Older Americans are losing ground even with an 80-year-old president
American political leadership skews decidedly older than the population as a whole. President Donald Trump turned 80 years old on June 14, 2026. The median age for senators is nearly 65, and the median age for House of Representatives members is almost 58.
But are those older people in office a sign that the U.S. government is turning into a “gerontocracy” that is giving younger generations short shrift?
No – many older Americans are becoming worse off.
We are experts in elder law who have been following the legal treatment of older Americans for decades. One of us writes a leading elder law casebook, and we are co-authors of a book on aging that will be published in January 2027. Through our research, we have observed a series of federal policy changes that will make life harder for many Americans of modest means as they age.
In our view, those policies show why, more than ever, it is wrong to assume that rich and powerful older people will protect all older adults, including those who aren’t wealthy.
Perhaps the most publicized of these policy failures is that the federal government hasn’t taken steps to stave off Social Security benefits cuts.
The program will have to cut the benefits it provides by roughly 22% starting in 2032 unless Congress steps up. That would affect a lot of people: Currently, Social Security pays benefits to more than 60 million retired workers, as well as survivor benefits for the spouses of workers who have died and their eligible children.
But instead of taking steps to shore up the program, Congress has sped up that expected moment of reckoning.
A tax break included in the big tax and spending package Trump signed into law in summer 2025 that benefits some older people will actually weaken Social Security for everyone by reducing the tax revenue that funds the program.
Social Security’s revenue is further compromised by the declining number of immigrants in the workforce who contribute to the program through the payroll tax, even though many of them will never be eligible to receive its benefits. More immigrants departed the U.S. than arrived in 2025 due to the Trump administration’s policies, which are supported by funding for immigration enforcement approved by the Republican majority in Congress.
These changes will hit some older adults harder than others. Social Security keeps millions more women than men out of poverty, as well as more Blacks and Latinos than whites.
Older adults in need of long-term care also face new risks.
In December 2025, the Trump administration rescinded regulations that would have required nursing homes that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding to meet new minimum staffing standards.
At the same time, just as the number of older adults who need long-term care is rising, the White House’s immigration crackdown has threatened the supply of paid care workers, as they are disproportionately from other countries. This labor shortage will impact older adults receiving care in institutional facilities like nursing homes. But it will likely have an even more significant effect on those hoping to receive care at home, as 1 in 3 home care workers are immigrants.
