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Experts See Hard Times for Senior Services After Cuts
By:
Warren Wolfe,
Star Tribune
March 15, 2003
From Medicaid to Meals on Wheels, many programs for frail
seniors are being trimmed because of budget cuts from coast to coast, and
more are on the way, leaders of several advocacy and aging groups say.
"Older Americans will find it increasingly difficult
to find help as programs for the aging are increasingly targeted to the
poorest of the poor," said John Rother, director of legislation and
public policy for AARP. "I don't see much to be optimistic
about."
Leaders of more than a dozen advocacy and professional
groups serving seniors gathered Friday in Chicago at the annual convention
of the American Society on Aging to talk about the impact of proposed
state and federal budget cuts.
In Minnesota, legislators are considering Gov. Tim
Pawlenty's proposals to slice $75 million from nursing-home payments and
$24 million from programs that help seniors remain in their homes.
"Minnesota isn't alone. Most states are looking at
cuts -- some very, very deep," said Robert McFalls, president of the
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, whose members funnel
millions of federal dollars to local services for seniors.
South Dakota legislators, for instance, propose to
eliminate a waiting list of older people seeking home-care services by
making fewer people eligible. Minnesota is considering a similar proposal
that would cut that fund by $19 million, or 20 percent, next year and
another 11 percent in 2005.
Many other states cut some services in 2002, and nearly
all are considering even deeper cuts this year to cope with billions of
dollars in projected deficits.
"The states where seniors will be hurt worst are the
ones that were poor fiscal managers -- the ones who gave away their
surpluses in tax cuts the past few years and now have run up huge
deficits," McFalls said.
Minnesota, for instance, is facing a deficit of $4.25
billion.
The situation for states could worsen if Congress approves
a proposal by President Bush to limit the amount states can spend on
Medicaid, which pays the costs for about one-third of nursing home
residents, said Howard Bedlin, vice president for policy at the National
Council on the Aging, a coalition of 3,500 senior centers, food programs,
housing and other services for seniors.
"There are two things to watch at the federal level
-- how will the war with Iraq turn out, and does the president's proposed
tax cut get passed," said John Firman, president of that group.
"If the war goes badly, or if the tax cuts pass and
are made permanent, forget any meaningful prescription-drug benefit in
Medicare, any money for subsidized housing for low-income seniors, any
help to states cutting nursing-home costs," he said.
"What's so difficult this year, as we try to talk
with legislators in Minnesota, is that everyone -- education, the arts,
the environment -- is being hurt by the governor's proposals, and
everybody is bringing in people to testify who have been hurt
personally," said Iris Freeman, policy director for the state
Alzheimer's Association.
"We've done that in past years, and it helps to put a
human face on the impact of the budget," she said. "This year,
old and frail people -- who are bearing a disproportionate share of the
cuts, given their lack of resources -- are going to get lost in the
crowd."
Several good changes could come from the pressure on
senior services, a number of advocates said Friday.
One may be more pressure on seniors with significant
equity in their houses to use reverse mortgages as a way to convert that
asset into lines of credit or pots of cash that can be used to pay for
services that government or nonprofit agencies used to provide.
Another is that "this may force us to look at
ourselves, our families, churches and communities, to see how we can help
each other," said Donna Yee, former president of the American Society
on Aging.
"I'm looking very hard to find a silver lining in all
of this doom and gloom," she said. "I'm not finding much, but if
we learn better how to help each other, that's a benefit that will serve
America well."
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