"Robin"
65-70, Urban Alabama
chevron_right
Insights
Insight for Action #8
Navigation of Healthcare Benefits and Coverage
To make better coverage decisions, older adults need benefits eligibility, access, and coverage to be more straightforward.
Insight for Action #1
Aspirations for Older Age
To feel secure as older adults, Americans need to prepare for older age starting earlier in life. When they’re older adults, they need to believe in their own agency and have a sense of purpose and social value to prosper.
Insight for Action #7
Comprehensive & Seamless Healthcare Coverage
Older adults need affordable healthcare coverage and benefits that support their whole health and well-being.
About this Project
The People Say is a qualitative research platform featuring data from over 100 hours of interviews with older adults talking about their lives and the policy issues most important to them.
How can the data be used?
1
Legislators, policymakers, and their staff can use The People Say to understand the lived experience of their constituents and find compelling inspiration about key issues. Save video and quotes, and read our insights for action briefs.
2
Federal, state, and local program leaders can use the database to learn about their service beneficiaries' challenges and needs. Filter search results by specific programs, like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and VA benefits.
3
Researchers and advocates can hear older adults speak firsthand to their experiences and aspirations. Search the database for multimedia data, or read our distilled insights from research.
4
People of all ages can use the platform to learn how to better support their aging loved ones and community members—and what to expect when growing older themselves.
The American population is rapidly aging. Our society needs to prepare for this demographic shift.
Adults over the age of 65 are projected to make up more than 20% of the population by 2030 and will comprise more than 25% of the population in rural areas by 2040.
The time is right now to better understand and incorporate older adults' preferences in the policy and health systems that will serve this growing population in the coming decades.
arrow_outward
About the Project
Explore the database yourself.
Select a topic you're interested in to see related data.
Or search the qualitative database by keyword.
The People Say has data from priority populations in communities across the United States.
We created a research pool that reflects projections of the demographics of America in 2040, with a special emphasis on participants who are lower income, of color, or residents of rural areas. We also spoke with caregivers, program staff, and subject-matter experts in the aging space.
arrow_outward
See Community-Level Data Trends
The research team traveled through seven states, across varied geographies and political landscapes
In each community, we recorded conversations—in English, Spanish, or Cantonese—with a diverse group of older adults about the issues important to them.
Researchers met with older adults in their homes and at local senior centers, libraries, and churches.
The team was introduced to older adults through local Area Agencies on Aging and the project's advisory committee
Older adults shared their experiences of getting older and accessing services over several months.
Participants were paid $500 for taking part in interviews, completing diary-study activities (pictured here), and reviewing the data that is published on The People Say.
