Feb. 6, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Lauren Shaham, AAHSA, (202) 508-1219


Statement from Larry Minnix, President and CEO, American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging on the President’s FY2007 Budget

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The budget proposal President Bush submitted to Congress today sets out priorities that are completely at odds with the tremendous growth in this country’s aging population.

America’s elders need an integrated long-term care, housing and aging-services system that will enable them to receive the services they need, when they need them, in the place they call home.

Yet, at a time when there are nine older people on a waiting list for every federally-subsidized Section 202 housing unit, the President’s budget proposal would cut funding by $190 million, or 25 percent. Funding for housing that accommodates the needs of people with disabilities would be cut in half.

The members of the Greatest Generation now are in their 80s and 90s. They are nursing home residents, older people and their families living at home, many with dementia, Parkinson's disease or other serious chronic conditions. They need a wide array of health care services, both in nursing homes and in the community.

And yet the President is proposing to cut $36 billion out of Medicare over the next five years, much of it by denying skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies any inflation adjustment in their payments. Home health agencies already are going without a payment update this year, and nursing facilities depend on adequate Medicare payments to make up for Medicaid under-reimbursement in most states.

Furthermore, we fear the automatic triggering of Medicare payment cuts if the Medicare trustees determine that general revenues are about to exceed 45 percent of program funding.

The President and his administration have consistently said that they want to give older people more choices to receive care in the community. And yet the budget proposal would hold even important service programs such as Meals on Wheels, help for family caregivers and transportation at current levels, without adjusting for the rapid growth in the elderly population.

AAHSA and its members call on Congress to reject these damaging proposals and help us create the integrated, healthy, affordable system of aging services that will meet the needs of the Greatest Generation and those who follow after them.

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About AAHSA
The members of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (www.aahsa.org) help millions of individuals and their families every day through mission-driven, not-for-profit organizations dedicated to providing the services that people need, when they need them, in the place they call home. Our 5,800 member organizations, many of which have served their communities for generations, offer the continuum of aging services: adult day services, home health, community services, senior housing, assisted living residences, continuing care retirement communities and nursing homes. AAHSA’s commitment is to create the future of aging services through quality people can trust.