Ina Jaffe
Ina Jaffe is a veteran NPR correspondent covering the aging of America. Her stories on Morning Edition and All Things Considered have focused on older adults' involvement in politics and elections, dating and divorce, work and retirement, fashion and sports, as well as issues affecting long term care and end of life choices. In 2015, she was named one of the nation's top "Influencers in Aging" by PBS publication Next Avenue, which wrote "Jaffe has reinvented reporting on aging."
Jaffe also reports on politics, contributing to NPR's coverage of national elections since 2008. From her base at NPR's production center in Culver City, California, Jaffe has covered most of the region's major news events, from the beating of Rodney King to the election of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She's also developed award-winning enterprise pieces. Her 2012 investigation into how the West Los Angeles VA made millions from illegally renting vacant property while ignoring plans to house homeless veterans won an award from the Society of Professional Journalists as well as a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media. A few months after the story aired, the West Los Angeles VA broke ground on supportive housing for homeless vets.
Her year-long coverage on the rising violence in California's public psychiatric hospitals won the 2011 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award as well as a Gracie Award. Her 2010 series on California's tough three strikes law was honored by the American Bar Association with the Silver Gavel Award, as well as by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Before moving to Los Angeles, Jaffe was the first editor of Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon, which made its debut in 1985.
Born in Chicago, Jaffe attended the University of Wisconsin and DePaul University, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy, respectively.
-
For-profit nursing homes say the coronavirus has left them almost broke and needing financial help from the government. But critics say their business model is the problem. -
People age 65 and older make up the fastest-growing group of workers in the U.S. Some want to work; some have to work — and their numbers are changing how we view retirement. -
AARP ranked each state and Washington, D.C., according to the cost and quality of long-term care and support services. An online scorecard helps consumers compare services in each region. -
Most people don't want to die in the hospital hooked up to machines, but it can be hard to make those wishes known. A doctor's order with more force than an advance directive can help, a study finds.
-
In 2012, nearly a quarter of all new businesses were started by people between the ages of 55 and 64. What makes older adults choose starting businesses over retirement? -
A snow and ice storm contributed to the deaths of 14 people and knocked out power from Michigan to Maine and into Canada. One utility is calling it the worst Christmas week outage in its history. Repairs are underway as more snow is forecast for the affected areas.
-
Winston and Pansy Greene are getting on with their lives despite Pansy's Alzheimer's disease. In the three years since her diagnosis, little has changed, though the couple is starting to have different takes on the future. Pansy has remained positive; Winston says with no cure, he has to be realistic. -
Gilroy Hain's only source of income is the $1,500 a month he receives from Social Security. The 64-year-old spends $500 a month for a rented bedroom in Los Angeles, and the rest goes for food and little indulgences. For the former aerospace industry worker who was homeless for a time, it's not an easy life. -
Social Security accounts for about 20 percent of federal spending. As Congress edges toward having to come up with a new spending plan, one argument in favor of cuts is that Social Security amounts to a huge transfer of wealth from the young to the old. -
There's the war on cancer and the war on heart disease. But investing in delaying the aging process may have a better payoff, economists say. Adding two years of healthy living to lifespans would result in $7 trillion in benefits over 50 years, an analysis says. But Medicare and Social Security would cost more, too.
