More middle-aged and older South Dakotans had financial concerns this year, especially around health care, according to a new survey.

Advocates for this age group hope policymakers will take note. A new AARP survey of South Dakotans ages 45 and up shows 81% are concerned about the price of prescription drugs. That's a nearly 10% jump from the last survey in 2021. There has been a 6% increase in the number of people concerned about their ability to afford health care costs, including premiums and co-pays.

Erik Gaikowski, state director of AARP South Dakota, said groceries are a big concern.

"That's one of the things that we've seen an uptick in, folks thinking about their financial future and what that looks like with rising costs of basically all things," Gaikowski explained.

This year will be the first in which the Vital Voices survey has published distinct data for American Indian and Alaska Native respondents. The groups had similar responses to the broader population.

Gaikowksi hopes elected leaders at all levels will use the data to inform their policymaking.

"We really want our elected leaders producing policy that's going to benefit those folks that want to age in their home, in their home community," Gaikowksi emphasized. "Concerned about their health care, are concerned about paying for groceries, paying for prescription drugs, things of that nature."

AARP South Dakota publishes weekly updates of its advocacy work during legislative sessions. The 2025 session starts Jan. 14.

A former Wisconsin mayor said the new federal budget will only worsen the current aging crisis families like hers have already been facing.

Analysis from the Congressional Budget Office suggests President Trump's budget bill will trigger automatic cuts to Medicare due to an expected increase in the national deficit.

Judy Karofsky, a former mayor of Middleton, said it would affect hospice services and end-of-life programs already in need of greater funding. She explained when her mother was 99, the local hospice agency determined she was not dying soon enough and abruptly discontinued her services. She explained how it also triggered her eviction from the assisted living facility where she was at the time.

"This happens in this country," Karofsky emphasized. "My mother was 99-and-a-half when that was decided. We were on our own for a matter of months. She did die within the next six months, just before she turned 100. It was cruel!"

Karofsky stressed cuts to Medicare would rob many of the most vulnerable Americans, like her mother, of their right to a dignified death.

Hospice provides patients and families with pain relief, medical equipment, nursing care and spiritual support. Studies show hospice saves Medicare and families money by reducing overall health care spending. Karofsky said without it, families are faced with financial burdens few can bear.

"I thought before I was involved with my mom's hospice care, that hospice was a charity," Karofsky noted. "I understand now that every hour of help, every service, every product that's brought to a hospice recipient is reimbursed through Medicare and every hospice agency is beholden to Medicare."

The number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to more than double over the next 40 years.

Karofsky argued the issue of underregulated assisted living facilities will worsen the current aging crisis across the country. In her book, "DisElderly Conduct, The Flawed Business of Assisted Living and Hospice," Karofsky recounted her mother's negative experience at six assisted living facilities in Wisconsin and called for action to address the ongoing crisis.


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The nation's largest advocacy group for people age 50 and older is investing more than $4.2 million, including more than $75,000 in Colorado, to help make communities more livable for people of all ages.

AARP Colorado Associate State Director Marissa Volpe said the city of Fort Collins won a $20,000 AARP grant to host a series of hands-on workshops, in both English and Spanish, to make it easier for low-income residents to remain in their homes as they get older.

"This is going to focus on plumbing 101, water conservation for mobile homes and senior apartments," said Volpe. "And the event aims to really build do-it-yourself skills, reduce maintenance costs and support aging in place."

AARP's Livable Communities initiative has invested more than $24 million in some 1,700 projects since 2017, including 40 in Colorado.

The program funds innovative projects meant to inspire change in public spaces, housing, transportation and more.

This year marks AARP's most substantial investment in rural communities to date, with 45% of grants going to these areas.

The grassroots group Commún was awarded more than $18,000 to develop an emergency disaster plan for the Loretto Heights Resilience Hub in Southwest Denver.

Volpe said this community-driven effort will help empower local navigators, known as promotoras, to deliver disaster preparedness and other critical information to older residents.

"It's the idea to capacitate those on the ground," said Volpe, "the folks you might see at church on Sunday, the folks you might see in the supermarket - with the necessary information."

Bike Durango won a grant of more than $12,000 to install a temporary bike lane on Junction Creek Road.

Volpe said the lane will promote a safer environment for walking and cycling, and help people access multiple municipal amenities.

"Expanding pedestrian safety, walkability, and bikeability in communities," said Volpe. "This is a big point of making communities livable and reducing car traffic."

Eastern Kentucky is still trying to recover from the decline of coal production and a regional nonprofit will soon kick off a digital training initiative for older adults in counties in need of extra job skills.

The nonprofit Shaping Our Appalachian Region was awarded a Community Challenge grant from AARP to help get this program off the ground. Participants will receive free training on artificial intelligence-related tools, Microsoft Office and internet safety.

Colby Hall, executive director of the group, said the classes send a message: Just because a key industry is no longer a force, it does not mean people living here do not have a future in these parts.

"We have a lot of really awesome, hardworking, passionate, caring people that don't want to have to leave to find opportunity," Hall explained.

Whether it is volunteering or seeking a new job later in life, Hall argued communities cannot let older adults fall behind because they have not used much digital technology. He stressed they bring years of knowledge and life experience to a project or business. Beyond remote work opportunities, labor analysts said health care and aerospace are among the in-demand sectors in the region.

As they put the final touches on the program, Hall added they want to ensure people living on a fixed income still have access to devices and other technology after the training.

"We also are going to be able to leverage our office to be able to have rental equipment," Hall pointed out. "They can use computers and have access to internet in the office."

Shaping Our Appalachian Region is based in Pikeville but the training will be offered out of its Whitesburg location. Hall noted they hope to start training the first group later this summer.

AARP Kentucky said this year, a total of eight organizations across the state will share $84,000 in Community Challenge grants.