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Seniors coalition fights cuts

Group asking residents to voice support for programs that serve older Ohians

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By Linda Ebbing, Staff Writer 12:34 AM Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Ohio biennial budget is still in the works and “anything can happen during these final days of discussion,” said Jane Taylor, state director of AARP Ohio, one of a number of statewide associations that make up the Ohio Aging Network Coalition.

With that in mind members of the coalition — which includes the Ohio Association of Senior Centers, the Ohio Council for Home Care and the Ohio Association of Area Agencies on Aging — are asking Ohio residents to voice their opinions regarding cuts in programs that serve older adults by making calls to key state elected officials.

Gov. Ted Strickland is mulling $2 billion in cuts that would slash in-home care, health care and other safety net programs for low-income and disabled Ohioans.

Officials say cuts likely include state programs and the Medicaid PASSPORT program that allows low-income adults 60 and older to receive care in their homes instead of in a nursing home.

“The state is in a huge budget crunch, that is no secret,” said John Stugmyer, executive director of the Middletown Area Senior Citizens Center. “And they are going to cut programs until they balance the budget.

“It is important that representatives hear from the constituency that supports funding for senior programs. These programs will, in the end, save taxpayers money because they provide funds to keep seniors in their homes and out of nursing homes.

“Nursing homes are many times more costly than home-based programs.”

The suggested cuts are meant to help close a more than $3 billion shortfall in the two-year state budget.

“We know that there are hundreds of thousands who rely on home services, like Meals on Wheels, homemaker care and transportation supports to their physician and other medical appointments,” said coalition member Steve Schnabl, chief executive officer of Partners in Prime that serves southern Butler County. “And these are at a disproportionately high risk. Elected officials need to understand how many voters and their families are enraged by the current proposal to cap PASSPORT and reduce the state’s Senior Community Services Block Grant by 30 percent.”

The latter, Schnabl said, also automatically makes Ohio lose millions more in federal dollars.

“We feel like our common mission is to be sure that families and consumers have the choice to live in the community as independently for as long as possible,” Taylor said. “We never want to feel we didn’t do every thing possible to make our case up to the very last minute of the negotiations.”

Contact list

Members of the Ohio Aging Network Coalition are sending e-mails to Ohio residents asking them to make calls to key state elected officials in regards to a current proposal to cap PASSPORT and reduce the state’s Senior Community Services Block Grant by 30 percent.

Gov. Ted Strickland: (614) 466-3555

Senate President Bill Harris: (614) 466-8086

House Speaker Armond Budish: (614) 466-5441

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Looks like Strickland is bowing to the nursing home industry lobbyists. Why else would someone cut programs like home care that are much more cost-efficient than nursing homes?

Concerned
5:41 AM, 7/2/2009

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