'Solo agers' are a growing group. Changes that would help them could help everyone
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She believes she was the first person to use the term "solo aging," seeing it as a lot more positive than the previous description: "elder orphans."

Ideas about relationships and parenthood are less rigid than they used to be. Given this, she says, "Whatever foundation we build now" for solo agers, "is going to be hugely important for generations that follow."

Jason Resendez hopes those generations will have more government support than the current crop of older adults. He is CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving. He says there is growing recognition that many people are aging by themselves. That said, federal funding cuts are coming to home-based services for older adults, and to Medicaid, he says, "which makes it a lot harder to age in place when you don't have a family caregiver to absorb the elimination of those social service supports."

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