NYS Senate, Assembly Step Up for Older New Yorkers in State Budget Proposals

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AARP Applauds Lawmakers for Fair Pay for Home Care, Utility Bill Relief, Family Caregiver Tax Credit, Increased Nursing Home Oversight, Help with Rx Costs 

ALBANY, N.Y. – AARP New York Director of Government Affairs & Advocacy David McNally issued the following statement in response to the State Senate and Assembly one-house state budget proposals:

“Older New Yorkers have been heard by state lawmakers, and AARP applauds the Senate and Assembly for putting real support for family caregivers, utility consumers, nursing home residents, seniors facing high prescription drug and medical costs, and home care workers on the state budget negotiating table.

“Specifically, we thank:

• Both houses for proposing fair pay for home care workers and assistance for struggling utility customers to address overdue bills;
• The Senate for proposing a tax credit to help family caregivers, and increased funding for kinship care programs that help non-parent relatives raising children, and;
• The Assembly for proposing $15 million more for the woefully underfunded Long Term Care Ombudsman Program – the state’s independent nursing home watchdog – a higher income eligibility threshold to qualify for the Medicare Savings Program (the first expansion in 40 years) to help more seniors afford their prescription drugs and medical costs, an increase in funding for in-home services for the elderly case management, and an increase in funding to ensure non-New York City tenants facing unfair evictions can get a lawyer. 

“Across New York, 2.5 million family caregivers spend over $7,200 on average out of their own pockets every year to provide unpaid care worth over $31 billion; a tax credit would help sustain this invaluable source of critical long-term care, which helps keep older New Yorkers from mostly unwanted moves to much costlier and mostly taxpayer-funded nursing homes.

“Together, these initiatives would go a long way toward ensuring older New Yorkers can live with dignity in their own homes and communities, and in our nursing homes.

“AARP New York stands ready to work with lawmakers and the Governor toward including these priorities, which are so important to older New Yorkers and their loved ones, in the final 2022-23 state budget.

“To ensure affordable housing, we will also continue advocating for regulation to achieve safer accessory dwelling units in New York City in the short term, and in the longer term an expansion of these units across the state to keep families and caregivers close, as well as a full statewide Right to Counsel law.”

Contact: Erik Kriss, ekriss@aarp.org 

Follow AARP New York on Twitter:  @AARPNY and Facebook: AARP New York

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 nearly 38 million members and offices in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and advocate for what matters most to families with a focus on 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 world’s largest circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @AARP and @AARPadvocates on social media.

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