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Larry Polivka

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Executive Director of the Claude Pepper Center, and Scholar in Residence of The Claude Pepper Foundation, Inc., Florida State University

636 West Call Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32306
(850) 645-7835

Expertise & Civic Involvements

Polivka’s principal areas of expertise are long-term care policy and practice, retirement security from the perspective of income support and health care costs, the political economy of aging with a focus on the conflict between neoliberal (conservative) and neo-Keynesian economic theory and policy, health care policy and politics with a focus on Medicare and Medicaid and the role of corporate health care in publicly funded programs (including long-term care), and global aging from multiple interacting perspectives, including demographic, economic, political and cultural.

SSN Briefs

Key Publications

  • "The Growing Neoliberal Threat to the Economic Security of Workers and Retirees" The Gerontologist 52, no. 1 (2012): 331-344.
    Describes how changes in the political economies of the U.S. and other developed nations over the past 40 years have eroded the foundations of publicly funded retirement security systems and the kind of policy changes required to reverse this erosion.
  • "Neoliberalism and the Postmodern Culture of Aging" Journal of Applied Gerontology 48, no. 5 (2011): 564-572.
    Analyzes the implications of cultural neoliberalism and its emphasis on the creative, self-sufficient individual for the aging experience including impairment and increasing
  • "Research and Regulation in Assisted Living: Achieving the Vision" in Frontline Workers in Assisted Living, edited by M. Ball, M. Perkins, C. Hollingsworth and C. Kemp (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), 28-45.
    Reviews the assisted living research literature to propose a model of assisted living regulations that achieves an effective balance between resident safety and the quality of life goals embedded in the original vision for assisted living as an alternative to nursing home care.
  • "The Aging Network and Managed Long-Term Care" (with Helen Zayac). The Gerontologist 48, no. 5 (2008): 564-572.
    Discusses the merits of “aging networks” as an alternative to expensive institutional long-term care financed by Medicaid. These networks allow local non-profits and government agencies to work together to assess the needs of each older person, identify appropriate services such as home aides, and administer cost-effective community programs.
  • "Medicare Privatization and the Erosion of Retirement Security" (with Jung Kwak). Journal of Aging & Social Policy 20, no. 3 (2008): 340-352.
    Compares the relative cost performance of private insurance and the Medicare program, concluding that converting Medicare into a private insurance program would substantially increase out-of-pocket expenses for beneficiaries.

Media Contributions

Polivka writes regularly for the Nieman Watchdog website. Here are his most recent contributions to that site and others:

Talks and Briefings

  • "The Future of the Non-Profit Aging Network in Long-Term Care," keynote address to the Annual Meeting of the Ohio Area Agency on Aging, Columbus, Ohio, March 9, 2011.
  • Testimony on the role of assisted living on managed long-term care programs and on needed changes in the state’s regulatory framework for assisted living before the Florida Legislature, January 1, 2011.
  • "The Future of Long-Term Care in the United States," University of Alabama, November 9, 2010.
  • "The Past, Present and Future of Long-Term Care and the Role of the Aging Network," keynote address to the Annual Meeting of the Florida Council on Aging, Orlando, FL, August 19, 2010.