The Illinois Department on Aging, charged with advocating on behalf of older people and committed to making linkages with networks outside of the Aging Network itself, turned to 90 citizens from various walks of life and from various parts of the state to seek advice on the implications of aging demographics. Called the Committee of Ninety for the ’90s, the group was charged with helping the Department plan for the decade ahead. The committee was led by a Steering Committee of 16 statewide leaders, each knowledgeable about a network - business, labor, children, minorities, women, health, religion - which can help the traditional Aging Network tap into other networks as we try to respond to the dramatic implications of aging in our society.

The 90 individuals took the leadership in cooperating with the Department on Aging and a wide variety of other groups to hold a series of 11 round-tables throughout the state during the Fall of 1989 and the Winter of 1990. The particular questions they addressed were these:

• What do the numbers and demographics we currently know about the elderly tell us about the effects on the networks we live and work in? Are we aware of the implications?
• Are today’s elderly perceived as needy, greedy, some of each, or none of the above?
• What’s our connection to the future? How can the Aging Network, forged during the last quarter century with and for older persons, reach out to other networks on behalf of our aging society?

This paper addresses the discussion and recommendations of the round-tables on those three questions and provided the final report of the Committee of Ninety for the ’90s. A summary of a survey of some 1200 people in attendance at the round-tables is included below.

Survey Summary

Nearly 80% of Illinois residents surveyed during the Ninety for the ’90s project about the rapid aging of our population reported they expected the upswing of the percentage of older adults during the 1990s to affect society significantly.

Health and income were identified as the factors most dramatically affected. Respondents to the survey commented on long term care, financial planning, Social Security, responsibility for aging family members and government programs.

The survey on the impact of changing demographics was part of the Ninety for the ’90s initiative and was intended to paint a picture of how Illinois citizens think our aging (population) will affect society in the decade ahead. At the turn of the century (1900), one in every 25 people was age 65 or older. In the year 2020, that number is projected to be closer to one in 6. This population shift, Ninety for the ’90s committee members say, will require a re-evaluation of the types of services we provide and the way we disseminate resources to meet various income and health needs.

The following findings are a sampling of the 1200-person survey:

1. 94% of the respondents predicted that there would be a realignment of government spending in response to the population shift; 44% expect this realignment to shift to older people because of their sheer numbers.
2. 43% are amenable to paying higher taxes to cover the cost of a federal long term care program for the home, community, or nursing home.
3. 60% reflected the lack of confidence in the future of Social Security when they reported that they felt the system was secure now but would not be secure in the future.
4. Respondents showed even less confidence in what the now-defunct Catastrophic Act would have done for them; 84% said the Act would have been only moderately helpful or not at all helpful.
5. 47% called the proposed Catastrophic surtax a poor mechanism for financing benefits for older adults. Nearly half of the respondents felt that the cost of federal programs such as long term care should be spread over all age groups.
6. More than two-thirds of the respondents indicate they are planning ahead for their future; 16% of the respondents, however, report that they can’t afford to save for later years.
7. Three-quarters of the respondents report that their children are as well or better off financially than they were at that age.
8. Nearly one-quarter of the respondents are caregivers to an older family member, a child, or both.
9. When asked to identify adjectives which describe today’s older persons, respondents overwhelmingly chose “productive” and “diverse.”
10. And when asked at what age “old age” began, survey respondents are pretty evenly divided:
• 21% said age 60;
• 24% said 65;
• 25% said 70;
• 19% said 75;
• and 11% said 80.

The 1200 survey respondents included members of Illinois Area Agency on Aging boards and advisory councils, American Association of Retired People, and participants in the Ninety for the ’90s round-tables. The range was from age 20 to age 80, with the greatest concentration falling between age 60 and 79.

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Note: Services available in Southern Illinois can be found in Resource Guide on Aging and Aging Services.

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