By Marie Clarke
The latest census shows that 61.2 million Americans are 65 or older – 18% of the total U.S. population. But only 14% of these Americans report being constantly online. Despite this digital gap, the federal government is pressing ahead with a suite of policies that will leave older U.S. residents behind.
Two federal agencies are advancing proposals that will change how Americans receive important information about their money and their health care. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing to make electronic delivery of financial records the default. The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed the same shift for health plan documents governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Both agencies are moving quickly and quietly to push through these unnecessary changes — and both public comment periods close on the same day, September 21.
Today, these documents arrive in the mail unless recipients choose otherwise; electronic delivery generally requires affirmative consent. The federal government is justifying the change by claiming that 96% of Americans use the internet.
But that number brushes past widely sourced data showing that older residents will be disproportionately impacted by the new rules. Many simply won’t have access to digital documents because they don’t have a home broadband connection. In some rural counties, service remains unreliable or unavailable at any price, and neither proposal addresses this challenge before the rules take effect.
This top-line number also obscures something important: A satellite signal reaching a county is not a subscription in a household, and a household with service is not the same as an 80-year-old navigating a login screen to find a document that used to arrive in an envelope.
Even more concerning is that these agencies acknowledge the risks of their proposed rules by noting that not everyone will read what is sent in digital format. The proposed solution is to include calculators, hover-overs, and other features to make electronic disclosures more engaging. But a smartphone is inadequate to review these important documents. Under these new rules, roughly 1 in 6 Americans will be expected to review important documents on a phone screen.
Neither the SEC nor DOL's proposal gives Americans anything they don't already have the option to choose today. Instead, both shift the burden onto less-connected older Americans to make a choice they may never see.
The current system in which Americans receive important financial and health information in physical paper formats works. These statements arrive regularly in the mail and are reviewed and kept by people who have organized their financial lives around this model. Anyone who prefers digital delivery can already choose it.
Older Americans are not asking to be shielded from the modern world. They're asking to be seen — and heard — by the agencies making decisions about how they receive the information they depend on.
Two agencies have proposed rules that would leave millions of older Americans navigating a system built without them in mind. Before either rule takes effect, it's worth asking a simple question: who was actually consulted, and who was assumed to already be online?
The answer, so far, leaves too many people out.
Marie Clarke is President of the Envelope Manufacturers Association and EMA Foundation, where she leads advocacy, industry strategy, and member engagement. Her work focuses on strengthening the future of mail, protecting consumer access and choice, and advancing the people and businesses behind essential communications.
