AMAC FOUNDATION INC

One of the Foundation’s key services is the maintenance of a website focused exclusively on Social Security and its many issues. AMAC’s Social Security Report website (www.socialsecurityreport.org) is a resource for anyone interested in the state of our country’s Social Security program, and includes these features:

Daily newsfeeds on major breaking news and legislative developments affecting Social Security
Quotes and comments on Social Security policy
Questions and answers relevant to topics of interest to the public
An archive of documents on key Social Security issues
AMAC’s proposal for prototype Social Security legislation
Designed originally as a service to Congressional Aides and their Senators and Representatives to stay abreast of developments and projections on Social Security and its related programs, the site has evolved to be much more than that. Its content, and its attention to breaking news, has made it a ready source of facts, figures, and statistics on a wide variety of Social Security-related topics.

Americans on the threshold of retirement—along with those beginning to look long-term at their retirement plans—are faced with a bewildering array of options, policies, and decision criteria that must be evaluated to ensure that they make the right choices at the right time. Guidance to navigate these bureaucratic waters is scarce, often limited to simple assistance in completing the forms necessary to activate the decisions that must be made. Advice on what is right for the individual is difficult at best to come by. The purpose of this specific website is to explore the Medicare topic—as well as relationships between Medicare and the Affordable Care Act—providing information that will help current and prospective Medicare beneficiaries understand the composition of this portion of Social Security. Likewise, the site is designed to help all Americans stay abreast of legislative activities that have an impact on their participation in Medicare. Beginning with a fairly broad definition of Medicare’s history and the major milestones that the program has passed since its 1965 enactment and continuing through documentation of Medicare’s major components, the AMAC Foundation’s objective with this site is to help Americans understand their benefits and obligations as they participate. In addition to Medicare’s background information, the site presents newsfeeds on developing information about all facets of the program. These newsfeeds, posted daily, are culled from a broad range of media sources, and are categorized as an aid to site visitors having an interest in tracking specific Medicare components.

If you passed away tomorrow, will your loved ones know what to do? Will they know where your financial information and tax records, insurance records, and investment documents are stored? Will they be able to locate your most current will, health care directives, and documented funeral wishes? Can they locate important household documents, like deeds, car titles, and pension statements?
The list goes on and on, but the important point is that having this type of pertinent information organized and available in a structured place is something you can do in advance for those you leave behind. It’s a big task and it’s not an easy one…we know that. But with a structured approach you can create a living document that will prove invaluable to your loved ones.

This seminar has been structured to guide you through the process of creating your “Survivor Notebook,” the repository that will help loved ones cope after your passing. Conducted in three separate two-hour sessions, we’ll walk you through identifying what needs to be considered, assembling the material as we go in an accessible format, and we’ll be developing an approach to maintaining the material so that it’s always current. You’ll leave with a physical roadmap that will be of immeasurable value to your family.

Going into 2020, we've presented this series 21 separate times, with an average of more than 20 attendees at each session.

The specific topic of “Veterans Aid and Attendance” benefits was covered in four separate workshops in 2018-2019. These workshops explored, among many other related topics, a little-known benefit available to U.S. Armed Forces veterans who were on active duty during a period of war. Our work here was in partnership with VITAS® Healthcare and VITAS’ Veteran Liaison, Thomas Spencer, PhD. Mr. Spencer is a highly decorated veteran of multiple foreign combat theatres, formerly served as a specialist for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and as a former liaison for members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

As guest speaker at several of our workshops, Mr. Spencer shared a wealth of knowledge on the array of benefits available to veterans, focusing on eligibility criteria, application for service-connected disability benefits, nursing home care, and Aid and Attendance pension benefits. His remarks, delivered in a fast-moving hour and a half session, also covered end-of-life considerations and provided detailed guidance on how to apply for benefits for dependents and survivors. Mr. Spencer’s presentations were recorded, with a copy posted on the Foundation’s website (www.AmacFoundation.org/Videos) for on-demand viewing.

In addition, the "Resources" page of our AmacFoundation.org website now features informative guides focused on general issues and substance abuse issues specific to veterans.

Since our 2014 launch, the AMAC Foundation has operated a seminar series designed to present topics of interest and importance to America’s seniors. This initiative continued in the 2018-2019 period with over 60 separate sessions presented. Topics covered ranged from benefits-related seminars to workshops on technical issues important to older Americans. Since 2017, nearly 2,700 seniors have attended these free seminars, and the feedback has been tremendous. Furthermore, each of these sessions gives us the ability to make additional members of the public aware of AMAC and the AMAC Foundation.

The following few paragraphs provide examples of the kinds of seminars offered in 2018-2019.
• Protecting the Elderly from Fraud and Abuse
• Medicare Basics/New to Medicare
• Life After Cable—Entertainment Alternatives
• Understanding the “Connected Home”
• Sudden Death—Are You Prepared?
• Women and Social Security

General Comment on Projects and Seminars:
One thing the Foundation prides itself on is that we seek out efforts that will allow us to contribute to the welfare of our constituents, and that will necessitate limited cash outlay on the part of the Foundation. Wherever possible, of course, we will be seeking and applying for grant opportunities from various funding sources to defray our operating costs. In this way, we can progressively build our brand—the AMAC Foundation brand—in small increments, while building resources in the background for the major initiatives of the future. And, while our initial intent is to offer these projects locally in our Central Florida operating area, we have adopted an ongoing objective of using live streaming technology via the Foundation website and the world wide web to propagate the information across the country. Likewise, we plan to continue recording and archiving portions of the material for on-demand access through the Foundation’s website.

As noted earlier, we took a major step in 2017 toward using internet streaming to extend our reach outside of the Central Florida area. We acquired upgraded camera equipment and established an account with a livestreaming service to begin experimentation with this concept and we’ve begun to build institutional knowledge within the Foundation to cement this approach as a way of doing business that benefits our constituents across the country. Pursuing this technology has broken new ground for the Foundation, and we’ve been pleased with our progress. Our approach has been one of learning the fundamentals and establishing internal knowledge so that we can avoid the exorbitant cost of bringing in outside services for each session we conduct.

On another development related to the Foundation’s geographic goals, the AMAC organization, through its AMAC Action initiative, is steadily building a national network of AMAC Chapters across the country. The long-range objective of this development is to position these volunteer-based Chapters as the face of AMAC in their local areas. Along with this initiative, the Foundation has begun to accelerate its involvement with the Chapters, with an objective of building relationships with their local leadership. The intent with these relationships will be to invite the Chapters to promote Foundation seminars and workshops in their area, arranging local attendance at live-streamed and webinar events. Likewise, the intent is to acquaint the Chapters with Foundation resources (for example, the Social Security Report and Medicare Report websites) to extend their value even further. Development of these partnerships will help the Foundation realize economy of scale in its activity investments.

Our Foundation’s highly-acclaimed Social Security Advisory Service continues to draw accolades from an appreciative public. Through the end of 2019, we’ve helped nearly 9,000 seniors navigate the Social Security maze, often rescuing them from the state of confusion they’ve fallen into as a result of the program’s massive collection of rules and regulations.

Our Advisory Staff now features five trained and accredited professionals available to respond to email and telephone inquiries from folks needing to understand the rules and how they apply to their individual situation. And these questions continue to cover a broad range of topics, from simplicity (What is my full retirement age?) to the more complex (How does my foreign retirement income affect my Social Security benefit?). Although we track inquiries across more than a dozen categories, the most frequently addressed topics continue to focus on spousal benefits, when to retire, and the relationship between Social Security and Medicare.

As the graph at left illustrates, the activity level in our Advisory Service has grown substantially over the 2018-2019 period, owing largely to increased promotion of the program. One of the key aspects of this promotion was the 2017 launch of our “Ask Rusty” weekly Social Security Q&A news release, published to over 7,000 media outlets across the country. Based on the feedback we’ve received, we know that hundreds of newspapers, blogs, and websites regularly reprint the release, which includes a question about Social Security—based on actual questions we’ve received—and a thoroughly researched answer. In 2018, we published a bound collection of these “Ask Rusty” releases. A sample of an actual “Ask Rusty” article as it appeared in the media is included as Exhibit D.

As part of our promotion of the Advisory Service, this aspect of the Foundation was featured in several editions of the AMAC Magazine, creating additional public awareness of the program and its benefits. Copies of these articles are presented in Exhibit E. Also, information on our accredited individuals is made available on the Social Security Report website, along with additional details about the program and how to access the resources. This Advisory Service documentation is available for review on the Foundation’s website (www.AmacFoundation.org/programs/social-security-advisory).
Dealing with the continued demand for our Advisory Service presents a challenge for the Foundation—but it’s a challenge we welcome and are dealing with in a manner that enables us to continue responding to requestors with a service level that meets their needs. As 2020 unfolds, we’ll be keeping a close eye on our staffing level and our ability to maintain the quality level of service our constituency has come to expect, and will take action as necessary to stay ahead of this demand. In fact, our service level goal is to respond to most questions within 24 hours and all questions within 48 hours, depending on the amount of research required. This goal is of particular importance to those seeking service, many of whom anxious to make a decision and needing to know the implications of these decisions.

Planning for retirement is a process that has multiple dimensions, beginning of course with taking the right steps to build the financial framework you’ll need to live comfortably. Then there’s the matter of maintaining your health so that you can get the most—physically—out of those leisure years. While these are arguably the two most important steps in the process, there’s a third leg to this stool that tends to require a matching level of thought: where to spend your “golden years.” There are options, of course, from retirement communities to Assisted Living Facilities to Independent Living Residences, but what's emerging these days is a growing interest in simply staying put. It's called "aging in place," and it's getting a lot of attention these days. The AMAC Foundation, recognizing the demographic we serve, has embraced this topic and has made it one of it's priority areas. 

A recent Kiplinger article titled "The Benefits of Aging In Place" reports that “Almost 90% of people over 65 want to live in their home and community as long as possible” and that “80% believe they will stay in their home until they die.” Under this scenario, a growing number of seniors are opting to remain in their family homes, living on their own and eventually living with some form of in-home assistance. Some take this approach for financial reasons, while others simply do not care to give up the familiarity of the home they’ve lived in for so many years. No matter the reason, it’s clearly a concept that appeals to an increasingly large segment of our country’s maturing population.

Local governments and policymakers have begun to embrace this concept as a viable option for seniors, spurred in part by the inevitability of future citizens opting to remain right where they are.  The 2010 United States Census reports, for example, that the age 60+ population in our country will reach a level of nearly 74 million households by 2020, an increase fueled by the Baby Boomer wave. With the number of mature adults selecting “aging in place” over geographic relocation, communities are ramping up to change the ways that they serve their constituents. Here's an example: Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) are in essence a village-based concept in which private agencies, residents, and neighborhood associations band together to provide support to the seniors living in their area. NORCs aggregate services (like transportation, home repair and maintenance, health care and social services) and make them available to residents at relatively low cost.  The result is substantial convenience to seniors as they live out their lives in the comfort of the homes and communities they’re most familiar with.

NORCs are but one trending approach. There are others, as defined in a recent article published by Ameriprise Financial titled "Senior living today: 3 new trends." The article addresses several key movements that are redefining the idea of aging in America.

In early 2020, we held an "Aging in Place Exposition" designed to showcase a variety of important aspects of this growing trend. Based on its success, we plan to repeat this event in 2021, and to supplement our editorial efforts with relevant articles on the concept.