ElderWeb

The Australian government is expecting a cash surplus of $1.5 billion in 2001-02, the fifth surplus in a row and the longest run of cash surpluses in almost 30 years. One response to this surplus are a number of initiatives targeted at seniors. The new budget includes a payment of $300 for people of Age Pension age who receive income support or are outside the taxation and social security system, an increase in the effective tax-free threshold for people of Age Pension age, an increase in income thresholds for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, and extension of the telephone allowance and other concessions to all holders of a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. In addition superannuation assets will be exempted from social security means tests for people aged between 55 years and the Age Pension age, and a payment of $25,000 will be made to Australian Defence Force Prisoners of War of the Japanese, civilian internees and detainees of the Japanese or their surviving spouses.

The Federal Election Commission has created a National Voter Registration Form which is accepted by most states for registration of voters. This form could be used by organizations serving older adults who wish to provide voter registration capabilities, or by individuals who have transportation or mobility problems which make it hard to get out of the house. By using this form to register and then applying for absentee ballots, homebound seniors would be able to continue to participate in the election process by doing everything by mail.

The National Voter Registration Form is accepted by all states, except: North Dakota does not have voter registration; Wyoming, by State law, cannot accept the National Form; Mississippi will accept the Form to register individuals for Federal elections only; and New Hampshire town and city clerks will accept the National Form only as a request for their own mail-in voter registration form.

Unfortunately, there is no national program for absentee ballots. However, the Federal Voting Assistance Program provides a list of state election Web sites, most of which provide contact name and phone numbers or other information about absentee ballots.

Arkansas HB1635 has been enrolled as Act 1230, The Arkansas Assisted Living Act. This bill creates a new type of facility in the state, to be called assisted living facilities, for people who need nursing home care, but who do not require 24-hour nursing. The Department of Human Services is instructed to create a rules and regulations to license such facilities. The Department is also instructed to apply for a waiver of the Medicaid rules to allow residents who qualify for Medicaid to be covered in assisted living facilities, in addition to nursing homes. The bill also allows residential care facilities to convert to assisted living facilities.

The New York State Assembly approved a budget which restored $132 million in payments to nursing homes and home health providers which Governor George Pataki had cut in his proposed budget. The Assembly plan also adds $100 million in new funding to address nursing home quality of care and staffing issues, and rejects the Governor?s proposal to cut $34.5 million in state support from the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program ? which provides eligible seniors with affordable prescription medications. Assembly leaders noted that the Division of the Budget has now projected that there will be an additional $3 billion in revenues available over the amount originally forecast, leaving plenty of room to fund senior-related programs.

Ohio Governor Bob Taft announced the establishment of the Ohio Public Health Priorities Trust Fund, which will manage the proceeds of Ohio's tobacco settlement money. He stated that $1 million of those funds would be set aside to cover medications and oxygen costs for low-income seniors who have suffered from the use of tobacco.

Washington Governor Gary Locke has proposed significant changes in funding for long term care in next year's budget. The proposed budget would cut $12 million from nursing home payments, and save $10 million by eliminating or reducing adult day care services and chore services, then plow $16 million of the savings into expanded home and community-based services for the elderly and invest $3.5 million in a pilot program to create boarding homes for dementia patients and add $5 million for home health services for people at risk for nursing home care. The Washington Health Care Association, an organization of nursing home providers, has called on legislators to reject this budget.

Texas' chapter of the Silver Hair Legislature has set up a Web site to support their membership. This Silver Hair Legislature was formed in 1979 to help older Americans make their voices heard in the halls of American government. The new Texas site includes recent articles about issues important to the members, calendars of events and email newsletters.

Congress nearly unanimously reauthorized the Older Americans Act (HR 782), five years after the original act expired. The bill now goes to President Clinton, who is expected to sign it. This bill, among other things, would create a Family Caregiver Support program funded by both federal and state money which would provide:

* information to caregivers about available services
* assistance to caregivers in gaining access to the services
* individual counseling, organization of support groups, and caregiver training to caregivers to assist the caregivers in making decisions and solving problems relating to their caregiving roles
* respite care to enable caregivers to be temporarily relieved from their caregiving responsibilities
* supplemental services, on a limited basis, to complement the care provided by caregivers

The bill also allows states to require consumers to contribute to the cost of the programs they use, if they are able to do so, and creates a number of grants for innovation projects that would improve the delivery of information and services to older Americans.

New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) and the (National) Long Term Care Campaign are working together in an effort to raise long term care issues on a local level. Recently, the two organizations sponsored a Long Term Care meeting bringing together organizations throughout the state interested in raising these issues with the candidates before the November 2000 elections. The groups concluded that education is the first step. NJ's voters need to know "What is Long Term Care" and then we can address the problems of long term care. NJCA will mail information pamphlets on long term care to anyone who wants them to be disseminated by you to staff members, consumers, and others you believe are concerned about this issue. Please contact NJCA 732-246-4772.

Principal sponsors of the Campaign include the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the Alzheimer's Association, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America. The Long Term Care Campaign is a coalition of 147 national organizations dedicated to enacting comprehensive legislation to protect American families against the devastating costs of long term care. The Campaign also works to defend long term care Medicaid, which pays for about half of our nation's long term care.

Missouri Senator Joe Maxwell, now running for Lieutenant Governor, urged members of the Silver Haired Legislature to support the creation of a Department of Aging. The Division of Aging of the Department of Social Services now handles senior and aging issues. Missouri voters rejected an attempt to create a separate Department of Aging in 1996.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has passed a revision of the Older Americans Act out of committee, and the Senate is scheduled to vote on it. This legislation would increase funding for a number of programs, and would also require cost-sharing, requiring people above certain income levels pay part of the cost of the services they receive. The bill, among other essential provisions proposed by the Administration, includes the Administration on Aging?s National Family Caregiver Support Program, designed to help hundreds of thousands of families caring for their older loved ones.

The Kansas Department on Aging has posted a list of aging-related Kansas legislation enacted this year. Kansas has enacted the following bills:

- HB 2780 which creates a long-term care task force to study and make recommendations to the Legislature on long-term care services and financing.

- HB 2814 which creates the Senior Pharmacy Assistance Program. The program is available to low-income persons 67 and older, and benefits are capped at $1,200 maximum with a 30% co-pay for each prescription. The bill would become void if Congress passes a Medicare or other senior pharmacy insurance program.

- SB 326 which appropriates funding for in-home care for elder and disabled persons at levels to eliminate waiting lists for 2001.

- SCR 1606 which supports funding of the Kansas Memory Assessment Program at the University of Kansas Alzheimer?s Center, and encourages continued study and research of issues related to Alzheimer?s disease.

The Massachusetts Department of Aging has posted a list of new aging-related legislation and events in Massachusetts. The latest bills enacted include:

- The nation's first insurance-based prescription drug program for elders and people with qualified disabilities, which sets monthly premiums, annual deductibles and co-payments based on a member's annual household income, and fully subsidizes certain premiums and deductibles for very low income persons.

- An expansion of the Supportive Housing program from 15 sites to 27, to serve about 4,000 elders with "assisted living-like" services such as 24-hour care, housekeeping and meals.

- An additional $1.1 million to investigate and remedy incidences of elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation, and support the Money Management Program's efforts to help elders manage their personal finances and retain financial independence.

- An increase of $4.4 million for the statewide Home Care Program, to preserve independence for 39,000 elders each month.

The Arkansas Legislature will hold a "Silver Haired Legislative Session" on August 30. The Silver Haired Legislative Session (SHLS) is a mock legislature of senior delegates that has convened every two years since 1978. In 2000, it will take place on August 30 in the House Chamber at the State Capitol. The session is held with the permission of the Arkansas General Assembly and is sponsored by the Division of Aging and Adult Services and the Arkansas Area Agencies on Aging.

The legislation passed by the SHLS brings the issues and concerns of older Arkansans to the attention of the Arkansas General Assembly and to the public. Many of the bills proposed in the SHLS have become actual Arkansas law. Seniors participating in the SHLS learn about the legislative process and become more effective advocates for all older citizens.

Any resident of Arkansas who is 60 years of age or older, and is not an employee of the DHS Division of Aging and Adult Services or an Area Agency on Aging, may serve as an SHLS delegate. One candidate from each county will be elected to the Silver Haired Legislature, and three repeat delegates will be appointed by each Area Agency on Aging.

Do you know where the candidates stand on various issues related to aging and eldercare? The International Longevity Center has posted an online survey where you can compare your answers to what the candidates have said. The site also includes a number of other interesting online quizzes about healthy aging. The International Longevity Center is a not-for-profit, non-partisan research, education and policy organization whose mission is to help individuals and societies address longevity and population aging in positive and productive ways and highlight older people?s productivity and contributions to their families and society as a whole.

California Governor Gray Davis signed the state's 2000 budget, which includes $270 million for programs which target the elderly and disabled. Among other things, the budget includes:

$319.9 million to help elderly persons remain at home and lead independent lives and to improve the quality of nursing home and in-home care. Approximately 52,800 more low-income seniors will receive no-cost Medi-Cal, so they can spend less of their resources on health care costs and better afford to remain at home. Nursing home workers funded by Medi-Cal will receive wage and benefit increases. Increased oversight and incentives will improve the quality of nursing home care.
$221.6 million to further supplement the Aging With Dignity Initiative by improving the quality of provider services and strengthening provider recruitment and retention.

The Department of Aging will over see some of this spending, including:

$14.8 million for one-time challenge grants to fund innovative models that provide more options to seniors and younger, functionally impaired adults in need of long-term care assistance to remain in their own homes and communities.

$1 million to establish a Senior Housing Information and Support Center to provide information to seniors and their families concerning home modification and assisted technology alternatives that will allow seniors to live more independently or with their families.

$1 million for a statewide Senior Wellness Education Campaign to educate seniors, their families, and health professionals on healthy aging practices, with information about community-based and in-home care alternatives to institutional care.

$1.3 million in funding for the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) to increase the state-funded portion of this program to more than $4.7 million.

After five years without reauthorization, the Older Americas Act received a unanimous vote in favor of the compromise bill, S. 1536, from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Many aging advocates and Hill staffers believe the prospects for reauthorization, which has gained broad support in the aging network, are excellent this year.

The bill includes:

A Family Caregiver proposal that authorizes $125 million for states to provide support for family caregivers of those needing long-term care
Cost sharing provisions for such services as home care and adult day care

Care management revisions to allow multipurpose organizations to provide care management as long as there are consumer protections
Restoration of the White House Conference on Aging, which had been deleted in earlier versions. The next conference would be scheduled for 2005.

Additional Title V funding allocated to a new pool of $35 million in grants to serve areas with unmet needs for older Americans who want to work.

The Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund is a $2-billion fund developed from Florida?s legal settlement with tobacco companies. When Governor Jeb Bush proposed the Chiles endowment last year, he said the money should go to Florida's neediest citizens, half for children's programs, half for the elderly. But when the Legislature ironed out the details this month, programs for the elderly received only one-sixth of the money in the fund. Half of the funds did go to programs for children, but the remainder of the money originally intended for programs for the elderly ended up being devoted to biomedical research.

Advocacy groups feel that programs for the elderly have been shortchanged, and point out there are many ways that money could be used to improve programs for caregivers and other aging initiatives in Florida. Opponents state that biomedical research will help the elderly, too. Larry Polivka, director of the Florida Policy Exchange Center on Aging at the University of South Florida, said the legislation caught him and other elderly advocates by surprise. The Florida chapter of AARP, which first heard about the legislation last week, was debating whether to ask Bush to veto it.

State Representative John Arriola of Nashville made pleaded with his colleagues in the House to provide funding for a $35 million homeand community-care program to give the elderly an alternative to nursing homes. Tennessee has sunk to dead last in the nation in providing alternatives to nursing home care, Arriola said, and advocates for the elderly and disabled hope that dubious distinction pressures lawmakers to provide more funding for home- and community-based care. Mississippi, which had ranked last, started a $23 million program this year that expands home- and community-based care. The plan Arriola talked about would provide home- and community-based services to almost 6,000 people across the state. The funding is in jeopardy because of a tight budget.

The Master Settlement Agreement will benefit the elderly in many states. In 1998, 46 states agreed to a $206 billion settlement with the tobacco companies, to be paid out over 25 years. Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi and Texas had already reached their own deals for a combined $40 billion. Tobacco companies reached these settlements with state legislatures to compensate the states for the cost of providing health care services to people who were made ill from their use of tobacco.

According to a recently released National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) survey, the vast majority of states are considering using the tobacco settlement monies to fund programs for tobacco use prevention and health care services, however, 18 are also targeting some of those funds to programs for the elderly.

The states proposing to spend some of these funds on programs for the elderly are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont.

Nursing home providers in Florida say the state's long term care system is near collapse because of runaway lawsuits, due to a loophole that currently gives trial lawyers incentives to sue nursing homes under a Florida law that applies only to long term care facilities. They say that lawsuits have resulted in sharply higher liability insurance rates which could force nursing homes across the state to close their doors. The Florida Association of Homes for the Aging said a survey of 23 of its members reported average premium increases of 177% this year, with some increases topping 1,000%.

The Florida Health Care Association and the Florida Association of Homes for the Aged called on state lawmakers to change the law under which nursing homes may be sued. Currently 20% of Florida's 82,000 nursing home beds are operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and provider spokesmen say that nursing homes in the state are three times as likely to be sued as nursing homes in other parts of the nation. Medicare cutbacks and low Medicaid reimbursement rates have contributed to significant financial problems for the industry, but an increase in liability lawsuits is bringing the crisis to a head.

The president of the Florida Medical Directors Association urged legislators to seriously consider proposals to make changes to the law, and said that physicians increasingly are trying to avoid treating the elderly in nursing homes for fear of becoming entangled in litigation.

Trial lawyers bringing lawsuits against the nursing homes say that legislation should not be changed to protect the owners against the results of their own mismanagement, and that the current law protects residents against abuse and neglect, and also ensures that family members may sue on behalf of their relatives.

SB 1222, introduced by Senator John McKay, was established to set up a long-term care study commission to report on this issue to the Legislature in January. House leaders are also considering introducing legislation.

Pennsylvania expects to receive about $11 billion over the next 25 years from its share of the tobacco settlement. Governor Tom Ridge has announced his intention to use all of the proceeds on healthcare needs in the state, and the legislature supported his efforts by enacting the Tobacco Settlement Act. About 15% of the $11 billion will be targeted for home and community-based care, and other moneys will go to medical research and insurance for the uninsured.

The AARP has created voter's guides for all the presidential candidates to identify their positions on Medicare, Social Security, long term care reform, and other issues important to older Americans. The guides include video clips of the candidates speaking on each of these issues.