Toward the 2015 White House Conference on Aging: Creating an Aging Policy Vision for the Decade Ahead

The White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA), held once every decade since the 1960s, offers a unique opportunity to shape the national landscape for policies affecting older Americans. Although some have debated the impact of past WHCoAs on public policy developments in the field of aging (Binstock, 2006; Cohen 1990), there is consensus that the 1961, 1971, and 1981 conferences were catalysts for the establishment of many key programs representing the aging policy of the United States today—including Medicare and Medicaid, the Older Americans Act nutrition program, the Supplemental Security Income program, the National Institute on Aging, Social Security reform, expansion of home care coverage under Medicare, and the Older Americans Act (Bechill, 1990). The 1995 and 2005 conferences primarily focused on reaffirming support for existing federal social programs, notably Medicare and Medicaid. Although few new initiatives were proposed, these more recent conferences highlighted a new vision of national aging policy. Framed on the concepts of aging as a lifelong process embracing all generations and recognition of the growing diversity of the older population and its vast reserves of talent and experience (Morrow-Howell, 2006), the 1995 and 2005 WHCoAs featured significant involvement of grassroots stakeholders, with more than 800 preconference events in 2005. The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) always has had a special relationship with the WHCoA. GSA played an active role in many previous conferences; its members and staff were involved in numerous preparatory events and follow-up reports. In 2005, thanks to GSA-led cross-country forums, focus groups, and subsequent white paper recommendations, civic engagement was included as a key WHCoA theme (Morrow-Howell, 2006). In that spirit, The Gerontologist committed to developing a Special Issue preparing for the 2015 WHCoA. We invited authors to contribute novel conceptual manuscripts that outlined a vision of older adults’ economic and retirement security, health, caregiving, and social well-being for the decade ahead. Since 2015 also marks the 50th anniversary of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act as well as the 80th anniversary of Social Security, we welcomed papers that explored ways to ensure the modification and/or continuation of these and/or similar programs. In keeping with the mission of The Gerontologist, we requested that articles focus on policy or practice. In March 2014 when we developed our call for papers, very little was known about what shape the WHCoA would take in 2015. Indeed, even now, no date has been set for the conference. In the past, conference processes were determined by statute with the form and structure directed by Congress through legislation authorizing the Older Americans Act. To date, Congress has not reauthorized the Older Americans Act, and the pending bill does not include a statutory requirement Special Issue: 2015 WHCoA The Gerontologist, 2015, Vol. 55, No. 2, 179–182 doi:10.1093/geront/gnv013 Editorial Special Issue: 2015 WHCoA Advance Access publication March 19, 2015