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Lori Langland
Lori
Langland is a Masters Student at Georgia State University's School of
Social Work.
See this article!
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Healthy People Cost Less –
Budget Cuts Hurt
 Seniors
and Georgia!
Eliminating vital supports that keep older adults active and
healthy costs Georgia more money. Georgia must find the way to
stop cuts to essential services, restore those that provide a
safety net for seniors and control future spending with proven
measures.
For more information click here.
2010 CO-AGE Priorities Chosen
The Coalition of Advocates for Georgia's Elderly (CO-AGE) selected
legislative and budget priorities recently at the July 9 meeting
held at Kennesaw State.
For
information on the 2010 CO-AGE Priorities click here.
2009 Legislative
Wrap Up
HB 119, FY 2010 BUDGET BREAKDOWN
Sine Die!!!
Friday, April 3rd, marked the 40th and final
day of the legislature’s 40-day session. On
the final day of the session, the House and Senate adopted the
Conference Committee Report to HB 119, FY 2010 budget
appropriations.
The FY 2010
budget was immersed with cuts so not many programs received new
money but some programs were spared from the drastic cuts that
were recommended. Cuts to several Aging Services programs were
restored in the 2010 budget and included $15k for Haralson County
Senior Center, $20k for Senior Connections in DeKalb County, $145k
for the Naturally Occurring Retirement Centers, $225k for
Alzheimer's Services, $10k for the Georgia for A Lifetime Study,
and the restoration of a $1.5 million (of a $ 2.8 million cut) for
the non-Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) respite
services. While advocates were grateful the Conference Committee
partially restored the cut to the non-Medicaid HCBS program, we
were still disheartened by the fact that the Non-Medicaid HCBS
service dollars as well as the other two “Be There for Seniors”
items were not fully restored. If the entire $2.8 million for
non-Medicaid HCBS were restored it would have saved almost 145,000
respite hours. Even though some of the funding was restored, the
loss of the other respite hours means caregivers will have a
heavier burden in taking care of seniors in their homes and if the
caregiver fails, Georgia will pay a much higher price when the
emergency room or the nursing home becomes the caregiver. The
other items not restored included the $664,307 cut for the revised
revenue estimate under Elder Community Living Services. By not
restoring that cut approximately 235 clients will be eliminated
from the Community Care Service Programs- the only program left in
Aging capable of withstanding such a devastating cut. Sadly, both
the Senate and House also refused to restore the state funding of
$1,045,000 for the Meals on Wheels Program (Nutritional Services
Incentive Program). Both Houses agreed to allow $1,045,000 of
stimulus money to go to the Meals programs to ensure that 138,000
meals will continue for the FY 2010 budget. While advocates are
grateful the stimulus money was available to spare the Meals
Program we are still saddened that the Conference committee could
not locate any additional dollars to prevent the Meals program
from being reduced for the next year. The cuts to CCSP,
Non-Medicaid HCBS and Meals were 3 items advocates truly believed
that seniors needed to sustain them during these hash economic
times. While the Department of Human Resources will try and
stretch services as much as possible the reality is some clients
will not have respite and some receiving Meals on wheels will be
reduced from 5 to 4 meals per week.
Other cuts to Aging programs included the elimination of CCSP
provider rate increases, an $11.4m cut in state funds for CCSP due
to the increased Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), the
loss of $146,829 in the Adult Protective Services (APS) program
which means 3 to 5 case manager positions will get eliminated, and
cuts to Administration which includes elderly transportation.
Aging advocates
understood the legislature
was under serious constraints as a result of the economic decline
and revenue reductions, but still believed they would be there for
seniors for the basic necessities like food and assistance to
prevent them from prematurely going in long term care facilities
which are so much more expensive than seniors living in their
homes. Advocates knew this would be a difficult year for seniors
in terms of the budget and while some cuts were restored so much
more could have gone to help so many more. However, advocates
will not be deterred and will come back next year more determined
than ever to ensure seniors have a seat at the budget table to get
what they so earnestly need and deserve.
The following list of 2010 budgetary
items affects Georgia’s elderly:
Note: Parenthesis represents a CUT to
funding not Additional funding
Department of Human Resources
|
Program |
Governor’s FY2010
Budget Recommendations HB
119 |
House Version
Passed 3/19/09 |
Senate Version
Passed 4/1/09 |
Conference
Committee Agreed to By Both Chambers 4/3/09 |
|
Reduce funds to
reflect revised revenue estimate (Cuts 243 people from CCSP) |
($664,307) |
($664,307)
|
($664,307) |
($664,307)
|
|
Non-Medicaid HCBS Respite |
(2,873,282) |
(2,723,282) |
0 |
(1,323,282)
|
|
Nutritional
Services Incentive Program (Meals on Wheels) but recognize
$1,045,000 from stimulus |
(1,045,000) |
(1,045,000)
$1,045,000 from stimulus |
(1,045,000)
$1,045,000 from stimulus |
(1,045,000)
$1,045,000 from stimulus
|
|
Reduce funds by 6%
for the Division of Aging Services |
(171,930) |
(171,930) |
(171,930) |
(171,930)
|
|
Reduce federal funds
for Targeted Case Management (APS will lose 3-5 caseworkers) |
- |
(687,000) |
(678,063) |
(678,063)
|
|
Reduce Funds to
Reflect the revised revenue estimate (loss of APS case
workers) |
(146,829) |
(146,829) |
(146,829) |
(146,829)
|
|
Eliminate funds for
Alzheimer’s Congregational Respite Training |
(96,000) |
(96,000) |
(96,000) |
(96,000)
|
|
Eliminate fund for
the Georgia Cares prescription Assistance Program and
eliminate the associated vacant position |
($358,220) |
($358,220) |
($358,220) |
($358,220) |
|
Discontinue Public
Guardianship program |
(327,880) |
(327,880) |
(327,880) |
(327,880) |
|
Reduce funding for
Wellness & Nutrition |
(560,330) |
(560,330) |
(560,330) |
(560,330) |
|
Reduce funding for
the Haralson County Senior center |
(15,000) |
0 |
(15,000) |
0
|
|
Discontinue
Wellness: Take Charge of Your Health |
(402,169) |
(402,169) |
(402,169) |
(402,169)
|
|
Reduce funding for
Senior Connections in DeKalb County |
(20,000) |
0 |
(20,000) |
0
|
|
Alzheimer’s respite
|
(415,281) |
(190,281) |
(190,281) |
(190,281) |
|
Discontinue
Life Long Planning |
(1,040,891) |
(1,040,891) |
(1,040,891) |
(1,040,891) |
|
Naturally
Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC) 2 programs |
(575,000) |
(555,000) |
(430,000) |
(430,000)
|
|
GA Council
on Aging |
(1,947) |
(1,947) |
(1,947) |
(1,947) |
|
GA For a
Lifetime |
(50,000) |
0 |
(50,000) |
(40,000) |
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