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Legislative Bulletin: LeadingAge NY Members Take Budget Priorities to the Press

February 23, 2024

REMINDER: Send Budget Advocacy Letters to Legislators TODAY!

As legislators hear from stakeholders from across sectors about countless State budget requests, it is critical that we keep the funding needs of long-term care and aging services providers top-of-mind.  Our window of opportunity to urge for better funding of long-term care is closing, as one-house budgets will be finalized in approx. two weeks. Please send a message to your legislators TODAY!

LeadingAge New York has crafted the below service-line specific digital advocacy letters to help us keep the pressure on legislators for the remainder of 2024-25 budget discussions. Each letter takes only a minute or two to send. Simply enter your information to automatically send an email to your State Senator and Assembly Member! And, after you send your letters, consider ways that you can engage your staff teams, consumers, and volunteers in advocacy! Take a look at this action center created by St. Luke’s health Services!

Please use the below links to send messages to your legislators and the Governor TODAY!

After you send your letters, we strongly encourage members to share these links with colleagues, board members and volunteers. This is a simple and easy way to strengthen our unified message to the Legislature at this critical time.

Share Flyers with Your Network of Advocates!

To help drive traffic to these digital letters and expand our network of advocates, LeadingAge NY has created flyers that can be printed or shared electronically with your workforce, families, and community members. Flyers are linked below for member usage:

 

LeadingAge NY Members Take Budget Priorities to the Press

This week, several LeadingAge NY members across the state hosted press conferences at their organizations, calling on the Governor and State Legislators to increase nursing home Medicaid funding and ensure that reimbursement matches the costs of care. The press events came on the heels of the release of the Executive Budget 30-day amendments, which unfortunately did not propose any new investments in nursing homes or our workforce.
On Feb. 21st, Jewish Senior Life hosted a press conference which included nursing home residents, workers, and several state legislators representing the Rochester and Buffalo regions. The press conference featured a resident video created by Jewish Senior Life and included an in-person statement from one of the residents featured in the video, Mary.

“The consistent focus on rehabilitation and recreational therapy at the Jewish Home keeps my quality of life at the highest level possible. And for all of these things, I am incredibly grateful”, said Mary. “Nursing Home funding should NOT be cut, it should be INCREASED! Because we rely on others to care for us, the funding would help maintain high-quality and consistent caregivers…” A recording of this compelling press conference, including comments from state legislators, is available on Facebook here.

Following the Jewish Senior Life press event, the local NBC news outlet News10 published a powerful 3 minute segment on the need to increase funding for nursing homes and take care of our older adults.

Later in the week, LeadingAge New York members and 1199|SEIU partnered on press events throughout the state, including in Westchester and Queens. Parker Jewish Institute hosted a press event on Feb. 22nd, pointing out that “Medicaid Saves Lives” and that an appropriate Medicaid rate increase is needed to support high-quality patient care and our long-term care workforce. A clip from the press event is available here.

Members are encouraged to keep us apprised of all your local press work so that we can carry-out your message here in Albany and ensure that legislators are hearing our unified message loud and clear!

 

ACT NOW: Amplify LeadingAge NY Member Social Media Posts

In addition to LeadingAge NY’s social media toolkit (available below), LeadingAge NY members are strongly encouraged to help amplify the powerful social media posts from LeadingAge NY peers across the state. We encourage members to “Like” and “Share” the posts that were made by partner organizations. The more “likes” a post has, the more support for our budget initiatives!

Please take a moment to click the below links, and “LIKE”/”Share” the Facebook posts! It only takes a few clicks and will drive social media traffic and the attention of lawmakers! If you SHARE a post, please also tag your State Legislators to bring it to their attention!

Not seeing your social media post here? When you post, be sure to “tag” your local legislators and use our current hashtag #NYHealthBudgetGap, #SupportOurSeniors, or #NursingHomeSOS!

Increase Your Impact - TAG State Legislators! Identify your state legislator’s social media “handle” (@) so you can easily tag them. Find your legislators here, and then google their name followed by “Facebook” (EX. Senator Michelle Hinchey, Facebook) to confirm the social media handle. You should tag BOTH your State Senator and Assembly Member.

Thank you for joining us in social media advocacy!

 

LeadingAge NY Social Media Toolkit for Budget Priorities NOW AVAILABLE

LeadingAge NY has provided a NEW Social Media Toolkit, offering a suite of pre-written social media messages, and graphics. All the latest social media messages have been crafted in light of the Executive Budget Proposal (released Jan. 16 and amended on Feb. 15) and our subsequent analysis of that budget proposal and its potential impacts on our members.

Members are strongly encouraged to use these social media resources as much as possible from now until March 8th. We need our members to amplify our unified message and ensure that lawmakers and the general public understand why non-profit long-term care providers, and the residents and consumers that are in our care, depend on state funding.  

If ALL of our members use these resources and tools in a consistent manner – posting and TAGGING LEGISLATORS at least one or two times a week– we have the power to influence state funding decisions and secure INVESTMENTS in LTC, rather than CUTS.

 

Assembly Member Woerner Joins Capital Tonight to Discuss Nursing Home Issues     

 On Wednesday evening, Assembly Member Carrie Woerner joined Capital Tonight to discuss the funding and Medicaid reimbursement needs of nursing home residents, workers and providers. Emphasizing the critical role nursing homes play within our healthcare system, she underscored their impact on hospitals' ability to safely discharge patients and alleviate overcrowded emergency departments. Woerner also highlighted the pressing need to update nursing home Medicaid rates to accurately reflect current operational costs, noting that last year's 6.5% increase was insufficient given the substantial rise in operating expenses.

As a dedicated advocate in the Assembly, Woerner is actively championing the funding needs of nursing homes and is distinctly aware of staffing dynamics, including the role staffing agencies play in nursing home settings. She recognizes the challenges posed by New York's growing aging population and the evolving needs of older adults as their needs change. A clip if the Capital Tonight segment is available on Spectrum News here.  

Contact: Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org

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