Legislative Bulletin: LeadingAge NY Connects with Over 70 Lawmakers on Key Budget Concerns
February 11, 2022
2022 Advocacy Days Underway!
Over the course of just six business days, LeadingAge NY and our member providers have organized and participated in 45 meetings with state lawmakers and legislative staff in coordination for our 2022 Advocacy Days! Within those 45 virtual meetings, our network of provider advocates and allies is connecting with over 70 state lawmakers, communicating our top budget priorities and concerns. Key legislative offices we’ve spoken with include Assembly Health Chair Gottfried, Senate Health Chair Rivera, Senate Finance Chair Krueger, Assembly Ways and Means Chair Weinstein, Assembly Insurance Chair Cahill, as well as Senate and Assembly central staff.
During our meetings, we have focused on the need for a Final Fiscal Year 2022-23 Budget to include much more than a buy-back of previously enacted cuts and a 1% across-the-board Medicaid rate increase. We are pointing out that long-term care providers have received no cost-of-living adjustment to Medicaid rates in 14 years and have sustained two-years of exorbitant added costs and strife due to the pandemic, rendering many providers unable to recruit and retain the staff they so desperately need. We also have pointed out the need to protect positive Executive Budget proposals such as the establishment of the Medication Technician role in the nursing home, and the inclusion of adult care facilities and nursing homes in the Vital Access Provider Assurance Program (VAPAP).
THANK YOU to our LeadingAge NY membership who have helped to organize and participate in these meetings; and thank you for sharing your experiences and concerns with lawmakers. We have seen how impactful your stories are with these offices, and having you be a part of this early component of budget advocacy is so critical. Thank you for taking the time to participate in meetings amidst everything you are doing for the people in your care.
We still have several meetings scheduled for next week and LeadingAge NY will be hard at work to ensure we provide thorough follow-up to all of the offices that you, and we, are connecting with. Follow-up is a key component of grassroots advocacy so please be sure to let Sarah Daly (sdaly@leadingageny.org) know who you are meeting and speaking with!
Lastly, while our 2022 advocacy days are technically coming to a close, we will need to keep the pressure on lawmakers over the next several weeks to ensure that our key budget priorities and concerns are heard before the State Senate and Assembly finalize their one-house budget proposals. If you have not already met with your lawmakers, there is still time to do so! You can easily find your lawmakers’ contact information here. Additionally, members can use our LeadingAge NY Budget Issue Briefs to inform your conversations and share with lawmakers; and you can still reach out to Sarah if you’d like assistance in setting up a meeting. We are happy to support you in your advocacy.
NEW Budget Advocacy Letters Now Available!
Now that our 2022 grassroots advocacy efforts are well underway, it is time to reenforce our message and priorities to legislators via email letter writing. Digital advocacy letters are an easy way to engage in budget advocacy and ensure that your lawmakers understand your top SFY 2022-23 budget priorities.
Members of the Legislature are beginning to finalize their own proposals and priorities that they then will communicate to legislative leadership for inclusion in one-house budgets. The one-house budgets are an important piece of the overall state budget process; in order to have a budget ask included in the final enacted budget, it must be included in the Senate one-house, the Assembly one-house or the Executive Budget Proposal.
This is a critical time for legislators to hear from you! Please use the links below to send messages to your legislators and the Governor TODAY! We also strongly encourage members to share these links with colleagues and members of your board to expand our advocacy reach.
Invest in High Quality Nursing Home Care in This Year’s Budget
Invest in ACF/AL Providers and Workforce in This Year’s Budget
Provide Adequate Reimbursement and Investment to HCBS
Ensure Access to Safe and Affordable Senior Housing in this Year’s Budget
Oppose Competitive Procurement of Medicaid MLTC Plans
Support Adult Day Health Care in This Year’s Budget
LeadingAge NY CEO Testifies at Health Budget Hearing
The Legislature held its Joint Legislative Hearing on the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2022-23 Health/Medicaid Budget on Tues. Feb. 8th. The hearing began at 9:30 a.m. and concluded around 7 p.m., after hours of testimony and questions posed by lawmakers. In attendance at the hearing were Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger, Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Helene Weinstein, Senate Health Committee Chair Gustavo Rivera, Assembly Health Committee Chair Dick Gottfried, along with many members of the Senate and Assembly Health Committees.
During the early hours of the hearing, the committees received testimony from the relatively new Commissioner of the Department of Health (DOH), Dr. Mary Bassett, and State Medicaid Director Brett Friedman. Following their testimony, the Chairs and members of the Health Committees posed questions to the Commissioner for several hours, inquiring about how the proposed Executive Budget would meet the health care needs of all New Yorkers. An early focus of many questions was related to the needs of older adults and people with disabilities, as well as the implementation of investments aimed at building the health care workforce and scope of practice changes. There were many questions from lawmakers pertaining to the Governor’s proposal to offer health care workers bonuses of up to $3,000. Among those questions was one posed by Assembly Member Josh Jensen, who pointed out that the proposal overlooks non-Medicaid-funded health care settings and other critical job roles involved in aging services, such as housekeeping and dining services. The Medicaid Director acknowledged the need there, and suggested that the Health Commissioner would have some discretion regarding to whom the bonuses may be applied.
LeadingAge NY submitted written testimony for the hearing, and LeadingAge NY President and CEO, Jim Clyne, was selected to offer virtual testimony. Members interested in watching Jim’s portion of the hearing, where he received several questions from lawmakers, can watch the clip here. An archived recording of the full hearing is also available here.
Urge Lawmakers to Sign-On to Affordable Housing Resident Assistance Budget Letter
Assembly Housing Committee Chair Steven Cymbrowitz’ office is circulating a budget sign-on letter to support the inclusion of $5M in the SFY 2022-23 Budget to establish an Affordable Independent Senior Housing Resident Assistance Program. The program would provide grants to allow the creation of a resident assistant role in more affordable senior housing properties throughout the State.
The value of this type of assistance for aging individuals was highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which created acute social challenges for older adults while simultaneously magnifying the need for traditional and digital connectivity to achieve daily tasks safely. As Medicaid-funded assisted living facilities and nursing homes struggle to accommodate overwhelming demand for their specialized services, the State must invest in cost-effective early intervention that can extend low-income seniors’ independence, such as the Affordable Independent Senior Housing Resident Assistance Program.
The budget sign-on letter currently has 16 Members of the Assembly signed on, which is a great start! However, we need to work to ensure that this letter has as many sign-ons as possible. If your Assembly Member is not listed below, please take a moment to contact their office and urge that they contact Assembly Member Cymbrowitz’s office to sign-on. You can find your Assembly Member’s contact information here.
Current Assembly Members Signed On:
- Meeks
- Benedetto
- Cruz
- Seawright
- McMahon
- Dan Rosenthal
- Hevesi
- Sayegh
- Colton
- Gottfried
- Lupardo
- Davila
- Simon
- O’Donnell
- Fernandez
- Tapia
Tell Us Who You Are Meeting With!
LeadingAge New York knows that many of our members are strong advocates within their regions. We greatly appreciate your diligent advocacy work to ensure that lawmakers understand the significant workforce and financial challenges long-term care providers are experiencing as you try to provide the best quality of care and quality of life possible to residents and older adults.
If you have been meeting with lawmakers this year, or have meetings scheduled for February, please take a moment to tell us who you are meeting with! If you have been scheduling meetings for our advocacy days, please send your full schedule of meetings to Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org. If you are having conversations with legislative offices over the phone or email, or have meetings set up for later this month, please update Sarah on those activities as well. Members can also opt to use our Advocacy Engagement Form to update us on your activities.
Understanding our membership’s advocacy activities is critical to ensure that our budget message is reaching everyone that it needs to. It also ensures that our advocacy is effective and efficient, allowing us to properly follow up with lawmaker offices to re-enforce the message we are aiming to convey to the Legislature.
LeadingAge & LeadingAge New York Coronavirus Resources
LeadingAge NY continues to closely follow all COVID-19 news and we are doing our best to keep members informed of updates, recommendations and guidelines from the Department of Health (DOH).
LeadingAge NY and LeadingAge National Member resources are linked below.
LeadingAge NY Coronavirus Resources
LeadingAge NY COVID-19 Weekly Update calls – Mondays at 11 a.m. Click here to join the call from your computer, android or apple device. Or you can join the call by dialing in: 877 853 5257 (Toll Free); Webinar ID: 852 964 255.
LeadingAge National Coronavirus Resources Page
COVID-19 Group in the MyLeadingAge Member Community
LeadingAge National Coronavirus Policy Updates – Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. Past call recordings are available here and you can register here for future calls.
Contact: Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org