It’s also a growing voting bloc. U.S. census data shows the senior population at 13.7 percent of the population last year, compared with 12.4 percent in 2000. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates seniors’ ranks will rise to 19 percent of the population by 2030.
Proposals for spending cuts include raising from 65 the Medicare eligibility age, requiring the wealthy to pay more for some health coverage and trimming Social Security cost-of-living increases. Those all appeared in the Simpson-Bowles plan, and Obama has incorporated the latter two concepts in several budget proposals.
AARP opposes them all -- and so do the group’s members.
Senior Opposition
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll of Americans older than 50 conducted in August and September found that 62 percent object to changing the way Social Security benefits are calculated so that cost-of-living increases are smaller, and 58 percent object to raising the age at which people can begin receiving Social Security benefits. More older Americans oppose rather than favor reducing Social Security benefits for seniors with higher incomes, 44 percent to 41 percent.
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told attendees at an Oct. 30 conference of Social Security defenders that the program is “more popular than apple pie and the Fourth of July.”
Lake concluded her presentation with a warning shot to Congress: “This is a voting issue in 2014.”
Beyond its own influence, the senior lobbying coalition benefits from a polarized Washington where Republicans are opposing tax increases and Democrats are blocking entitlement spending cuts unless both are part of a broad fiscal agreement.
Angry Calls
Yet the mere suggestion that a revision of Medicare or Social Security is advancing prompts a deluge of angry phone calls and e-mails orchestrated by interest groups.