FDA’s decision last week to approve a new “Alzheimer’s disease treatment,” and the buzz that surrounds it, is a symptom of all that is wrong with the way we care for frail older adults in the US. Rather than providing the supports that people with chronic conditions desperately need, and that evidence shows works, we prefer to chase butterflies. In [...]
If you add up the proposed Medicare changes in President Trump’s 2020 budget, it looks like he would cut the program by $845 billion over the next decade. That’s generated outrage from Democrats, but a closer look suggests that the reductions are much smaller, most would affect providers rather than beneficiaries, and many recycle old ideas that have little chance of ever [...]
The huge 2018 budget bill Congress passed last week includes significant new money for dementia research and modest additional funding for many programs aimed at assisting frail older adults. The final $1.3 trillion bill was a dramatic about-face for President Trump and House Republicans, whose own budget plans would have slashed or even eliminated funding for many seniors’ programs. The [...]
While most proposals in President Trump’s newly released 2019 budget are unlikely to become law, the fiscal framework does show the White House’s priorities for government over the coming year. And those apparently don’t include support for older adults, younger people with disabilities, or their families. For example, the budget would: Restructure the Medicare drug benefit to reduce costs for [...]
Congress has finally renewed the Older Americans Act—a key piece of the social safety net for seniors. It is good that, after a decade in limbo, the law finally has been reauthorized. But before you break out the balloons and champagne, remember that keeping programs alive on paper is not the same as paying for them. And the government safety [...]
Just before leaving town for the year, Congress passed a budget that increased funding for Alzheimer’s research by 60 percent, but, as usual, provided little new money for programs that help those who have the disease, other frail elders, or their caregivers. Over the past six years, funding for most of these much-needed programs has not even kept up with [...]
Congress has again frozen funding for most senior services programs, from Meals on Wheels and other nutrition programs to falls prevention and state health insurance assistance programs (SHIPs). This has been the trend throughout most of the Obama Administration. But it may be about to come to an end, as we near a time when federal funding for senior programs [...]
Republican control of Congress means that senior service programs—most of which have been frozen for years—will face growing budget pressures. At the same time, the GOP also may try to give states more flexibility in the way they provide Medicaid and other benefits to the elderly and disabled. And while the GOP leadership will be under pressure from Tea Party [...]
Congress is about to agree to a bipartisan budget for 2014 that will at best freeze federal spending for many critical senior services. In a few cases, the fiscal plan will increase funding a bit from the low levels driven by last year’s across-the-board “sequester” spending cuts. But for the most part, programs will have to meet growing demand for [...]
How will Washington’s ongoing budget crisis affect seniors? Not much, at first. But it could become very costly in just a few weeks. One big unresolved question: Will Social Security benefits be paid if the government breaches the debt limit? Many seniors programs will continue to operate for at least a while. For now, Social Security checks are going out [...]