AARP NY: State Must Clear Up Aging Program’s Waiting List for Services and Report Its Spending Details

NEW YORK – In testimony this morning, AARP State Director Beth Finkel told the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Aging that an estimated up to 18,000 requests for services for older New Yorkers and their family caregivers have been made, yet they’re told to wait because Governor Kathy Hochul refused in the last state budget to adequately fund the Expanded In-Home Services for the Elderly Program (EISEP).

“The overall goal of EISEP is to enable older adults to age with dignity in their homes and communities and avoid placement in institutional care such as a nursing home,” said Finkel, who was among the advocates and officials who testified about the program in the Assembly’s Manhattan offices.

“EISEP has thousands of family caregivers calling their county office for aging, seeking in-home and supportive services for their older loved ones, and being told they must wait,” Finkel testified. (Click here for full testimony)

Run by the New York State Office for the Aging (SOFA), EISEP funds county services that help New York’s fast-growing older adult population remain in their homes and communities, where they prefer to be. The program supports those who do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private help. Most counties, however, have extensive wait lists because they lack the state funding to offer enough services.

Making people wait for delivered meals, personal care and housekeeping is not only stressful, Finkel testified. By the state’s own admission, it is dangerous.

“The State Office for Aging, in a 2023 report, clearly stated that individuals waiting for services either fall in their home, leading to emergency room visits and hospitalization, or die while on the waiting list,” she noted. “Having older New Yorkers die on a waiting list for aging services is completely and totally unacceptable to AARP.”

The Assembly held the hearing as Governor Hochul prepares her 2025 budget, which will be released early next year. AARP New York has called on her to add $42 million to EISEP to eliminate wait lists. The 2024-2025 budget added just $700,000, hardly making a dent.

Finkel also testified that SOFA has consistently fallen short of requirements to show how EISEP funds directed at ending the waiting lists are spent, how many people are served and what kind of help they receive. Without this required information, it is impossible to evaluate the program.

“According to SOFA’s testimony in last year’s budget hearings, they state there has been historic investments for older New Yorkers across the state for those awaiting services,” she said. “However, there has been no reporting on how this unmet need money has been spent by each county, as required by law.”

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AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high-quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the nation's largest circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org/about-aarp/, www.aarp.org/español or follow @AARP, @AARPenEspañol and @AARPadvocates on social media.

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