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tv   QA  CSPAN  June 19, 2016 11:00pm-11:59pm EDT

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philadelphia, pennsylvania. announcer: every minute of the republican and democratic parties national conventions on c-span, c-span radio, and www.c-span.org. ♪ >> this week on "q&a," aarp ceo jo ann dinkins talks about her organization and her book, "disrupt aging: a bold new path to living your best life at every age." brian: joanne jenkins, ceo of aarp, why did you take that job?
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jo ann: it was unexpected. i have spent over 25 years in public service in a number of government agencies and i had the opportunity to come over and be the head of the aarp organization and spent two years there really trying to institute and constitute the foundation to have it solely focused on serving the needs of the low income of 50 plus across the organization and as a result of the success that we had and the foundation, the ceo asked me if i would come over to their side and help develop a strategy for 2020 to make sure aarp was relevant to its members in the 21st century. as part of that transition and building strategy, the opportunity and opening came to be the ceo of aarp. while not planned, it was a wonderful transition for me to be able to move from being an initially a board member for the profile fit -- for-profit and are running the company. i'm the only leader who has worked at all three organizations.
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brian: some of the details, how big is your membership? jo ann: aarp has 38 million members. we are close to the largest membership organization in the world. our members are very diverse, one third republican, one third democrat, one third depended. independent. very vocal about the issues portion for them. we are in all 50 states and guam, puerto rico, urgent islands and growing every day. there are about 110 million people in the united states were over the age of 50, which is our membership. 38 million of them are members of aarp. brian: is the main aarp a for-profit company? jo ann: the main aarp is a c4
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nonprofit. it is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose government is to serve in a nonpartisan, nonprofit across the country. brian: are you allowed to lobby? >> we have in the past. we are on capitol hill in state legislatures across the country. brian: is that inside the company? jo ann: inside the association. we have a c three which is a nonprofit charitable arm which focuses to serve the low income and we have a asi services which is a for profit opening that sells travel, insurance, discounts, restaurant coupons, whole host of products and services. things that appeal to the 50+. brian: what happens to the profit, where does it go? jo ann: we have an agreement with the irs that the profits, 35% of it is turned back into
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aarp -- 95% of it is turned back into aarp for the nonprofit space. that is unique about aarp. the social impact work we do in communities across the country, regardless of whether you are in aarp member. brian: how big is the board? jo ann: we have a 21-person nonpaid volunteer board who works with us on developing all about policies. they come from all across the country. they can self nominate or be nominated by another board member or any citizen. we have a process that our board members turn over every two years we have a new class.
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not total, but about six members turning over every two years on the board. it is a nonpartisan, nonpaid volunteer board. >> how people work for aarp? >> we have about 2300 employees who work in all 50 states. we augment that with about 50-60,000 volunteers who work in helping to do program delivery in her advocacy work across the country. brian: where is headquarters? jo ann: washington, d.c.. brian: in your new book, "disrupt aging: a bold new path to living your best life at every age" you talk about your father and mother in law. why did you mentioned them and how did that impact you? jo ann: what is so wonderful about my mother-in-law, she was here in washington dc, she lived by herself. very independent. gets up every day, leaves the house, take the bus to the
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metro, take the metro to wherever she has decided to go into where she can walk safely, had lunch, brings back the lunch, cause my husband to call my husband and her spirit is as young as she was when i first met her several years ago. i think she is a wonderful example of living your life healthy at a young age and the importance of exercise and staying active. my dad, who i just came from visiting is in alabama. he is 87 and will be 88 next week. so independent in caring for others. he is at this point in his life where a number of his friends have either gone on, passed away, or he is caring for them and i think what gives him his will to continue is that passion for helping others around him who may not be in as good health as him. i thought it was important to mention because, both of those are in their 80's and 90's and i think that is an important aspect of the aarp membership. years ago, you are probably a number for 20 years, now does it
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like what you could be a member for five decades. brian: can you join before you are 50? jo ann: we have a junior membership that is for 40+ year old. we don't advertise it. brian: how long has it been $16/year? jo ann: it is still $16 a year and it has been that since the i have -- since i have been associated. at least for the last 10 years. brian: i bet you know the number one reason why people join aarp? >> the magazine. they love the discounts that members get.
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brian: how many magazines do you distribute now? jo ann: the last count i heard, we circulate from 25-35,000,000 people every two months. it comes out every month. the third-largest writing circulation in the world. it is one of those magazines that you read at home but we have four people in the household read it. the exposure is much more than average. raised?here were you jo ann: 16 miles southwest of mobile, alabama. brian: what kind of family did you have? jo ann: my dad was a merchant marine, my mother was a housewife, i had two brothers. and one sister. they were 8-10 years older than
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me. i tell people all the time that i was both the youngest in the family and a single child. when i was growing up in my high school, teenage years, my brothers and sisters were either often college or married. brian: what did you think in high school you do for a living -- would do for a living? jo ann: i like doing these programs. i was president of student council. i was the morning announcer and at that time, i always thought i would like to be a news anchor. brian: what happened? jo ann: i came to washington, got involved in public service and this is the closest thing i will probably get to it. brian: what was your first job in washington? jo ann: my first job after i graduated, i came up and worked on the reagan campaign in the
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summer of 1980 and then worked the reagan inauguration. ended up going into the department of housing and urban development where i was congressional relations, have the southern delegation, which was nice to me because i was from the south. from congressional relations to legislation was more on the legislative bill side of the house. was promoted to work with the federal housing commission at the department of housing where we were addressing issues around multi family and single family housing. part of the public housing sector back in the 80's and thinking through, how do we build affordable communities all across this country? i spent 4-5 years the department of housing and urban development. i had a keen sense of how important it is for us to have affordable housing and to build communities, livable communities that has mixed-use and affordability. brian: what does aarp do for
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people with housing problems? jo ann: some of our foundation work, we get involved in trying to address at the local level, we know the four things that low income people face. the hardest challenges our hunger, housing, income, and what we call isolation. we know that if someone is in a home, it is a much more stable household. many people we find out our areany people, we find out, poor.rich and financially they can't afford to live in the house they may have inherited or that they grew up in. we can do a lot of work on the nonprofit side and advocacy work on the hill trying to get state legislatures and communities to speak about building accessible housing so that people of all ages, whether it is someone who needs some kind of assistance
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coming in the front door who might need a walker or realtor or a young mother getting a stroller into the house. i would say to the staff, who came up with those steps rather than having a flat incline? we do a lot of work around advocacy and building and planning designing and communities that need to be age.sible regardless of brian: how does aarp find all those addresses of people about to turn 50? jo ann: i can't say i know all the details of it. we can almost find anyone out there now. what we try to do is six months before you turn 50, to be able to send that letter of invitation to you. my mantra is that i hope it is worth making aarp such a place that people want a joint that when they join it
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50k, they say, yes! i've earned the right to become an aarp member. brian: is there an obvious place with it addresses are? jo ann: there are lists out there that you can buy. i can't say i know specifically how they do it, but i know there is a combination of a number of following information and contact data about individuals getting ready to turn 50. brian: if you add up all the budgets of the foundation and aarp and the for-profit group, how much money do you generate in a years time? jo ann: on an annual basis, we are roughly $1.52 billion of business that goes in and -- 1.5-2 billion dollars that goes in and out. very similar to the federal government, we turn over the budget and use it to drive our social impact agenda.
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brian: as you know, aarp can be controversial. i want to show you some video of a man named paul ryan who spoke to your group in 2012 and i want you to tell us what this is all about. [begin video clip] speaker ryan: the first up to a stronger medicare is to repeal obama care because it represents the worst of both worlds. [booing] ryan: i had a feeling it would be this reaction so let me get into it. it weakens medicare for today seniors and puts it at risk for the next generation. first, it funnels $760 billion out of medicare to pay for a new entitlement we did not ask for. second, it puts 15 unelected bureaucrats in charge of medicare's future.
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[end video clip] so, 2012, was not speaker of the house. he is now. you say in his book, by the 2020, there will be 64 million people in this country on medicare. how do you get through this? obviously, people are unhappy about what he said. jo ann: what he is saying, aarp is a nonpartisan organization and if i recall correctly, i was not the ceo at the time but i was associated. speaker ryan, he came in his role as running mate and aarp traditionally invites both parties to our national convention to show up and i give speaker ryan great credit to coming to speak to our members to share his view on medicare. social security and medicare is so important for the survival of people who are 65 and older. we know that social security is not addressed in a meaningful way.
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lose 25% of what the current efforts will be if we don't make meaningful adjustments. social security and medicare turned 80 this past year. we think that we need to try and make changes in the system so that we can start capturing some of the control of the costs. not just for medicare, but the whole health care system. we have to do that in a meaningful way by hoping that republicans and democrats on the hill in hospitals and doctors patients are all working together to do that. aarp's position has been that those cuts cannot come on the backs of the benefactors. the people who depend on it every day should not have to carry the burden when they paid
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into this medicare system and social security system. as i said, i give speaker ryan great credit to come in and speak his piece and to share with us what he would be doing on those programs. brian: if this town continues to be divided and continue to have one side that think obamacare is the greatest and the other side thinks it is awful, how will you get this job done and get compromise? jo ann: i would hope more reasonable minds would get together to be able to address. one of our big issues has been around social security. we have a platform campaign out there. "take a stand." we think that it we are going to get to this such a cute 30 -- social security solvency, it will demand residential leadership. our campaign is about going out and saying anyone who is running for president ought to be able to tell us what their position
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is and what their plan is on solving social security for the next 80 years. we have a website up called havestand.org where we the candidates to share with the american people how they will address social security and let our members decide how they want to vote on it. to be able to make sure that whoever was to be president understands how important these programs are for the survival of millions of people over the age of 65 in this country. 10,000 people a day are turning age 65 and that will happen for the next 14 years. it is not something that will go away. it will increase.
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brian: your book is full of statistics on the savings of people in the country, retirement. how bad is it or how good is it? jo ann: i would say it all ties back to our longevity and the fact that we are living another 20-30 years longer than our parents or grandparents. so depending slowly on social security is not going to be enough to survive on it you are going to live 80-100 years old. the fastest growing age segment is the people over 85 and the second fastest his people over the age of 100. these programs were put in place with life expectancy at 67 or 60 8. not only are there more people in the system, they are living longer. we have to look at these programs and make meaningful adjustments that will allow people to live with dignity and much longer period of time.
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having said that, i'm a strong proponent that people need to take some responsibility. we need to learn to start saving and planning. i like to say, so that we can live, not to retire. how do we plan to live those extra 30 years of your life that is given to you as a result of medical advances. living in better health. how do we start working with people all over this country at younger age so they start planning for their future and not waiting and realizing they don't have enough income to live adequately. brian: what is the percentage, if you know it, of the people who have no money saved and rely entirely on social security? jo ann: the last number i saw was roughly 50% of people over the age of 65 have less than $10,000. brian: what do you think should be done?
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jo ann: i think the polls we have seen, put social security at one of the top priorities that we should focus on. they recognize saving is important. it is one of the things like exercise. they know if we exercise we feel better, and getting to it and finding the time is another thing. i think that is part of the message that we are try to get through and trying to talk and get people to understand that this is a blessing that we are giving to be able to live this extra 20-30 years, but with that comes a responsibility to start saving and thinking and planning about how you will take care of yourself and loved ones. about i think i am right wrong,ut tell me if i am
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three ofst six years, been noars there has increase in social security checks going to people. you hear this administration and a lot of people in this town talk about how much better everything is. how could everything be so much better it three out of the last six years, social security assistance has got no increase? jo ann: we hear that from members about how difficult it is to survive. just last week i was down in alabama, my home state. 57% of those who rely on social security, it provides 50% of their income. 30% rely on social security for 90% of their income. the average social security income the state is $13,000 a year. not many people can live out of poverty. it is so important that we not only have social security, but that people take a personal responsibility to start planning for their futures and thinking about how they are going to live these additional years.
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brian: talking about social security, ted cruz ran for president and had this to say. put this in perspective. [begin video clip] cruz: i am 44 years old, is hard to find someone my generation who thinks social security will be there for us. that present a real opportunity to reform it now for future generations and how can we do that? for younger workers, we should gradually increase the retirement age to recognize that people are living longer and give people time to plan their financial affairs to anticipate a later retirement age on the social security. number two, we should change the rate of growth and benefits for social security so that it matches inflation rather than exceeding inflation. for younger workers, we ought to allow them to keep a portion of their tax payment in a personal
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account that they own, they control, and they can pass on to their kids and grandkids. [end video clip] brian: what would happen if you told your membership you would support those? all three ideas. ann: i think there would be a massive outcry. i think that what we're trying to do is take a stand and to give candidates like senator cruz the opportunity to let the market people listen to and hear recommendations and for them to make their own decisions about whether they want to vote for that candidate or not. for us, at aarp, it is not for us to say this is the right solution for you. but for us to lay out the options for the american people to see all the candidates positions. it is critical that we come together, have a conversation about how we can make social security as secure an adequate.
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when social security was designed, there was something like 20-30 to one people paying the system. today, it is 5-1 it will only increase as a become a more older population. it is critical that this is the time during this primary process that we hear from all the candidates and listen to all the recommendations and then put them all together to see what will be the most beneficial and help the most people for the longest period of time. brian: if you wanted to find the social security trust fund or the medicare trust fund, where would we go find the actual money? is it sitting somewhere? jo ann: the treasury department keeps control of the trust fund,
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certainly for social security and medicare. it is an annual preparations. it is in the federal budget. money in there trust fund: ? the trust fund? jo ann: there is money in the social security trust fund and we believe it is adequate to carry out the existing structure until 2030. if we don't make meaningful changes in the program, it will result to a 25% cut by 2030. brian: as you know, you are faced with it everyday. you have a c3, c4, for-profit, how do you tip through -- tiptoe through all these landmines nothing at things mixed up? jo ann: i think that what is clear for us at aarp that we are a social vision driven organization to help the needs and wants of the people 50+.
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sometimes doubling us towards the democrats and sometimes republicans. if we stay focused on what is best for the people over 50, i think it helps us stay out of the fray of being left-wing or right-wing in this organization. this whole conversation about what is going on, whether social security and medicare, any of those issues. it is something our organization has really focused on being social mission driven on for over 58 years and i'm proud of the work that my predecessors and staff to with us every day. brian: here is an ad you have done all about the advertising of the magazine in a what a show you and ask how much you have to do. [start video clip] we celebrate you
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with provocative content from entertainment and in-depth report. one of the great membership benefits. visit aarp.org/possibility. [end video clip] "retiredat happened to persons"? ann: haven't used it in 14 years. it was part of the recognition that our members are not retired. close to 40% of our members are still in the workforce and that continues to grow your after year. partly because people want to continue to stay active and engaged and probably because people need to continue to work to be able to have financial security for the future. brian: is aarp magazine for-profit?
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jo ann: it's a nonprofit organization. it is a membership magazine. i read through the magazine every other month and think it is so relevant. i'm 58 and in the middle of all the products and service we offer. it is a wonderful expression of expressing the things that are members are spears in everyday in their local community. i hope that people feel good about -- experiencing everyday in their local community and i hope that people feel good about it. the articles they like and dislike. brian: >> circulation as high as 25 million, largest relation magazine in the united states, what does it cost for one page ad? jo ann: the last time i looked, $400,000-$500,000. i don't know if i know directly, but it is always usually around health products or travel. our members like to travel and have new experience is. they like products and services that make it easier for them to
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live independently in their homes. those are a lot of our advertisements. brian: the articles, what are they, what did the most feedback? you said it is difficult to find people on the cover and now people ask you. jo ann: exactly. the information about protecting themselves from scams and fraud and information about health and financial products and services and information about how to save better. i would probably put scams and frauds and how to protect themselves at the forefront. brian: how do you deal with politics? ann: we cover all of it. we try to be as diverse in presenting articles from all sides. try to stay out of the political fray, but certainly, we had bushes on the covers and obama on the cover.
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actorserence you made to programesses,l we do a and we started it 10-12 years ago as a way to try and get the movie industry to start producing movies that were of interest to people 50 and older. slowly but surely, we started doing an event in hollywood. it got bigger and bigger and i said to the staff, three years ago, the recipient, caregiver who was, i remember the comments that i'm glad i want this -- won this and i need to get it out of the billions of people don't know i'm old and now this year celebrating with those feeling good about their age and thinking aarp for making this important gesture of recognizing them for creating good content and movies.
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we know that people did he and older are the ones who still go to the movie theaters. people under that age group tend to watch it online. seeing the transition from hollywood and within the actors themselves about the importance of value and experience in recognizing them for the great work they do in film has been a total transformation of the culture. brian: you spent how many years with the library of congress?
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ann: 15 years. i came to the library of progress as a senior advisor and they were going through a number of management issues, a number of class action lawsuits and at the time, congress had mandated that the librarian bring someone to help address some of the management issues, so i agreed to come over on what i thought would be a one-year stint and ended up being a librarian chief of staff and ended my career there as a chief operating officer. usan: what would you tell congress?library of library of congress is one of the most fascinating places to visit in the united states. place of the second draft of the
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declaration of independence. the first telegraph ever written. the only library in the world that collects in every format of anything you're interested in. they have issues in book, print, audio, only library in the world, and with it the largest library. we argue back and forth with the british library. when i left six years ago, the library had over 130 million items. they enter 10-12,000 items a day. my job as a chief operating officer was to run the library. the library had over 4000 employees, primarily in washington dc, but also in seven international offices around the country. my focus was to do the running of the day-to-day operations so the whole library system of united states. anytime a book has a copyright in it. that means one of the library employees has read the book, catalog it and pushed it out. libraries in the u.s. and abroad. home of the law library of united states. and congressional research. in addition to traditional libraries.
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and, curatorial work. brian: how many people work there? jo ann: just over 4000 when i was there. brian: your own personal interest, what would you do if you went back to that library? what room would you go to or what area would you study? jo ann: my favorite room, outside the jefferson building, the big open tourist area, the geography and map collection. i think that is fascinating and talk to the curators who work in the geography and map division and you can go back to the early them and 1500s and have
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stories based on the map transitions. the curators actually went back and found my hometown when it was not an island, when it was still part of the mainland of alabama but there hurricanes and a whole host of other things have broken off in the late 1600s. it is a fascinating place. the manuscript division, they do a great job. brian: what role did you have in creating the national book festival? jo ann: it was a wonderful time for us when laura bush went to the white house. the first library never to be in evere first librarian to whitest lady in the
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house. the library at the time, we went over to meet with her to talk about how we might use her first ladyship to enhance libraries across the country. she had put on the texas book festival when she was the first lady of the state of texas. she had this idea that she would like to replicate that into that d.c., washington, festival. i remember saying how may people doing it to be here to have a success. if we can get 5000 people. the first and we had inside the jefferson building. i think over 15,000 people showed up as well as the fire department who thought we had over occupied the building. eight years later, through her time as first lady, we were over 100,000 people coming to the national festival. know now it has been endowed
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event.is a 2-day >> is this your first book? >> it is. through the encouragement of the staff at aarp. we were talking about this whole idea of what does 50 look like. i often say that 50 is not the 30. 50 is the new 50 and it looks good. people ought to own the age. we ought not be talking about being over 50 as decline. how do we start encouraging people to feel comfortable with being 50 and 60 and 70. i came up with this, i don't want to accept the fact that i'm 50. i want to disrupt aging. i want people to understand that it is ok to say i'm 58 and feel good about it. i think that was part of this rallying cry. how do we start changing the conversation in this country. how do we use that wisdom and knowledge that has been gained over the 50-60 years to help solve the nation's problems and get people to start taking personal responsibility about, hey, you're until it to be 80 or 90. how are you going to live your life? how are you going to focus on the things you want to do? the idea of, maybe we should do the book on this. that is how this came about.
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brian: how much of a tour are you going to take on this? jo ann: the book has been out a little over a month. we have gotten good responses about it. i just came from my tour in alabama. we did one in new york. we are going to let our state decide if there is an opportunity for us to go out and speak about it. you're signed up to do a number of national conferences this year for the next 5-6 months to be able to go out and start this movement around getting people to see disrupt aging not just for 50 and older, but all ages. how do we stop letting age defined what we can or can't do.
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brian: as you know, aarp is controversial in some worlds. i am going to show you an ad of started an organization in 2007. i don't know if you consider the guys name is dan weber. i want to ask how much of this is going on because they don't like the political? >> if we don't do something now about social security, it is going to be ours. 25% cut in benefits if we don't act now. people are living longer. in 1935, the life expectancy for 65. today, it is closer to 85. let's at the age back from 57 to 69 and we want to add a supplement to social security's of people can have a lot more money between a quarter million and have a million more. clip]ideo
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brian: he has a million members now. you see him as competition? do you see any problem with your membership going? >> as long as he stays focused on the needs and wants of the 50 plus, there are 110 million folks out there over the age of 50. a lot of them turning 50 every day. i think there is competition out there but not the biggest. brian: who is the biggest competition? jo ann: depends on what area. products and services, cosco and amazon. advocacy world, depends on the issue. we go up on the hill trying to fight for common sense language around the judiciary role, the right to information from financial advisors in the best interest of the investor, not from the financial advisor.
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it just depends on the issue. health care area, we have competition from other advocacy groups out there lobbying for different types of programs around health care and financial. it changes every day. brian: what you said about financial advisors. how much fraud out there is there? jo ann: the last statistic i saw, on an annual basis, investors lose close to $17 billion in bad financial advice. this language we have been trying to work with the department of labor is making sure there is plain language given to the consumer about the advice they are being given by financial providers.
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how much know up front the advisor is going to gain from given that particular advice. brian: how do you find out? jo ann: it is in the information contracts. it has to go out there and get advice from a good financial planner. we have information on how to go out and do that on our website. also with other financial institutions and places, you can find information. brian: what are the chances congress would pass anything to further regulate financial advisors? jo ann: i certainly hope we can see some movement. i think there is support there. our latest poll we did a week
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ago says something like 95% of our members want us to be up there lobbying to make sure they can get this clear language advice. we will push it very hard. brian: there is a lot of suspicion you are behind obamacare. the organization. they say they don't do politics today of aarp. what do you say to them? what you know when your membership is up set with you they withset were you about obamacare? jo ann: as i said earlier, we are nonpartisan. our membership base is about one third democrat, republican, independent. we supported the aca because we thought, we think that insurance coverage is very important and vital to our members. that pre-existing conditions should not stop you from having access to health care and a whole number of other provisions. when we supported president bush
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when we supported president bush on medicare part d, people thought we were to left-wing with health care. i'm sorry, too right-wing with health care. think we're too far to the left. as long as we are focused on what is best for our numbers, i think we are ok. includehy did they not in the bill the opportunity to negotiate prices? i can't really say what the details were, i wasn't there at the time. but as you know, there are opportunities to make to improve aca. burdenedur members are
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medicationsof the they take. of theirpaying 50% income on that. we only to our, not only our members, but also to the american people for them to be able to have access to these drugs at a reasonable cost and i -- we will push congress in any meaningful way we can to bring down the cost of prescriptive drugs. brian: since you have been ceo, since you have been with the organization, what have you started that you are the most proud of? and will make the most difference? things i'm of the most proud about is the work i have been around hunger. when i was in the aarp foundation, -- as president, we
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started issue to raise awareness of hunger. there about 10 million people who go hungryf 50 every day here in the u.s. million over 50, not counting children. part of getting involved in this has shown a spotlight on this issue of hunger in this country. i'm proud to say that in five years, we have served over 33 million people over the country and raised money to give to local food banks. we know that it is so important, not only for people 50 and older, but for children.
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people can't learn if they are not eating and have the nutritional support. you as an have organization served 32 million meals? jo ann: we do meal packing events and deliver those meals directly to food banks. we try not to get involved in picking one the bank or another. we developed a relationship where jeff gordon was our spokesperson for what we call the drive to end hunger. getting involved in going after communities and giving cash donations to food banks to purchase food in bulk. we know it is easier to get a cash donation to a food bank so they can buy larger quantities and for people been asked in providing canned goods out of individual pantries. we give out grants communities for sustainable solutions to hunger. building community gardens. starting campus kitchens where we partnered with college students and local colleges where they would grow the
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gardens, prepare the food, and deliver them to community centers around the country. i think we had about 13-14 of those funded at colleges and universities around the country. getting engaged in how communities can help solve the issue of hunger in the local community. in the united states, we don't have a food shortage, we have a distribution shortage. food stores like walmart are very open to giving food that they might have to dispose of because of an expiration date. but there is a distribution of how do you get that food from that local store to the community and food banks of they can use it? part of the work we have been working on with the aarp foundation is about the sustainable processes that allow people to continue to have nutritional food. a lot of this around food deserts. in a city like washington, d.c.,
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where most of the residents in the inner-city are actually going to the corner store that may not have fresh fruit and vegetables, how do we provide access to good, healthy nutritional food and communities regardless of where people live? brian: for those who don't know jeff gordon, here's an ad to see what he looks like and what he does. clip] video >> jeff, after you retire, people won't remember you. card, an aarpve a card for identification.
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you have to buy your popcorn. >> waited behind -- where did the idea come to have a nascar driver? >> it was a good partnership. jeff at the time was looking for a sponsor and we were looking for a vehicle to really address the hunger issue, particularly in the southern states. 10 of the hungriest state in the country are on the south. it just so happens ray a lot of the nascar races are. if you think about nfl football season, nascar has about 100,000 people at a race for 38 sundays a year. it was a great audience and platform is to raise this issue around hunger with a very giving audience in the nascar community. once they understood what the issue was, we got a number of food drives at the tracks. got them to make donations to their local food banks and jeff was a great ambassador. brian: you say 38 of the fortune 50 companies are moving into some kind of health care. healthhey are selling care stuff or what are they
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doing? what we are trying aging," isd "disrupt outdated beliefs about aging and sparking new solutions some more people can live in age better. we have seen the beginnings of this recognition from the private sector that there is value in this $7.1 trillion worth of economic value of people 50 plus. you are starting to see companies like amazon try to focus on products and services that address the needs of the 50 plus. starting to see companies like airbnb and uber look for drivers who are 50 plus as a way to supplement their income. both with uber and airbnb and some of those other companies. it is good that it is recognition that there is a market in the 50 plus and they need, we need new products and services that may not be aligned with where we were living 20 years ago.
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a perfect example of this was withgot into the market perfectasmall way, a muchple was the table, like an ipad but with additional features like larger fonts. we got into the font makeup years and during the course of that time, other tugboats -- tablet making kumbaya started addressing the needs of the 50 plus. we were able to transition out because one of the things that we had said in our product and services is that we want to drive the market. it is a market that we will, with solutions in particular areas. this is a wonderful win-win to get some of the other companies to start that make it easier to use for the people who are 50 and older.
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brian: you told us earlier there are 38 million members, how many were there when they first started and how many were there when you started? isann:p our membership stagnant. it is an annual membership-based and you have to up and renewed to do that. i don't know if we have been higher, but over the course of the last two years, i think we have gone from 24-28 million up to 35 million. up and down at times. during 2008-2010, with the economy, we saw a drop off. brian: you point out that only 11 out of 145 medical schools
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have a geriatrics program. what are you doing about that, if anything? jo ann: we are trying to encourage schools and students to have an interest in geriatrics. there is not enough, as you think about the aging population and the need for care, i think directly around caregiving. last year, there was $450 billion in economic value of family members caring for someone else in their family. if we were paying for that service, it would be $450 billion. we know two things for certain, that you are either going to be caregiver. or need a how do we start thinking about this enormous cost? the average cost of putting some
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and in nursing home is $87,000 a year. if you have to stay in a nursing home 5-10 years, not many people can afford that. our members want to live in their own home, so how can we come up with solutions, whether it is products or services from the private sector to help longerlive independently in their own homes? brian: if you decide to live in your own home, what is the cost to live in your own home if you need care? jo ann: it depends on the quality of care. whether it is once a week or every day or talking 47 -- 24/7. it is less this pensive -- expensive. at least half the cost. brian: one minute left, what one thing would you want to accomplish or than anything else
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for the rest of your term as ceo of aarp? jo ann: i really want aarp to be in communities all across this country working as partners with communities on things of interest to people 50 plus. to move us from a national organization to a nationwide organization. >> the name of the book is "disrupt aging: a bold new path to living your best life at every age." our guest is the author, jo ann jenkins. thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ announcer: for free transcripts or to give us your comments about the program, visit us at q&a.org. also available as c-span podcasts. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]
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>> if you enjoyed this week's interview, here are other programs you might like. sloan onagazine's alan his article on the u.s. economy. farenthold on medicare fraud, and michael kingsley on living with parkinson's disease. search our entire library at c-span.org. >> in the last prime minister's questions before the referendum paid tributeameron to the orlando mass shooting victims. he then answered questions regarding the implications of leaving and remaining in the european union. the vote will take place on june 23. the session took place before

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