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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
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National AARP Leader Visits the Territory

With nearly 40 million members nationwide and more than 20,000 in the territory, the AARP dedicates itself to people aged 50 and over having independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial to them and society.

Earlier this week, Robert Romasco, the president of the AARP’s volunteer board of directors, visited the territory to see what was on the minds of its constituency here. Besides meeting with members and local officials, Romasco even got to sit in for Gov. John deJongh Jr.’s State of the Territory address.

“It was a very unique opportunity,” said V.I. AARP’s state director, Denyce Singleton. “Him coming here helps him understand the issues facing us here.”

For Romasco, part of being AARP’s national spokesman includes being its national listener, and that’s what he was here to do, he said.

Romasco met with the Source for nearly an hour to offer his insights and to discuss some of the larger issues facing the United States and the territory and its aging population. The following text is some of the interview’s highlights.

“We feel there are four pillars of financial security for folks as they age. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and The Affordable Care Act,” he said. “Those four programs, with all their imperfections, are vital to large numbers of folks as they age. So we’re trying to understand both nationally and locally, and the territories have a different challenge, how those programs can be strengthened, protected and implemented effectively.”

“A broader issue is we need to get the country to think about the fact, and I don’t think the people here in the V.I. are any exception, but most people are just not prepared financially for retirement,” he continued. “Vast majorities of people over 45 have very little retirement funds. Social Security is going to be even more important.”

When the discussion turned to the troubled Government Employment Retirement System, Romasco praised the work Singleton was doing on the governor’s pension reform task force.

Singleton said in a telephone interview, “The purpose of that is to look at what we can do, what recommendations we can make to government so that the system will continue.”

“If we don’t tweak the system, it has about 10 more years of life and then they (GERS) couldn’t meet their obligations. Actually close to nine now,” she added. “So what we want to do is make some recommendations to the governor to extend the life of the pension system.”

Singleton said the group will make those recommendations in March.

When the discussion shifted to Medicare, Romasco was quick to point out that people who want to reform Medicare must understand one important fact.

“Medicare is certainly going to place a tremendous burden on our federal budget, but it’s not the problem. It’s health care costs,” Romasco said. “Medicare sits on the health care cost system. So if health care costs go way up, Medicare goes up.”

He compared the current health care system in America to a rugby scrum, where everybody dives in and is fighting for their piece.

“You can get into a philosophical and political debate, but these other countries have a national health care policy. And there are different models,” he said. “But the commonality is they made a national decision to have a health care policy and have universal access and figure out how to manage the costs in some way. And the government is going to have a hand in that whether it’s we own everything or regulate everything or something in between.”

Romasco seemed cautiously optimistic discussing The Affordable Care Act, which he acknowledged was a step toward a national health care policy.

“We’re building on a private system with more regulation,” he said. “It’s a step forward that says we’ll let the private system work, but with some more regulated bounds. And the rest of the sentence is, and hopefully that will work. If it doesn’t work, what’s next?”

When Medicaid came up, Romasco noted that two-thirds of Medicaid dollars supported seniors in nursing homes. He said rethinking that policy might make sense, not only from a cost point of view, but also from an effectiveness one.

“Most people don’t want to go to a nursing home,” he said. “Study after study shows that if we age you in place at your home, that’s cheaper. If we can keep you in your home longer as opposed to institutionalize you, everybody wins.”

Romasco later said that AARP was really fighting for everybody, because someday those who are not yet 50-years-old will be, and he shared a little advice for today’s younger generation.

“I tell my kids to save, be prudent and to think long term,” he said. “Make the adjustments you need to make. Consumption doesn’t define who we are.”

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