Urge State Legislators to Invest in Nursing Home Rates and Improve Access to Quality Care!

LeadingAge NY is calling on the State Legislature to prioritize the care of older adults and medically vulnerable individuals in the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2025-26 Budget. The Senate and Assembly are expected to put forth their one-house budget proposals sometime in early March. It is vital that we use these next few weeks to draw the attention of the Legislature to our budget issues, urging for a 20 percent increase in Medicaid reimbursement , and restoring recent cuts in funding for capital improvement projects. These actions are critical to ensure sustainable access to high-quality nursing home care for older adults and others.

We need ALL nursing home members and advocates to help vocalize their support for these critical budget requests!

Take action TODAY to urge the State to provide a 20 percent Medicaid increase to nursing homes:

1. Send this digital advocacy letter, written from a provider leadership perspective (CEO, COO, CFO, Administrator). Members are strongly encouraged to customize this letter with any details you would like. You can do so by simply editing the content available in the text box.​​​​​​​
2. Amplify our message by including others in our digital letter-writing campaign. LeadingAge NY has created the below digital letter-writing campaigns, written from the perspective of different stakeholders. We strongly encourage members to share these links with staff, board members, residents, family members, etc. This is a simple and easy way to strengthen our unified message to the Legislature at this critical time. Please share these letters with your networks of advocates to amplify our message:
   • Staff Team Members
   • General Constituents/Volunteers
   • Board Members 
   • Family Members of Residents
   • Residents
3. Print and share advocacy flyers to increase our digital advocacy reach. Flyers can be printed and left in lobby areas or shared digitally with families and volunteers: 
   • Family Advocacy Flyer
   • Constituent/Volunteer Advocacy Flyer
   • ​​​​​​​Workforce Advocacy Flyer
4. NEW: Digital letters and advocacy flyer now available in Spanish/español! 
   • Electores como usted – Constituent Advocacy Flyer
   • Electores como usted – Constituent/Volunteer Letter
   • Los familiares como usted – Family Member Letter
   • El personal y los profesionales como usted – Staff Letter
5. Join our member-driven video advocacy campaign. The campaign aims to highlight the unique stories of nursing home residents and the dedication of the staff across NYS, with a focus on urging the State to better fund and prioritize the care of older adults.​​​​​​

In addition, LeadingAge NY’s Advocacy Day website will remain active over the coming weeks. We encourage members to continue to share our Budget Issue Briefs with legislative offices, and, if you have not already watched the recording of our Advocacy Day Prep Call, the messaging and focus of the advocacy that we reviewed on the call remain relevant.

Please reach out to Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org with any questions.