More than 24 million New Yorkers have benefitted from the Older Americans Act, which turned 60 this week. State Office for the Aging Director Greg Olsen is praising the act but expressed concerns that many federal benefits are likely to be cut back.
Olsen said proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid would hurt rural hospitals, but other have many other impacts.
“There's so much more to the infrastructure than that. People's jobs rely on Medicaid, access to hospitals, access to primary care physicians, access to transportation, access to home care, access to federally qualified health centers and clinics. All of that will be impacted,” he added. “… Hospitals for example, that might close a maternity ward. We already have counties that have no dialysis.”
Olson noted that cuts in the federal reconciliation bill are still playing out in the appropriations process. Advocates are still fighting to protect provisions and financial support in the Older Americans Act.
Meanwhile New York State has just released it Master Plan for Aging, directing resources to counties, nonprofits and elsewhere to provide support services for New Yorkers as they age. Olsen praised Governor Kathy Hochul for proposing the largest investment in the office in history.
“So, what that's going to do is send funding to every county in New York State that has a wait list for services. These are people that go to our offices for the aging…. We (also) work with 1242 not for profits to deliver services and either there's not enough funding to turn the service on or there's not enough of workforce; this will go directly to those counties to address the wait list. … That was one of the primary recommendations in the master plan, and that's already been done in the budget that was enacted on in and around April,” Olsen said.
Many of the support services include transportation, home delivered meals, senior centers that ease social isolation, help with household tasks. Olsen explained the support can go to residents and care givers and is largely preventative in nature.
“What our services have proven is if you're able to intervene earlier, when and if somebody needs supports, you can maintain your lifestyle, improve your health for years now.”
Olsen added that an important part of the State Master Plan on Aging is the recognition that cross-agency cooperation is often needed to help people. An issue with a particular person or family might involve Adult Protective Services, The Office of Temporary and Disability Services, and others that need to be coordinated to solve certain problems.
Service Totals Since 1965 in New York State: NYSOFA-Administered Programs Under the Older Americans Act (source: aging.ny.gov)
- 24,277,643 people served (all programs) in New York State.
- 11,357,589 people served by Nutrition Program in New York State.
- Total meals served to older adults in New York State: 1,067,268,998.
- In-Home Care/Personal Care I and II – 85,727,915 hours of service in New York State under NYSOFA programs.
- Adult Day Services – 17,785,340 hours of service through NYSOFA.
- Case Management – 23,019,088 hours of service through NYSOFA.
- Transportation – 68,325,798 rides through NYSOFA.
- Legal Services – 3,206,317 hours of service through NYSOFA.
- Information and Assistance (I & A) – 59,916,615 hours of service through NYSOFA.
- Outreach – 4,507,089 hours of service through NYSOFA.
- Nutrition Counseling and Education – 5,618,775 hours of service through NYSOFA.
