Tag Archives for AARP

The Best Of…Many Opting to Pre-Plan, Pre-Pay for Funerals

Published on February 1, 2003

             For me, it was stressful attempting to get my elderly father and my mother with dementia to enter into a pre-need agreement funeral arrangement.  After all, my three siblings and I were only trying to give our parents the opportunity to have a say in their minute details of their final arrangements.

            With my confused mother at his side, my father choose their caskets like he was purchasing a new car.  He checked under the lid, throughly examined the lining and the wood.  Ultimately, he would not buy the cheaper model, but he chose a nice one, a little higher on the price list.

            Of course, my father told the funeral director their services would be held at Temple Emanuel  with the family Rabbi presiding.  But what type of music, vocal or instrumental did they want played?  Or did they want a visitation or to name their  pallbearers.  Closed or open casket?  All these decisions might have been made right there on the spot, but in the end my father backed out.

           A little technicality over paper work derailed the process, causing my father to not sign on the dotted line and walking out of the funeral home in a huff.

           My father’s experience was not the norm because most aging baby boomers make it through the most stressful process of pre-planning and pre-paying in advance.

           According to a 1998 AARP survey, two in five people age 50 and older reported that they were contacted about the advance purchase of funerals.

           About one-third of those responding said that they had prepaid, or were in the process of prepaying, for funerals or burials.  Of this group, 86 percent had prepaid for cemetery plots, mausoleums, or niches, 58 percent had paid for other burial goods or services and 40 percent had prepaid for funeral services.

          For those prepaying for funerals, 30 percent had funds in trust and 30 percent had funds in life insurance policies.  Sixty percent held title to a cemetery plot, and 15 percent said they had that money in a life insurance policy.

         Ted Wynne, funeral director of Pawtucket-based Manning-Heffern Funeral Home, sees a transient society where children are living in different states, fueling the demand for pre-planning and prepayment.  “Seniors want to take the pressure off their children who live thousands of miles away from making the burial arrangement,” Wynne says.  “Thus, they pay up front or set aside money for future funeral and burial payments.”

        Bradford Bellows, funeral director of D.W. Bellows & Sons, Pawtucket and Bellows-Falso Funeral Chapel in Lincoln, says the seniors in nursing  homes are also good candidates for prepaying a funeral.

        “The family watches their parents’ funds dwindle to a point where they are forced to go on Medicaid.”  Prior to being eligible for Medicaid, the senior or their children should prepay the funeral costs.  Assets given the funeral home are allowed under Medicaid eligibility guidelines prior to going on Medicaid.

           “Consumers must understand that pre-arranging a funeral is not the same as pre-paying one,” Bellows adds.

            By pre-paying a funeral you are actually paying  for a funeral at today’s prices, not tomorrow’s, Bellow says.  “If the funeral occurs in the future, the funds will earn interest which will be used to pay for the cost of the funeral at the time of the death.”

           Bellows offers these tips when pre-paying your funeral.

           1.  Make sure that your social security number is indicated on your savings account or insurance policy where the monies are placed to prepay your funeral.  If the funeral home ever goes out of business or goes bankrupt, the funds are still yours and are safe, and can be easily be transferred to another funeral home.

          2.  When you enroll in the Medicaid program, all the funds in your prepayment account must be used.  Any excess funds will be returned by the  funeral home to the State of Rhode Island, to defray health costs incurred by the state of Rhode Island’s Medicaid program.

         3.  Once the funeral home opens the account or insurance policy, don’t forget to get a copy of the Irrevocable Funeral Trust Agreement, showing the bank or credit union account or the original insurance policy that was issued.  This will give you proof that your advance payment has been set up for your funeral needs.

          Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer who covers, aging, health care and medical issues.

AARP Works to Get the Vote Out

Published in the Pawtucket Times on October  21, 2002

AARP is flexing its political muscle.

While it’s not endorsing political candidates from either the Republican and Democratic ranks, one of the nation’s largest membership groups is moving swiftly to educate its members on key aging issues and directing  resources to get the vote out on Election Day.

AARP CEO Bill Novelli has begun the mobilization of his 35 million-plus members to hold all political candidates accountable in the upcoming elections. With the bipartisan gridlock that keeps a law from being enacted to lower skyrocketing drug costs and to provide drug coverage in Medicare, Novelli and his aging rank and file are just plan tired of promises. I can just imagine hearing him shout from AARP headquarters in Washington, D.C. “We are not going to take it anymore!”

This month, AARP begins to take steps to prod the political candidates to become more responsive to aging issues before Nov. 5 elections.

Over the next two weeks, AARP will begin a first-ever national voter education campaign on television. Aimed at voters age 50 and over, the advertising campaign’s get-out-the-vote message calls for the need of a Medicare drug benefit and the importance of Social Security to seniors.

On the issue of Social Security, the message says: “After all you’ve done to earn a paycheck, make sure some of it will be there when you retire. Know where the candidates stand on the future of Social Security and vote.”

Meanwhile, 50 candidate forums, like the one recently held in Warwick by AARP Rhode Island have already been held to enable older votes to directly question local candidates. AARP plans to hold an additional 20 events before Nov 5.

Here’s the rationale for AARP hosting the forums – seniors want detailed information and no longer want to learn about a candidate’s position and priorities in a 30-second sound bite or in a paragraph on a glossy campaign brochure.

Additionally, all congressional candidates will be asked to sign a new Medicare prescription pledge, promising that if they are elected, they will enact a benefit that is voluntary, stable and affordable in 2003.

A warning to the incoming politicians – keep your word. The names of candidates who do – and don’t- agree to sign this Medicare drug pledge will be made public, too.

More that 8.5 million AARP voter guides will be printed, detailing up-to-date information where candidates stand on senior issues. Localized election information on state and national races nationwide will also be made available on a comprehensive website  at http:/www.aarp.org/elections2002.

AARP will even fund Election Day polling, where voters in selected districts will be asked about the defining issues that influenced their votes. The results of this polling will signal to those  elected to Congress what priorities they will face when they begin their new terms in January 2003.

Finally, phone banks where an estimated 500,000 telephone calls will be made will assist AARP’s efforts to get out the vote on Election Day.

If AARP is successful in getting its political savvy and educated membership to the polls, political candidates had better listen to their concerns.

“Older voters participate in elections at a higher rate than any age group,” said AARP Director of Grassroots and Elections Kevin Donnellan, noting that the mid-term elections, where overall voter numbers are low, the percentage senior voting is higher.

Furthermore, Donnellan said in the 1998 mid-term elections, more than 60 percent of the voters were 45 and older. More than 70 percent of AARP members typically vote, he added.

AARP grassroots efforts might even become a factor in tight races, specifically deciding who goes to Washington and who stays at home, Donnellan says.

“Now that we are down to the wire to Election Day, AARP Rhode Island joins AARP nationally to urge Rhode Island seniors to demonstrate once again that they are the most dependable and consistent group of voters,” says Kathleen S. Connell, state director of AARP Rhode Island told All About Seniors.

“It is important that seniors exercise the power of the ballot box to convey the message that the time for action is now,” adds Connell.

The political fate of gubernatorial, congressional and state-wide candidates may well rest in the hands of AARP Rhode Island, which is now mobilizing its 125,000 members to get out and vote next month.

Combine the successful Senior Agenda/Election 2002 Project, recently spearheaded by the Gray Panthers of Rhode Island, working in collaboration with the Rhode Island Minority Elder Task Force, and hundreds of thousands of Ocean State seniors have become a knowledgeable and educated voter block.

Understanding the immediate and future needs of Rhode Island seniors may well become the ticket to statewide or national office inside the Capitol Beltway, when the dust settles after the  Nov. 5 election.

Grandparents Take an Active role in Parenting and Caregiving

Published in Pawtucket Times on August 12, 2002

Susan Sweet, an elder rights advocate and a full-time consultant to nonprofit groups, has a jam-packed schedule that consumes much of her time.

However, the East Providence resident puts her two small grandchildren at the top of her schedule.

Grandparenting is the best time in Sweet’s life, who noted this role allows her to share both life experiences and wisdom with Zackary, age seven and a half and his sister Erika Lee, who is almost 10 months.

“My job as a grandparent is to expose Zackary and Erika Lee to things that they would not other wise be exposed to,” the 61-year-old Sweet says.

New experiences with the youngish grandmother include exposure to the world of music, art and cultural and ethnic diversity of the world.

With her grandchildren living on Cape Cod, Sweet keeps in constant contact through e-mail and telephone calls. Zachary visits grandma every two weeks, where she takes him out and about the Providence Children’s Museum, Waterfire and even to the aquarium in Mystic, Conn. Erika will get her turn to visit Sweet when she gets older.

“Grandparents are magical to their grandchildren,” especially those who don’t have the burden of everyday parenting responsibilities, Sweet insists. Moreover, the elder generation becomes the repository of a family’s history, where grandchildren can learn where they came from.

Like Sweet, grandparents across the nation are becoming actively involved with intergenerational parenting and caregiving, and this role is becoming more commonplace.

A newly released AARP study finds that aging baby boomers and seniors are taking a more active role in raising their grandchildren.

Almost half of those surveyed were under 50 when their first grandchild was born. The ages of those surveyed ranged from 45 6o 100 years, with a mean age of 64.

According to the AARP study, today’s grandparents believe they are teaching their grandchildren values and family history, entertaining them and listening to their problems.

About 68 percent of those surveyed see a grandchild every one or two weeks, and almost 24 percent say they see their grandchild from once a month to once every few months.

However, the study found that a principal barrier to more frequent contact was living too far away – almost 45 percent of the respondents said their grandchildren live more than 200 miles away from them. Another barrier to frequent contact was the grandchildren’s busy schedules (22 percent).

In those case, grandparents reach out and touch a loved one by phone – eight in 10 grandparents (80 percent) contacted a grandchild by telephone at least once every couple of weeks.  A smaller number (12 percent) reported using traditional mail  (i.e. letters, greeting cards, or videos) at least once every couple weeks, and 54 percent sent traditional mail at least every few  months.

The AARP survey found the most popular topics of conversation between grandparents and grandchildren are issues relating to school (84 percent), morals or values (78 percent), planning future visits (72 percent) and daily activities (72 percent).

However, conversations between grandparents and their grandchildren did not shy away from sensitive topics.

Almost 65 percent speak with their grandchildren about religion and spirituality. Conversations also centered on cigarettes (47 percent), alcohol (43 percent) and illegal drug use (45 percent). Almost a quarter (24 percent) said they talk with their grandchildren about sex.

Grandparents are also providing significant financial support for their grandchildren on a day-today basis. On average, grandparents report they spend $500 a year on their grandchildren with many spending money on their basic daily needs. About 52 percent provide financial help with the educational needs of their grandchildren, and almost 45 percent report they hep with living expenses. Meanwhile, about 25 percent say they assist with a grandchild’s medical expenses.

Fifteen percent of grandparents reported they provide child day-care services for their grandchildren to assist the working parent, nearly 24 percent of those also say they provide such care at least once a week to once every couple of weeks while the parents are not at work. Almost 80 percent who provide child care are looking after one or two grandchildren; another 17 percent care for as many as three or four grandchildren.

Finally, the survey finds that grandparents of all ages are involved in some form of physical activity with their grandchildren. More than half (53 percent) have exercised or played sports with their grandchildren within the past six months, and at least half in each age group engage in such activities with grandchildren.