From the Director
Seniors need a strong Office of Elder Affairs
By Robert P. Dean
During these challenging times, it is important that we do everything we can to efficiently manage our resources and our finances, and that we continue to advocate for the needs of seniors. One way in which we can ensure that the voices of seniors will be heard and their needs met, is to do everything we can to maintain a strong Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs.
Many senior advocates were surprised to learn that the Governor’s proposed budget for state fiscal year 2010, (which begins July 1, 2009), seeks to remove $2 billion dollars in line item authority for MassHealth long-term care services from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs into the Office of Medicaid. Senior advocates are concerned that moving this $2 billion dollars in long-term care services from Elder Affairs into the Office of Medicaid will fragment services for seniors at a time when such services should remain unified. Senior advocates across the state are concerned and perplexed that Elder Affairs is being weakened and marginalized at a time when it should be strengthened.
Here in Massachusetts, these long-term care dollars have been crucial to the development and success of the Choices program, which allows seniors and individuals with disabilities who are eligible for MassHealth, to choose to receive the long-term care services they need in their own homes and communities. The Choices program, together with the State Home Care and Enhanced Community Options programs, serve approximately 40,000 limited-income seniors a year statewide. These programs allow seniors to continue to live at home with dignity and independence by providing assistance with such basic activities of daily living as bathing, getting to and from the bathroom, getting dressed and ready for the day, and homemaking. It does not make sense to remove line item authority for programs such as Choices from Elder Affairs, which also provides statewide oversight for such senior programs as Nutrition/Meals on Wheels, Protective Services, and Caregiver support, to name but a few.
With regard to long-term care services, we need a unified and coherent approach that allows the dollars for these services to follow the individual, so that seniors can receive the services they need in the setting that is most appropriate to meet their needs - including in their own homes if that is their choice. As the designated State Unit on Aging, Elder Affairs is best positioned to provide this approach, and to develop and administer the full range of services seniors want and need - particularly at a time when 25% of the Commonwealth’s households include at least one individual age 65 or older.
Massachusetts needs a strong Executive Office of Elder Affairs so that Massachusetts seniors will have a say in the long-term care services that are available to them. To accomplish this, Elder Affairs needs to retain the $2 billion dollar line item authority for MassHealth long-term care services. Now is the time to make your voice heard. The House is expected to complete its budget recommendations in April, at which point the budget will go to the Senate for its review and recommendations.
Robert P. Dean is Executive Director of Elder Services.
