2022 and the benefits they received. 

Medication Literacy Series: The Role That Pharmacy Networks Play in Accessing and Affording Prescription Drugs

This Spotlight explores how plans develop pharmacy networks, what the shift to preferred pharmacy networks means for older adults’ cost sharing, whether current standards of network accountability are sufficient, and steps that policymakers can take to ensure that pharmacy networks continue to work for older adults.

The Burden of High Health Care Costs for Midlife Adults with Private Insurance

In this opening Insight, we broadly explore the issue of high health care costs, examine the impact on midlife adults with private coverage—including those with employer-sponsored and nongroup (individual) health insurance—and consider key solutions to begin addressing the cost burden on this population.

Nearly 2 Million Adults Ages 50 to 64 Are Losing Medicaid Coverage from Postpandemic Disenrollments

This paper discusses the Medicaid redetermination process, explores national and state estimates on disenrollments from NORC’s analysis, and examines policy implications for upcoming Medicaid enrollment.

New Medicare Part D Out-Of-Pocket Spending Cap is an Important Improvement for Enrollees Facing High Prescription Drug Costs

To better understand the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, AARP commissioned research to identify and analyze Part D enrollees who will benefit from the new out-of-pocket spending limit on prescription drugs.

Pandemic-Era Trends in Telehealth Use among Americans with Private Health Insurance

This paper assesses changes in telehealth use from 2019 to 2021 among people younger than 65 who are enrolled in private, employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) plans, examines how Americans used telehealth in the first two years of the pandemic, and explores how telehealth use differed by demographic factors such as age, residence, income, and social determinants of health (SDOH) indicators.

14 Years of the Affordable Care Act: Impact on Adults Ages 50-64

This national fact sheet compiles some key statistics about declining uninsured rates, increasing affordability, and more since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law.

Medication Literacy: Drug Disposal

This report examines proper drug disposal— the safe and timely removal of unused or unwanted drugs from an individual’s possession according to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards—and what can make it difficult.

See More Health Security Reports

Long-Term Services & Supports State Scorecard

A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Adults, People with Physical Disabilities, and Family Caregivers

The Older Americans Act

This Spotlight paper breaks down the Older Americans Act (OAA) mission, explains its benefits in detail, and provides an in-depth look at how needed increased funding could be allocated to better support nutrition and caregiver support services.

Aging Well in America: AARP’s Vision for a National Plan on Aging 

This policy paper provides a comprehensive blueprint for the development of a robust national plan on aging to foster the well-being, quality of life, and dignity of older Americans now and for future generations.

Pathways to Care: Experiences with Long-Term Services and Supports in Illinois

This qualitative report summarizes the issues Illinois caregivers and older adults faced finding local LTSS resources and their assessments of the quality of care accessed, supplemented by the first-person comments and observations of the interviewees. 

Nursing Home Workforce Issues and Inequities

This Spotlight examines nursing home worker issues, including low wages and benefits and lack of career advancement opportunities.

Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Nursing Homes

This Spotlight explores the history of racial and ethnic inequities in nursing homes, discusses trends in nursing home admissions by race and ethnicity, and proposes recommendations for change. 

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A Closer Look at Sandwich Generation Caregivers of Medicare Beneficiaries

This report uses qualitative and quantitative data to depict sandwich generation caregivers to Medicare beneficiaries and the care they provide. 

Valuing the Invaluable 2023 Update: Strengthening Supports for Family Caregivers 

Family caregivers fill an essential role in our fractured long-term services and supports (LTSS) system. In 2021, the estimated economic value of family caregivers’ unpaid contributions was approximately $600 billion, based on about 38 million caregivers providing an average of 18 hours of care per week for a total of 36 billion hours of care, at an average value of $16.59 per hour.

Family Caregiver Considerations for the Future of Hospital at Home Programs 

The declaration of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) accelerated an already burgeoning movement of health care into the home. An increasing number of health care systems are choosing to invest in homebased care in new and innovative ways, and consumers are using these services at unprecedented levels. The Hospital at Home (HaH) model shifts care into the home setting and delivers acute hospital-level care to eligible patients where they live instead of in a hospital. 

Caring Locally for Caregivers: How State and Local Laws Protect Family Caregivers from Discrimination at Work

Workplace discrimination against employees who care for adult family members, called Family Responsibilities Discrimination (FRD) or caregiver discrimination, is an escalating problem that can disadvantage employees and put employers at legal risk. This report details the ways in which state and local laws fill in the gaps left by federal law by prohibiting employment discrimination that occurs because of family caregiving.

See More Caregiving Reports