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Legislative Bulletin: New Budget Advocacy Resources Now Available!

February 9, 2024

Nursing Home Digital Advocacy Letters & Budget Flyers NOW AVAILABLE

LeadingAge NY is urging state legislators and Governor Hochul to reform and invest in nursing home Medicaid reimbursement rates in the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2024-25 budget, and NOW is the time to maximize our advocacy potential! 

We expect that the Senate and the Assembly will be putting forth their one-house budget proposals sometime in March, which gives us a few short weeks to urge state legislators to provide INVESTMENT in nursing home Medicaid rates and reject any proposed CUTS.

Members are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to use the below tools as much as possible over the next 3 weeks! We have a small window of opportunity, and we need to make as much noise as possible!

UPDATED: Digital Advocacy Letter Writing Campaign – Please make sure you send a digital Provider advocacy letter to elected officials TODAY, and consistently share these letters with your networks of advocates to amplify our message!

There are 6 different digital letters available. Users may enter their personal address and/or their professional address to send letters:

*Note that if you have already created your own QR codes or embedded links in materials, the links of these letters remain the same as previous versions. The letters themselves have been updated to reflect what has been proposed by the Executive and our messaging in response to proposed cuts.  

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:

Call Your Legislators ASAP!

Lastly, we strongly encourage our nursing home members to contact state Assembly Members and Senators and ask them to INCREASE and REFORM nursing home Medicaid reimbursement in the SFY 2024-25 budget! If you have not already spoken to legislative offices about your concerns with the State budget, please take a moment to call legislator Albany offices, explain your organizations financial position, and urge legislators to INVEST in nursing home reimbursement and reject any budget proposal that includes cuts to nursing homes and long-term care. When you speak with offices, ask for the email of their legislative director so you can send them our nursing home budget brief.

Thank you for taking action at this critical time!

 

All Services – Digital Budget Advocacy Letters NOW AVAILABLE

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. 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 the Governor and your State Senator and Assembly Member!

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.

 

LeadingAge New York Releases Summary of 2024-25 Executive Budget

 On Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, Governor Hochul released her $232.7 billion ($232.7B) State Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) budget plan, entitled Our New York, Our Future. The proposed budget, which covers the period of April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025, focuses on making New York safer, more affordable, and more livable.

This morning, LeadingAge New York published a comprehensive summary of the health, Medicaid and housing proposals advanced by the Governor that may impact LeadingAge NY members. The summary reviews proposals that affect multiple service lines, service line-specific proposals, and other initiatives of interest to LTC and aging services providers.  Despite the recognition of the growth in the state’s population of older adults, the proposed budget does not invest in services for older adults, and in fact proposes disproportionate cuts to the long-term care (LTC) sector.

We are anticipating the Executive Budget 30-day amendments next week, and we will inform you of any relevant amendments. The Assembly and Senate are expected to release their one-house budget bills in approximately three weeks, so it is a critical time to remain engaged in advocacy efforts to ensure that our priorities are reflected in the one-house budget proposals.

Given the lack of investment and cuts proposed by the Governor, it is critical that we sustain our advocacy efforts throughout the budget process to ensure that there are no cuts to LTC. Further, we need to advocate aggressively and consistently if we wish to see investments that address the needs of older adults and individuals with disabilities.

Thank you in advance for staying engaged with us throughout the SFY 2024-25 State Budget process.

 

LeadingAge NY Membership Testifies at Westchester County Budget Hearing

On Thursday, Feb. 8th, several LeadingAge New York members testified at a Westchester County Budget Forum. The forum was held by the Westchester Senate Delegation, composed of Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Senator Bailey, Senator Mayer, Senator Fernandez, and Senator Harckham.

The hearing provided a meaningful opportunity to testify in-district about the pressing need to invest in and reform the nursing home Medicaid reimbursement methodology, ensuring rates align with the actual costs of care. Members who spoke at the hearing addressed the financial challenges faced by not-for-profit providers, the difficult decisions made to reduce bed capacity, and the impact on older adults and families across Westchester County. Many also highlighted concerns regarding the Executive’s proposed 10% capital reimbursement cut, emphasizing the detrimental effect it would have on nursing home finances.

While there was no opportunity for Senators to ask questions during the forum, the timing of the hearing—alongside LeadingAge New York’s advocacy day last week and upcoming activities—contributes to our ongoing public dialogue concerning the needs of older adults and non-profit/public nursing homes in this year’s state budget.

 

Governor Hochul Signs LTC-Related Chapter Amendments

This week, Governor Hochul approved two sets of chapter amendments that LeadingAge New York was monitoring and/or supporting. A brief review of those chapter amendments is below:

  1. A.8497 (Paulin)/S.8047 (Rivera) - Changes to Nursing Home Direct Care Spending Requirements
  • Chapter Amendments Signed by Gov. 2/7/24
  • Amends Chapter 747 of the Laws of 2023 by moving the four-year nursing home demonstration program from the public health law to unconsolidated law.
  • LeadingAge NY review of original bill available here.
  1. A.8483 (Burdick)/S.8028(Stewart-Cousins) – Emergency Evacuation Plans
  • Chapter Amendments Signed by Gov. 2/7/24
  • Amends chapter 745 of the laws of 2023 to provide that there is an efficient emergency evacuation plan established for people with disabilities who live in high-rise buildings.
  • LeadingAge NY review of chapter amendments available here.

Please reach out to LeadingAge NY policy team with any questions related to these chapter amendments.

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

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