President Donald Trump has said he will veto any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. But that doesn’t mean older adults aren’t at risk of losing other support for vital services.
The Administration for Community Living is a lifeline for seniors and people living with disabilities across the country. Now, the ACL could be dismantled, along with its programs like senior centers.
Mary Lynn Kasunic is the president of the Area Agency on Aging in Maricopa County. One program at risk she says is the State Health Insurance Assistance Program.
“Our staff help over 15,000 individuals a year try to make right decisions about which Medicare plan that they want to be on.”
She is also worried about the agency’s long-term care ombudsman program, which serves 39,000 individuals “in 80 nursing homes and 1,500 assisted living facilities. And what we do is we make sure that individuals' rights are being upheld.”
She says the elimination of that program would be devastating.
Trump has also called for the elimination of all health promotion and falls prevention programs, Kasunic said.
"And those also are very critical,” she explained. ”We do about 100 classes a year to over 1,000 individuals, things like Tai Chi.”
State funding woes
Kasunic is also worried about not receiving funds from Arizona. There’s currently a bill that she’s hoping will fund home and community-based services and housing assistance.
“We have been able to help over 800 seniors over the age of 60 if they need help with mortgage payment, rental assistance, utility assistance," Kasunic said.
She says most of those individuals had received either an eviction notice or a utility shut-off notice.
“We know that the fastest growing homeless population in Maricopa County are individuals 50 and over," she said.
Kasunic says her agency is getting calls from people who are on the verge of becoming homeless and those who just became homeless.
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