Many Degrees of Policy Freedom: The Federal Government’s Role in Care for Seniors

Published in November, 2011 as part of the Institute for Research on Public Policy,   IRPP Study Series this study by Harvey Lazar explore the imblance between the demand and supply of care for seniors.

He argues that although researchers have been warning of the aging of Canada’s population for decades, governments do not yet have an overarching policy strategy to deal with the profound, long-term socio-economic implications of this demographic shift, or its more immediate impact. He examines how the imbalance will grow and the need to re-evaluate the federal government’s policy role.

http://www.irpp.org/pubs/IRPPstudy/IRPP_Study_no24.pdf

Evidence-Based Policy Prescription for an Aging Population: HealthcarePapers

Vol. 11 No. 1 2011 of the journal Healthcare Papers, focuses on Canadian perspectives on aging policy.

The Table of Contents can be found at the link below:

http://www.longwoods.com/publications/healthcarepapers/22233

Please note: for copies of the articles in this issue, contact your local health library.

Older Americans in Poverty: A Snapshot

From: AARP Public Policy Institute, April 2010

Older Americans in Poverty: A Snapshot, is a chartbook and policy primer that examines the persistent problem of elderly poverty in the United States.

This chartbook provides valuable data on older adults in poverty—who they are, where they live, and the challenges they face affording basics like food, housing, and health care. It describes the reliance of older poor and low-income families on Social Security, their use of public benefits, and their assets. The chartbook highlights wide variation in poverty rates by race and ethnicity, age, sex, and marital status. For example, despite the sizable overall decline in elderly poverty since the 1960s, poverty remains unacceptably high for many, including older black and Hispanic women, more than a third of whom have incomes below poverty or just above the poverty line.

The chartbook also examines the problems with the official poverty statistic. It explains what’s wrong with the current measure and describes the proposal to modernize the poverty measure to provide a more accurate assessment of how many people—including older adults—face severe economic hardship. The chartbook closes with a discussion of policy options for reducing poverty at older ages. + Full Report (PDF)

Senior's Policy Handbook: a guide for developing and evaluating policies and programs for seniors

Prepared by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Committee of Officials for the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors and published in June, 2009, this handbook is for people who analyze, develop or implement policies, programs, services or legislation that directly or indirectly affect seniors.

Its purpose is to help policy analysts and program planners consider the perspective of
seniors, the diversity of the seniors’ population, and the needs and issues facing seniors today and in the future.

The Seniors’ Policy Handbook is an updated version of the 1998 publication called Principles of the National Framework on Aging: A Policy Guide. The National Framework on Aging was launched in 1994 by the Committee of Officials for the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors.

http://www.seniors.gov.ab.ca/seniors/docs/SeniorsPolicyHandbook.pdf