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Social Security and Medicare were created by bold leaders who rose above the politics of the day to improve the lives of now hundreds of millions of Americans.

Today, we need to revive that call to action to ensure that the promise of a high quality life in America doesn’t end at the age of 65. Older Americans are facing financial and healthcare uncertainty, not only in Iowa but across the country, and it’s only become that much harder to get by.

Long-term care has become simply unaffordable or inaccessible. Nursing homes across Iowa are critically underfunded leading to service cuts and putting them at risk of closing their doors. And the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs can cost thousands of dollars each month.

For older communities of color, financial insecurity hits that much harder. The poverty rate for black senior citizens is more than double that of the overall older population, and 9-in-10 black or Latino seniors live at risk of financial hardship.

Unfortunately, the response we’ve seen from Washington is that speeches and tweets have too often replaced the hard work of getting things done.