PRACTICE AND POLICY LECTURE SERIES, MAY 2012 - SENIOR SAFETY NET IN JEOPARDY

No Audio: Karyne Jones, President and CEO for The National Caucus and Center on Black Aged Inc.

Karyne Jones: Well first of all, thank you so much for asking me to come and do your final series for the year. It's some very interesting times in Washington, DC. I just left the aging conference out in Norman. 
I had to speak there then raced over here, to speak here. So if any of you all came from there, and if I'm repeating myself, good. That means you will get a double dose of it and you will be able to do it. 

Let me tell you first about NCBA, the organization that I have had the honor of leading for the last nine years. We are 41 years old. We are, I want to say, the only national organization that solely focuses on African-American seniors. But we recognized, some years ago, that being poor and not having access to affordable housing, to healthcare, to other employment opportunities was an economic issue that also expands beyond race. 

And so we changed our mission some years ago when I came on to say the NCBA is here. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for not only African-American seniors, but all low-income seniors. Because again, poverty doesn't have a color. It can affect all of us. 

So we worked very, very closely in Washington with all of the national-based organizations. There are 65 registered who worked with the Leadership Council on Aging. And so we've come into that coalition. We've also... are part of the coalition, called the "Diverse Elders Coalition" which was... we really began about three or four years ago in discussion and about two years ago with the assistance of Atlantic Philanthropies Foundation, which some of you have probably heard of, that has been instrumental in helping aging organizations. 

They gave us monies to really develop our diverse aging coalition which includes seven organizations, which includes the National Hispanic Council on Aging, the National Asian and Pacific Islander one, the National Indian Council and there's a bunch but there's seven of us. We get together to really make sure that there is a voice in all of the policy and the proposals that are being discussed in Washington right now related to aging. 

Our priorities for this year, of course, for the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. Which, if you had a chance to go out to the aging conference yesterday, the Assistant Secretary Cathy Greenly was out there yesterday. And she's been working extremely hard with the support of all of our organizations. But Congress is kind of in a hovering mode right now. They aren't passing anything and they aren't really killing anything. It's just in a hovering mode and so we're hoping that they'll take the politics out of such an important piece of legislation. 

The Older Americans Act is the reason that we have all of the aging services that a lot of you may be associated with. And so, that is why it's important that they take the politics away from that and make sure that the Meals on Wheels program continues. That the CSEP program continues. That the other related sort of aging services that are provided, those are monies that come down from Washington to Oklahoma and the other states, that provide services to the aging who need that assistance. Let me grab this. 

I played a little game over at the other one, and I'm going to play a little game here, and just see if you all can recognize things. Because the whole point is that, you know, there are a lot of things in the world that at one time we thought were very important, and that really don't exist for us anymore. So, does anybody know what that is? A skate key. Very good, that's a skate key. You'd be surprised, I mean, my kids like, they think you put it around your neck for bling. 

(laughter)

No Audio: Picture of a window crank for manual windows on a car door.

Karyne Jones (continues): How about that? You see those anymore? For the window, absolutely. 

No Audio: A milkman.

Karyne Jones: What happened to that guy? 

No Audio: Walton's Five and Ten storefront.

Karyne Jones: Five and ten, that's been replaced by the Dollar Store now. Inflation.

No Audio: Open bottle of medicinal Mercurochrome. 

Karyne Jones: Do you remember when they put Mercurochrome on everything? On everything. My grandmother just kept it in her pocket, I think, and if we fell, she was right there. We had orange knees or what have you. It was everywhere. You know, they took it off the market because it has a lot of mercury in it. 

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): We certainly don't have rotary phones anymore. 

No Audio: A team of gas station attendants servicing a car.

Karyne Jones: Remember those guys used to come out and wash your windows and check your tires and all that? 
Well all of us, and some people like to blame it on the Women's Lib Movement, but that wasn't it. They just moved ahead, and said we want to get out and pump our own gas. Ah, that's not true. 

No Audio: A payphone booth.

Karyne Jones: Try to find one of those, you need in emergency. Everybody has to have a cell phone these days.

No Audio: A "Quick Saver" stamp book for S&H Green Stamps. 

Karyne Jones: Remember those? That was my Saturday chore; my mother had the bag of them and I was responsible for licking them and putting them in the thing so that we could go. And sometimes if I did it really, really well, I could choose whatever we'd buy at the store. So, that was some real pleasure. 

No Audio: A manual type-writer.

Karyne Jones: Of course, nobody uses, there's a few people that still won't give it up, but... 

No Audio: A drive-in movie theater.

Karyne Jones: I always say with this one that a lot of you all were probably produced...

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): ...at one of these. They were a very, very popular place for couples to get together. 

No Audio: Encyclopedias and a roll of camera film.

Karyne Jones: Everything's on the Net now, we don't have... I rarely see film now, everything is digital. Remember that? Ice pick. Yeah, my kids had no idea what that is and I keep telling them that was the weapon of choice on Saturday nights. 

(laughter)

No Audio: "What's happening here?" Children doing the duck and cover drill under their desks in a schoolroom.

Karyne Jones (continues): So, remember when we did that? Some of you may be too young, but we always say, "Yeah, yeah." Which, you know, what we know now wouldn't made a difference, because if it was a nuclear attack, you know, what do they say? "Bend over and kiss your butt goodbye."

(laughter) 

No Audio: Someone holding a Social Security check.

Karyne Jones (continues): Remember this? Well that, as of March 2013, will definitely be something that doesn't exist anymore. We will not have Social Security checks in a paperless form. You have to have a direct deposit. Unless you're over 90, and then they give you an exception if you're over 90. But everyone who wants to receive a Social Security benefit has to have some way of a direct deposit, so that will no longer be in existence. 

Now, I want to pause here and tell you that the Social Security check, paperless check, will become extinct, but the Social Security program, is solvent. And no matter what you hear, no matter how they try to tie it to the deficit, no matter how you say that it's going bankrupt and what have you. It has been proven over and over again, by not only the Congressional Budget Office, who has done numerous things on it.

No Audio: Congressional Budget Office (CBO) affirms that Social Security trust fund won't run out until 2038, reassuring the fund's solvency for the next several decades. 

Karyne Jones: We've had other fiduciary organizations who have looked at it, tested it, and what have you. We are okay until 2038. We are okay. Now, that doesn't mean that there has to be some tweaks and some things, some changes. Because we always have to look and evaluate programs and see what works and what needs to be improved upon. 

But for the most part, we need to squash the fear, particularly for our seniors, that their Social Security is being threatened and that it's not going to be there. And more importantly, we need to share with our young people that it is going to be there when they get older. There was a remarkable PR job done about 20 years ago to convince our young people that Social Security was not going to be formed, and had we not made some of the adjustments along the way that may have been the case. 

But the way they view it now, the way they're looking at things, it would be there. And it is the only social safety net program that the Government does that has been successful and it keeps more than 80 million people out of poverty. And that's a very important number of people. There are people in the world, and I know many of you may have known them, touched them, feel them. Maybe they're relatives in your family, that Social Security is their only form of income. That's something... that's a social net. 

And that's the reason it was designed, was that we wanted to make sure that when people got older, that they had some source of support. So it was never designed to be a retirement program. It's always been designed to be a social insurance program, and it has fulfilled its promise to so many people. 

Now you know, later on, we did include widows, dependents, disability and expanded it. But again, they made some tweaks so that again it would keep it solvent. Now, 2038 sounds like a long way off. It's really a little over 25 years from now. So that's not to say that things need to not be looked at and so we can forecast so that it remains the strong program it has. And those discussions are going on. But it can't go on with the discussion with the fear tactic that it's going bankrupt. That it is not solvent. It is. And that has been proven over and over again. 

No Audio: "Soup kitchen" for unemployed persons during the Great Depression.

Karyne Jones: We remember the days, back when these programs like Social Security came into existence, and again it came into existence because after the depression they found that 50% of seniors were without any income. And that's why they developed the Social Security program. 

No Audio: "Reliance on Social Security for 90% or 100% of income, 2008"  Bar graph showing breakdown of senior citizens by race whose total monthly income is comprised 90% of Social Security and 100% of Social Security.  The chart shows that Hispanics are most affected, with Blacks, Asians, and Whites being affected less in descending order.

Karyne Jones: I want to point out to you that this is a 2008 but they're getting ready to come out with the new ones since they did the census, that the reliance on Social Security has certainly increased. And that's again because we expanded the program to include disability, to include widows, dependents. By the way, if any of you are married and you're thinking about divorce, stay married ten years. Because you're then eligible for your spouse's Social Security. 

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): Just stick on with it, just hang on in there with him until you get in that ten years, and then you let him go and then you'll have access. You know, depending on obviously. I always try to remind, particularly women of that. Stay with him ten years, okay? 

But you can see that the reliance on Social Security for at least 90% or 100% of their income, you can see how it is a large percentage of our senior population. Obviously, it's higher of course in Hispanic families, but you can see where in Asians we're always close, 50% of all of our seniors, where 90% or 100% of their income is dependent on Social Security. 

So, we're not talking about a little program that's just there to kind of help supplement. We're talking about the livelihood of many, many of our seniors. And you know some seniors are fortunate in that they may be in a family situation where they're living with a family member and so, they're maybe... to offset the housing cost so that money is a little bit... 

But there are many, many more seniors who don't have those situations, who still have to provide for housing, and just the basics of living. And those are the people that we have to remember when we're talking about changing Social Security. The other issue that I want to bring up with you is that our organization and most of the well, the majority of the aging organizations are totally against raising the limit to 70. Simply because most of the people who are totally reliant on Social Security work in jobs that they can't do at 70, that they may have done at 30. 

We're talking about climbing ladders, and digging ditches and doing those kind of things. Well, once they retire they may not have paid in to a pension system or 401K or what have you. And so Social Security then becomes their income and they're just not able to work until 70. That particularly hurts minority seniors if they raise the limit to 70. So, I can tell you that the majority of our aging organizations, I would probably say 99% of us, are totally against raising the limit to 70. 

So when we're talking about that safety net, this is one of the things that's most important that again in maintaining the vitality of the Social Security program. Now some of the reasons that things have changed and given this great fear on... And rightly so, we should be concerned, because we've all had to experience some changes in our lives because of the economy, because of high unemployment and because of all the... that's you at a vitality age. You can imagine what it's like for a senior who maybe is unable to work. 

So, what we have done is that our whole system, financially, has changed. I don't know many people who still have a pension and that means they're kind of on the end. Twenty years ago, they changed the way we contribute and the way we save for our pension. There used to be a time when companies and organizations had a commitment to their workers who had devoted 25 or 30 years to their organizations and they, you know, would match or certainly contribute to their retirement, thus the pension systems that were in place. 

But we no longer have that anymore because most organizations have moved to 401K plans and some of the other IRAs and put those in place. And it basically put our retirement system as a retirement of "hope", that you know, "hope you have enough money when you retire." If any of you all are like me, you look at your 401k when the market is doing very, very well, and your 401K is doing okay. 

When the market is not doing well, we are all sitting around saying "Well, it looks like I'm going to have to work another two or three years." And so, it's our whole way of the way we design our retirement system is totally different now. And we call it back in Washington, again, the retirement of hope that you just can hope at this point that you have enough. But who can determine what the cost of living will be? I mean there can be estimates, but you don't know. 

And the market is so volatile and so fluctuates, that it's almost sad that we have to depend... and most of us don't even understand the stock market, let alone see where our investments are going and if it is going to the best. So it's a different kind of system than we've known in the past. Again the unstable economy: that's housing costs, rent is obviously getting harder, it's getting harder for people to maintain their homes. There was of course, the housing bubble. A lot of our seniors lost their homes. 

The other thing is, we're seeing a lot of regentification. So our seniors have really been affected by the housing cost, by the job market. Obviously if a 21-year-old college graduate has a hard time finding a job, you can imagine what an unskilled 70-year-old has to go through. And this is someone who still needs to work, still wants to work, but it's a difficult time. And then just the overall cost of living. Everything has just changed. So, the unstable economy has certainly made a change on our whole financial situation and the safety net that we've gotten used to. 

I separated unemployment, because unemployment for seniors continues to be a problem because, believe it or not, we're still dealing with a lot of ageism. The fact that people think that an older person can't do, or they're stubborn, or they're in their ways, and they can't change. When what we've found in our employment programs and the feedback we get from our employers and host agencies who host our seniors is they're the most reliable, they show up on time, they do their work they could care less about moving up, moving down. 

They just want to do the job, do it well, and get paid. And so that's something we can continually work on trying to change employers - their perception of older people who want to work. But unemployment is a real problem. We also have seen an increase of 50 to 65, who were laid off from jobs, now looking for jobs. That's a whole other demographic that's having a very difficult time during this unemployment crisis. 

Of course, healthcare, Medicare costs, those affect all of us, and there are many, many proposals. Medicare is, again, one of those programs that was put in place because there are many, many seniors who do not have access to private health care and Medicare is the only access they have to healthcare. And so again, there should be some tweaks. Obviously the cost has to be brought under control. We're trying to work very hard to work on abuse and fraud and just the costs of healthcare itself. 

But if we don't get healthcare for all Americans under control in this country, we won't see a stabilization of our economy. So an attempt was made with the Affordable Care Act to make some steps. That's in jeopardy. We have no idea what's going. But when you hear the opponents to Medicare who try and privatize it, like they tried to privatize Social Security. Now just think about it, if they had gotten their way and privatized Social Security with the market going as crazy as it was, we would've had many, many more millions of people in poverty. 

And so, privatization may sound good but it doesn't work when you're talking about taking care of your society. The same with Medicare and we definitely have to get those costs under control. There were lot of changes that helped with the Affordable Care Act, but as I said that's in jeopardy and we won't know until next month how the Supreme Court rules on that. If we have to go back square one, and I say "we" because we've been working extremely, not only with the White House, but with members of Congress and CMS and all of them, to make sure that senior issues in there particularly. 

We got rid of the donut hole. If they throw it out, that comes back. And everybody knows what the donut hole is and you've heard enough about that. So, anyway, I want to go a little quickly. The other part of the changes that we will be changing our whole financial situation is our lifespan. Though there are still many miles to go in terms of health disparities and access to healthcare, particularly for minorities, the lifespan of people, it's getting longer. 

And as we age and we live longer then obviously we will need more in terms of our own substance. When most of these programs, Medicare or particularly Social Security were designed, people didn't live past 45 or 50. Now, we can all, you know, with good health and eating right and exercise, we can look to a 90th birthday. Our children, if they do well and get off the obesity train, but if they do well, they have the potential of living to 115. Can you imagine? 

And so, I'm just saying the life span changes. So of course as the lifespan changes, so will our planning in terms of the safety nets for our seniors. And I remind young people all the time, who always think that when I talk about aging and Social Security, Medicare and other stuff, that aging is not just old people. Aging is all of us. 

And it's their responsibility to understand why it's important for them to know how to age well. Meaning eat right, take care of yourself so that when you get older you may not have these chronic illnesses. Save your money or invest well, or get your education, so that when you get older, your financial situation will be different. 
And so we have to teach our young people to age well. So aging is them as well as it is older people. And again a change in family situations. 

You know, back in the twenties, thirties and certainly beyond that, we lived together. There were generations who lived together. It wasn't until we really started expanding and going out and about that I found this situation. So we have many, many parents, grandparents, older people who are living alone in separate places from where their families are. 

So the need for assisted living facilities, home healthcare, all of those things are associated with it, and it can be a real burden, and... not a burden, but it can be a real responsibility on a family when they're trying to raise a family, and they're trying to take care of an older family member. It's a challenge. So, that's why I think people like us who care about aging, we play a role in trying to make sure that we assist that. And then of course just the whole demographics. 

Again by 2050, 50% of seniors 50 and older will be minority. I think all of you all heard this morning on the news that more children mostly in Hispanic, Latino and Asian - and there is some in the African-American - but mostly the rise is in Hispanic, Latino and Asian-Americans, it's more of them being born today than there are of all the others. And so obviously, the demographics will change as people get older. 

Now don't think that doesn't go unnoticed to the people who don't care about the minority population. It gives us a sense when we're talking to them... that well, that they're dispensable. They're going to die anyway of diabetes. You'd be surprised. I've had a congressman say that to me. I don't know why we need to care about that because they're going to die of these kind of chronic things. They die anyway or they're going to kill each other, or you know. I was so astounded, that I couldn't even respond. I normally fight back, but I was so shocked...

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): ...that a member of the United States Congress would say something like that. It scared me to death. So, anyway, but the demographics are going to change and that certainly is then also going to change the way the safety net goes. And, you know, we're seeing, of course, an increase in the "haves" and the "have-nots." And so when you hear about "1%ers" and the "99ers" and all those kinds of things, I would really rather look at it more that you do have more wealth going to the top than you do have in our middle class. 

Low income, I mean you just get more of that middle class falling off into the low income. And we've seen more people go fall behind the poverty rate. So the demographics will have some change on that and we've got to really worry about that.

No Audio: Wall Street brokerage floor. 

Karyne Jones: Again, these are the folks that are driving the economy and that's why when they decide to do risky investments and doing all of that, it affects everything that we do. It affects the oil prices. It affects our grocery bills. It affects our housing costs. It affects our 401Ks. It affects how we fund Government programs. It effects everything. So we can't take Wall Street lightly. That's not a "them" situation. 

"Them" is making the decision on how our economy runs. And so it really is incumbent upon all of us to learn more and to understand more about what's going on. Because nobody has been prosecuted for the housing bust and that has totally decimated our economy. And so somebody made a decision on that, some people made a decision and so it's something that we need to be a little more careful of. 

No Audio: "Workers in employer-sponsored retirement plan, 2003-09" Bar graph showing the percentage of workers with a retirement plan. White: 49%; Asian 42.6%; Black 41.3%; Latino 26.6%.

Karyne Jones: Again we're talking about workers in employer-sponsored retirement plans. From 2003 to 2009, it was close to 50% of course, and Hispanic/Latino areas was a little lower. But there used to be an employer-sponsored [inaudible]. That figure has changed drastically. 

And unfortunately when I looked at my thing it had not included it but I want to tell you: White has gone down to like 40%, Asian has gone down to like 30-something percent, Black had gone done to 39%. So it's gone down rather than gone up, because employers are getting out of the business of what they used to do in terms of being there and looking at employees as a part of their success as they used to. That is more to profit. So that's a change that has certainly affected our safety net.

No Audio: The United States Congress in session. 

Karyne Jones: These guys we want to blame, but now let me just tell you: I have the advantage of walking in the halls of Congress and I get to meet many of the members, I get to go to the Congressional hearings, I get to meet with staff people and I understand there's so many...I would say really, 90% of them there are totally committed to what they do and to making sure that America stays the great country that it is. 

I say that without doubt, that has nothing to do with politics. Both sides of the aisles, there are committed people there. The problem is, is that, and it's on both sides, they're more committed to party than they are to the people. And so I always ask people that they have a moral responsibility to make the policies. Right now, like I told you nothing is going on. You haven't heard anything about a bill pass. If you do, it's passed knowing that it's going to fail in the Senate. Or it's passed the Senate, knowing it's going to fail to pass. 

You know, it's just something to say, "Well, we tried. Well, we wanted to do it." And the interesting thing is, and I get to speak around the country, is that everybody likes their congressman. So, they send that person back. And that's fine if you like your congressman but they say if you keep doing the same thing twice and expect different results, you know. And so everybody else around the country does the same things. 

And so we're getting the same people back with the same philosophy and the commitment seems to be more to party than to people. We try to go in and talk to them and try to appeal to their humanity and not to their re-election. And because I am a non-profit organization, I have to be very careful because I can't lobby. I can certainly educate, and I can certainly advocate on the people that I serve. And that's what I do. 

And that's something I'm going to talk to you about in just a minute. Our concern again is what's going to happen to those who need us the most particularly? And we know that medical cost are really, becoming... and particularly Medicare - it is growing and expanding because more people are retiring without assistance of who had been a part of a company or organization's health plan. And so more people now depending on Medicare and Medicaid. We know that there's changes in every state on whole Medicaid issue. That's a whole other thing and I'd be here all day talking about all of that. 

No Audio: Political cartoon of an elderly woman reading a letter to her mailman.

Karyne Jones: This is what some people, I wanted you to read it, "...it's a letter to seniors from America's healthcare industry telling us what we can do to reduce the nation's healthcare costs. Drop dead." And that's because most of our insurance companies kind of look at seniors as the drain because you're at the end of your, not necessarily the end of your life, but that's when you begin to have most of your illnesses and attention to healthcare. 

And you can see that insurance companies are pulling back and back. And if we in this country had decided that your access to healthcare is going to be based on how much you can afford, then we have to have the insurance companies to be more accountable to making sure that they take care of everybody. Nobody is saying that you get rid of the health, I mean the insurance industry. 

But, if we're so opposed to taking over our healthcare, where everybody has access to it, everybody can get care, then we have to hold our insurance companies a lot more accountable so that they don't determine who gets transplants, who goes to the hospital, how long you stay, who can afford this medicine, who can have this insurance. Because that's an awful lot of power to determine whether somebody lives or dies. And that's basically what it comes to: Who lives, who dies? 

So, I'm going to wrap this up because I want to leave it open for some questions, but I always tell people "just hang in there, okay?" Look, I'm not here to just tell a tale of woe. You all watch TV, you hear the news, you hear different speakers. You already know that we are in some very, very challenging times. But the one thing I know about America, the one thing I know about the United States, is that when we really want to come together, we come together. I saw it happen after 9/11. 

I know you guys must have felt it when we had the explosion here in Oklahoma. I was in the Texas Legislature then. And we were on the floor in the middle of debate on something, and the speaker announced, he said "There's been a bombing in Oklahoma." And we stopped all business and everybody ran to the member's lounge and they ran up to their offices, and we did no more Texas business that day. 

We literally were glued to our TV. We couldn't believe it. And that happened around the country. So, if you felt alone, you weren't. This country came together and everybody was waiting for that. I was in Washington when 9/11 happened. Believe it or not I was at the court house trying to get divorced from my husband.

(laughter) 

Karyne Jones (continues): And I swear he's the one that blew up the building to stop it from happening. 

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): So when I got to the court house, of course, everybody was shocked and they didn't know if another explosion was going to happen. We had just gotten word on the Pentagon. We heard there was another plane headed for the White House. All kinds of rumors and news reports were going around. It was a panic. And later on that night, well, I would tell you I did get my divorce by the way. 

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): They didn't want to, but I told that judge, I said "Hey, look, I got to get out of this." 

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): And so, you know what I've said, "You've got to do it." And so he said, "Well okay, yours is fine," and he signed off on it. I said, "That's it after 25 years of marriage, that's it?" He said, "Well what do you want?" I said, "well don't you hit a gavel...

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): ...or something like that?" So he didn't have a gavel, so he took off his shoe and hit the thing, "Done."

(laughter) 

Karyne Jones (continues): But anyway, I raced home and my children had gotten home from school and we will literally glued to the TV, which I'm sure all of you all were, because nobody knew where another plane was going to come from. And so this country came together. And we all supported our President. And we all supported what had to be done. So I know it's possible that we can do that. 

So what I'm asking you to do is to speak about what you know. All of you all in some way touch or see seniors in need, every day. It's up to you to not only be their voice, but to give and empower them and give them a voice. We are all still citizens that have a responsibility to inform our policy makers, our members of Congress, our state legislators, about the issues. 

And if you work for state government, I'm not telling you to lobby. The difference when lobbying and advocating is when you go in and say, "I need you to support House Bill number 6-7 something, something," that's lobbying. Advocating and educating is going to your legislator, your member of Congress and saying "Hey look. I work at Meals on Wheels. I serve so many people a day. I know that Mrs. Jones wouldn't eat if I didn't go in and see her or if our people didn't." 

And you've got to bring back humanity. Because for our members of Congress and for our legislators, because I've been there, it's just a line-item to them when they're making a decision. You've got to put a human face and a human touch to the decisions that they're making. And you're still a citizen. 

Just because you work at a state agency or a non-profit or whatever like that, then they've got these rules that you can't lobby in it. That's right. But you're still a citizen and you still have a voice. And you have to be a voice for the most vulnerable. And that's our low-income seniors who really, really need our help. 

So I'm asking you to speak about what you know and be a resource to your local state and federal policy makers. It really makes the difference. I know when I was in the Texas legislation, it really helped when people who actually did the work came to talk to me because I got a different feel from just the information I would get from the lobbyist who might be opposed to it or the person who thinks it. 

It just gives it a whole different perspective and it gives it a face and so I encourage you to do that. And the major thing I want to leave you with is we have got to all do our job about changing the perception of aging. We have got to stop everybody thinking that as you get you get older, you're sick, you cost too much, you're a burden, you're taking away from the children. You would just be surprised at the perception that people have of when you get older. 

That is just not the case. We are contributing members of society and have given so much along the way. Whether it be raising a family, whether it be being a part of a community, whether it be actually working in a service industry, whatever you've done, you have contributed to the greatness of this country. And at the end of your life when you are retiring or when you need a little help that should not be the time when we say, "You don't matter." 

But that comes from having to change the perception of aging and older people. And that's why we have to all continue to be the voice for our seniors. They have a strong voice themselves, but every one of us has to contribute and be a part of that whole thing. So, I thank you Oklahoma. I thank you for inviting me to come and speak to you. 

And I welcome any questions that you might have and... I just said to some people earlier, I used to work with Andrew Young. That dates me. You know he hadn't been in Congress since the 70s. 

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): But he and I are still really good friends and talk all the time. And he just turned 80. If you can believe it, Andrew Young just turned 80. But anyway he used to always say, "We are doing the Lord's work." And that's the way I kind of live my life in knowing that I'm doing the Lord's work. So I'm going to ask you all to keep doing the Lord's work. Thank you. 

(applause)

Karyne Jones (continues): Any questions? I was so good that you don't have any - yes? 

Audience Member 1: Members of Congress, and I believe, members of the executive branch of the Government do not have the same retirement system or health plan as the general population. I've always felt that if everybody was on the same plans we would not have the same type of controversy and problems in managing both of them. What, if anything, is being done to change that and if not, what should we do now? 

Karyne Jones: Well, you're absolutely right, members of Congress, I think if they serve four years, they're vested, maybe six, they're vested. Which means they get 100% healthcare for the rest of their lives and their retirement is based on a percentage of how many years they've served. So if you've got somebody who's served maybe 25 years, once they retire and I think they reach the age of 62 or something, they can draw down almost $8,000-$9,000 a month. It's a wonderful retirement system and it is a wonderful healthcare system. So I would suggest all of you all go down and apply to run for Congress... 

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): ...because it is a way to make sure that you're safe. But on the realistic side, absolutely nothing is being done when that is brought up. You'd be surprised how congressmen and women dance around it. There are couple of members who say they aren't going to file and use the health insurance provided by the thing. 

Well they don't have... most of those are millionaires, so they don't have to... so they can make that statement. 
But truly, if they had the same healthcare system or access to healthcare, have to buy the insurance, because they don't have to buy their insurance by the way. If they had to buy insurance, if they had to not have that great retirement plan, they would be a little bit more sensitive and a little bit more caring to the plight of the average American. 

So the only way it's going to change is you can't let members of Congress get away with "Well, we're looking into it." Or "I am not going to accept it because I don't think that's right." If they are a millionaire, no, they are not. But how are they going make the change? I mean, you know, it should really be fair and it isn't. 

It also, in some legislatures it's the same way. In state legislatures there are very good retirement plans and they have health insurance plans that cover them, some for life. I know one of those is in Texas. You know if you serve eight years, you get vested. Now I will be able, I'm eligible for healthcare for the rest of my life. Well, I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm going to use it. 

(laughter)

Karyne Jones (continues): Because I'm not a millionaire. That's an advantage that they get, and they say it's the sacrifice that you make because they're working in Congress and they're not making the money they could've made, if they were out in the private sector and what have you. Well, they made two-hundred thousand and they make a lot of money. 

And I forgot what the amount is, but they make a pretty nice little salary. So, I don't have a direct answer to your question, I'm just saying that nothing is being done. It's always a "Well, you know, we're going to do something about it." And they haven't. But they really should look at making it fair. If you take away their health insurance and you take away their great retirement system, they would look differently at what the average American has to do. 

Audience Member 2: I'm just adding to his question. Now, our President brought up that particular topic, about us all having the same healthcare as the people in Congress and himself, too. Now I just wanted to know how far did that get? 

Karyne Jones: Well, I think what people need to know and recognize, that the President of the United States makes recommendations on things. It is the Congress that has to pass these kinds of legislation. Now there are some things he can do on Executive Order, but he cannot do something like that. No, he has absolutely... he can just say... yeah. And so his thing was because everybody was saying that Obamacare was socialism and all those things. 

He was saying, "Okay, all I'm saying is let all Americans have an opportunity to the same kind of healthcare that members of Congress do." You didn't hear any more about it, and that's Republicans and Democrats. Okay? Yes ma'am. 

Audience Member 3: In terms of the Older Americans Act, where are we? 

Karyne Jones: It's on paper. We've been working on it for almost three years. Cathy Greenly, who is the Assistant Secretary on Aging for the Administration on Aging has been a strong, strong advocate for it. Any recommendations that were made for changes were like improvements and providing the service, and maybe a little funding improvements. Not major, because we know we're in tough times. 

So it's not a very controversial bill in any way. The problem is, is that it's being used for politics and it hasn't been put necessarily in front of... it hasn't even had a hearing. Well they've had hearings, but not the real hearing to get it passed, because people wanted to put amendments on it, bills they couldn't pass, onto the Older Americans Act and it just messes up the whole thing. 

We wanted a clean bill that saves all the aging services and moves forward. And so the answer to your question is it is nowhere, it is just still there, and it probably will not get any kind of consideration until 2013. And depending on how the election goes it may not get any attention then. 

And so we'll just be on these continuing resolutions on how we pay for things. And I know that must be very frustrating for many of you who have programs who receive dollars down from the Feds. I can't tell you, because nobody knows. Yeah, real encouraging, I know.