“I worry about Social Security and Medicare being reduced or cut or done away,” she says. “The programs we have paid into are in danger. That really scares me.”

With control of the U.S. House and Senate hanging on the election, issues that affect ­aging Americans will be at stake.

A June poll by AARP in the 44 most competitive congressional districts looked at the most important issues for voters 50 and older. Those voters are highly motivated; 84 percent say they plan to vote this year, compared with 74 percent of all likely voters. Economic concerns drive that engagement. About 62 percent of voters 50 and older say they are worried about their personal financial situation. When asked about particular issues, 80 percent say Social Security is important or very important, 73 percent say that about Medicare, and 67 percent say that of helping older people live independently at home. For the cost of prescription drugs, the number is 66 percent.

With all those issues in play, “every vote is going to count,” says Khelan Bhatia, AARP’s director of voter engagement.

That includes Cocking’s, and—along with inflation—health care is on her mind. She has seen her husband, John, go from an athletic soccer player in their native England to a man with prostate cancer, blood clot disorder, sleep apnea and dementia. “Is it possible to thrive when you live with someone with dementia? It depends on the day,” Cocking says. She’s not sure she can afford to send John to memory care and keep their home for her to live in. “That will keep me up at night. It’s so expensive—$7,000 to $10,000 a month. You can go through your retirement money pretty quickly,” she says. For now, she manages with family support, home care aides and antidepressants.

For Deanna Brandt, 87, a major concern is the cost of prescription drugs. With surgeries each of the past two years, she spent nearly $8,000 per year out of pocket on medical expenses. “I’m lucky at least I can pay it without going without food,” says Brandt, a retired executive assistant from the Chicago suburbs. She watched another woman walk out of a pharmacy without her medicine because it was too expensive. “It’s on everyone’s mind. I think about all the people having a hard time paying for prescriptions.”

Recent legislation allows Medicare to use its massive buying power to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices. The first 10 drugs were chosen, and their negotiated prices are to be announced by the end of this month. Negotiations on prescription drugs are expected to lead to lower prices, meaning both the government and the Medicare patients who pay a portion of the cost will see their costs go down starting in 2026. Changes in government could alter that forecast.

Along with Medicare funding, the viability of Social Security remains a critical concern for older Americans.

The 2024 report from Social Security’s trustees laid out the long-term solvency challenge for the program: By 2035, drastic action will be needed to prevent cutting Social Security and disability insurance benefits 17 percent. “It would have a huge impact on tens of millions of people,” says Max Richtman, CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. “This would put them over the edge into poverty.”

Andrew Biggs, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, says another option is to raise how much income is subject to Social Security taxes from the current $168,600. The amount of income subject to Social Security tax has dropped from 90 percent of earnings to 83 percent, Biggs says. But “it’s always been easier for politicians to kick the can down the road.... No one wants to take an unpopular stand.”

Biggs points out that no presidential candidate has said they want to cut benefits, but “how do they keep their promises?”

Terri Peacher-Ransom, 66, is one of millions of Americans who serve as caregivers to loved ones. Her husband, Don Ransom, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2005. Her day revolves around his medication schedule, and she worries he will fall. He is rated as 100 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs. That means she’s eligible for a home care aide to come give him a bath three times a week and to give her four hours a week of respite care.

“We are advocating for the people we are taking care of to be treated as human,” says Peacher-Ransom, of Indianapolis. “Care­giving is a part of America’s landscape. They need to realize caregivers are important.”

In some states, elections are likely to decide the lawmakers who will create policy on tax credits for family caregivers to offset their expenses—such as installing wheelchair ramps and ferrying loved ones to doctor appointments. This would help caregivers, including people who don’t live with the person being cared for and aren’t their dependents, like a child taking care of a parent. Nebraska, Oklahoma and Maryland have passed laws, and Congress is weighing a bill called the Credit for Caring Act.

One in 5 Americans are family caregivers. They provide the equivalent of about $600 billion a year in labor to help their loved ones, according to AARP estimates. Caregivers pay on average $7,200 out of pocket each year, and the bill would allow those eligible to get a tax credit for up to $5,000 to partially offset their costs.

Polls show another concern of Americans is inflation. Among voters 50 and older in the AARP poll of competitive congressional districts, it was second only to immigration as the top concern of 28 percent of those polled. Biggs says the new president could have an impact on inflation. Efforts endorsed by leading Democrats for programs to forgive student loans could push inflation up, he says, as could higher tariffs, which are part of the GOP platform.

Fear of higher taxes also remains a motivation for voters. Tax cuts made during the Trump administration, including for estate taxes, will expire at the end of next year unless lawmakers intervene. That would eliminate lower individual tax rates and the benefit of a more generous standard deduction.

For many older voters, an ever-growing divide between political parties, with increasingly divisive rhetoric, is a concern.

Cocking hopes the election will sweep into office politicians who are willing to work across the aisle to tackle the nation’s biggest challenges, not just people “so invested in hating the other party.”