They're disappointing, but not unexpected. We knew it was going to be difficult to find and enroll people. We also knew the strategy of going to 19 million people was likely to backfire.

We knew it was going to be a long, hard road to find and enroll the people who are eligible for the extra help. We will be sitting down with Social Security next week to talk about how the private sector can work more closely with the government to improve on the results.

It's more a stage than an age. The concept of retirement at age 65 is going out the window. Many people are opting to stop working earlier than later. 65 is an irrelevant limit now.

There has to be a much better coordination of public and private efforts so that a lot more of the people who apply are actually eligible.

We need to remember there are millions of Americans for whom old age is a time of hardship.

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