Book Summary:
The past thirty years have seen an extraordinary expansion of federal programming and expenditures on behalf of older Americans. Largely as a result of these efforts, poverty among the aged has fallen three-fold, their real income has jumped 69%, and their access to health care services has doubled. While appreciating what these initiatives have accomplished, however, critics contend that we can no longer afford to see expenditures inexorably rise, because they either preclude balancing the federal budget, imperil the well-being of future generations, or give too central a role to government in promoting individual welfare. The Future of Age-Based Public Policy is the first book to investigate systematically the arguments and issues surrounding these successful and popular programs. The authors examine alternative ideological perspectives on age-related policy; differing levels of need within subpopulations of old persons and between old and young persons; and the characteristics of our major age-based and age-related programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act. Contributors are Robert B. Hudson, Martha Holstein, Neil Howe, John Myles, Robert H. Binstock, Judith G. Gonyea, Robert Morris, Francis G. Caro, Paul Adams, Gary L. Dominick, Eric R. Kingson, Jill Quadagno, Sylvester J. Schieber, Marilyn Moon, Elizabeth A. Kutza, Diane E. Justice, Anna M. Rappaport, Robert Logan, Robert Applebaum, and Monika White. |