AARP Illinois Urges Springfield to Ensure Critical Services Remain Available

A statement from AARP Illinois State Director Bob Gallo

As the General Assembly failed to override Governor Rauner’s amendatory veto on House Bill 2482, it is critical now that the next step for Illinois’ elected officials is to work in a collaborative, bi-partisan manner to protect and preserve the critical home and community-based services that are essential for over 24,000 older Illinoisans to continue receiving the services that allow them to live with independence and purpose in the home settings of the choice.

AARP looks forward to engaging the General Assembly and the Governor’s Office in policy discussions regarding the availability of the state’s Determination of Need (DON) Score and the proposed task force of the upcoming Universal Assessment Tool.

AARP maintains its unwavering commitment to advocate for Illinois’ older adults, and urges the Governor and the Legislature to honor their promises to seniors and disabled individuals.

Home and community-based services are fiscally responsible programs for Illinois, saving taxpayers millions of dollars and creating thousands of jobs across the state. In FY2013 alone, these programs directly created over 144,000 caregiver jobs in Illinois and indirectly an additional 66,000 jobs in communities across the state, bringing over $1.1 billion in federal dollars back to Illinois’ taxpayers, and generating savings of approximately $1 billion each year.

Every dollar of GRF spending invested in caregiver programs generated an average of $3.74 in economic activity.

On behalf of our 1.7 million Illinois members and adults aged 50+ and their families, we stand ready and willing to work with Illinois’ elected leaders to offer long-term, stable, community-based choices to our state’s most vulnerable residents.