Gov. Mark Warner (D) and a group of local officials made an afternoon visit Tuesday to Springfield's Greenspring Village to speak to one of the state's fastest growing demographic groups: senior citizens.
"Seventy-six million baby boomers are going to hit 65 in the next 10 years," Warner said. "What are we going to do about our workforce?... What are we going to do about transportation?... What are we going to do about the rising cost of health care?"
Warner spoke before a crowd of about 500 of the roughly 2,000 residents of Greenspring Village, the state's largest and fastest growing retirement community, which in many respects looks like it’s a small town in its own right with its own church, community center and labyrinthine street grid.
With so many people reaching retirement age, Warner said, the challenge will be to see "how we make sure that we keep folks like yourselves and say it's not time to put you out to pasture, but to keep you as part of the community.
"I'm not sure we as a society have figured out how we are going to deal with it."
IN FAIRFAX COUNTY alone, the number of people 62 and over will double over the next decade, said Supervisor Dana Kauffman (D-Lee), who spoke before the governor.
"We're going to have a significant senior citizen population as well, so we're going to have to share those resources," he said.
A graying population will require more investment in health-care programs and prescription drugs, as well as reduce the working-age population, resulting in fewer tax receipts. To make matters more difficult, Virginia offers seniors an income-tax break once they turn 62. Legislative efforts to roll back the tax credit have so far been unsuccessful.
"This is something that people depend upon as they make their financial decisions for retirement," said Del. Vivian Watts (D-39th), who also spoke before Warner.
Warner touted an Internet initiative he launched aimed at helping seniors learn about their health-care options. The problem is that many seniors are not familiar with the Internet. So state officials trained 10,000 people in using the online initiative to assist seniors.
"You've got somebody in your church or in your community that can help you get that information," he said.
On prescription drugs, Warner said his administration had put together a program called “Pharmaconnect,” designed to make it easier for seniors in Virginia to get prescription drugs, which has already distributed $10 million worth of free drugs.
"A lot of the drug companies may offer free drugs, especially if you don't have the resources," he said. "The bad news is they make the paperwork so complicated that you can't get them."
The Pharmaconnect program uses computer software to automatically fill out that paperwork, he said.
But seniors won't need so many prescription drugs if they stay healthy, Warned said, urging his listeners to spend more time at the gym and to play bridge.
He also mentioned his efforts to crack down on crimes that target senior citizens, especially those that involve scam artists calling people on the phone to offer them phony deals.
FORMER FAIRFAX County Board chairman Audrey Moore, a resident of Greenspring Village, asked Warner whether he would support more funding for medical research. Warner, the father of a diabetic daughter, answered that he would support stem cell research to find cures for diseases, which prompted the audience to applaud.
Other questions concerned the sales tax on food and the state's gun laws. Warner said the General Assembly last year voted to do away with the sales tax on food in the next three years. On guns, he said he supported the Second Amendment but characterized recent incidents of people carrying visible firearms as "flouting the law."
"I think what you've got now is a circumstance where people are going to push the law a little, and I think that's irresponsible behavior," he said.