00:00 - Focus on Aging adults is sponsored in part

00:03 - by AARP.

00:06 - Pennsylvania has one of the largest aging populations in the country.

00:10 - Our aging adults are vibrant, active contributors to our society.

00:15 - PCN, in partnership with AARP,

00:18 - present focus on aging adults.

00:21 - Welcome to focus on aging adults.

00:24 - I'm Larry Casper.

00:25 - This program is brought to you in partnership

00:28 - between PCN and the AARP of Pennsylvania.

00:33 - May is Older Americans Month, and we'll be talking

00:36 - about funding programs that are important to seniors.

00:40 - Our guests are Rebecca may Cole, executive director

00:44 - of the Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

00:48 - Roy Hostler Bok, founder and president of the Arthur Bok Group.

00:52 - And Bill Johnston Walsh, state director of the AARP of Pennsylvania.

00:57 - Welcome to our program, everyone.

01:00 - Bill, we're going to start with you.

01:02 - Forbes magazine is reporting that President Trump

01:05 - has cut 40% of the staff that oversees programs for seniors.

01:11 - What could that mean to Pennsylvania?

01:13 - Thank you. Larry.

01:14 - Yeah.

01:15 - What it means for Pennsylvania is a lot of confusion.

01:18 - What is what has happened since January and all these cuts from from,

01:23 - the staff to, the staff not being up enough.

01:27 - Staff being there for programs.

01:29 - Means that, you know, we saw this in a couple, month,

01:33 - about a month, month

01:34 - and a half ago that they stopped payments coming down for a couple of days,

01:38 - you know, which meant that, you know, not just individuals, but,

01:41 - the state wasn't able to, to pay out to, to,

01:45 - programs that have been implementing some of these.

01:48 - And, and the cuts are just across the board.

01:51 - You know, so it's not just HHS, but you're also getting them in agriculture.

01:54 - You're also getting them at transportation.

01:57 - You're getting them in different places

01:59 - that are really impacting all Pennsylvanians, but really impacting

02:02 - older Pennsylvanians and the programs that they rely on every day.

02:07 - Rebecca, what do you think about the news emanating from Washington?

02:11 - It is very confusing.

02:13 - I will say the the lack of certainty, knowing

02:17 - what it is that area agencies are ag on aging are going to do.

02:21 - I mean, they're trying to plan their budgets for this upcoming

02:24 - fiscal year, and nobody knows what's going to happen.

02:27 - So, you know, having multiple different budgets to say,

02:31 - if this happens then we'll do this.

02:33 - If that happens we'll do that.

02:34 - It's it's very hard and people are scared.

02:37 - Honestly, a lot of older adults are scared.

02:39 - And so they're reaching out to the triple

02:40 - AA saying, what if I lose this benefit or that benefit?

02:43 - So there's there's a lot of uncertainty.

02:45 - And, and I would say a lot of fear

02:47 - not knowing Roy, you know, there's a lot of confusion also.

02:50 - You know it's state budget time as well.

02:52 - And a lot of the dollars that were receive,

02:54 - you know, for the programs that that impact older Pennsylvanians

02:58 - come from the federal government, come from the Older Americans Act,

03:01 - come from Medicaid.

03:02 - And what is happening is that the state is trying to plan

03:05 - over the next year, and they really can't do that right now.

03:08 - So that puts them in disarray.

03:10 - And it makes, as Rebecca said, it makes people really nervous

03:13 - about the programs that they've been supported,

03:15 - that have been supporting them in community for forever.

03:19 - And so, Roy, you used to be in the legislature.

03:22 - What do you make of this situation?

03:24 - It is worse than confusing.

03:26 - In all the years I've been here, this is the worst year for budget

03:29 - making because we're caught between, as Bill just mentioned

03:32 - and as Rebecca mentioned, the total uncertainty in Washington

03:35 - and trying to do a state budget with a three month differential.

03:39 - Our budget, of course, ends on June 30th and starts on July 1st.

03:43 - The federal budget ends on September 30th and starts on October 1st.

03:47 - So there's always that overlap that we have to try to

03:50 - guess how much we're actually going to be receiving from the federal government.

03:53 - And when the state receives $31 billion, which is the most recent amount

03:57 - this past year,

03:58 - and now all of that is at risk because we don't know

04:01 - where the cuts are going to be made.

04:02 - We do know cuts are going to be made.

04:04 - More than half of that 31 billion is Medicaid money.

04:07 - And as everyone knows by now, from the news, the House was instructed

04:11 - to cut $880 billion from the committee that oversees Medicaid.

04:16 - A good portion of that will come from Medicaid.

04:18 - When it's going to be phased in is another issue.

04:21 - So it really is a situation

04:23 - where people are doing more guessing than they are on terms of actual fact.

04:27 - At this point.

04:27 - And then add on to that, as you started out with Larry, the the staff cuts,

04:31 - you know, the administration came in promising that there would be deregulation

04:35 - in many areas.

04:36 - Well, one way to deregulate quickly is to remove staff

04:39 - so that regulation cannot be enforced because the repeal of regulation

04:43 - takes a long time, especially at the federal level.

04:45 - But if you remove enough staff that they can't legitimately

04:49 - enforce the regulations, now you've achieved the goal that you want.

04:52 - You've really repealed back regulations even though they're still in force.

04:56 - And then you have the departments like HHS, Health and Human Services

05:00 - is just done away with the administration for community living,

05:03 - and they're talking about splitting up the Older Americans Act

05:07 - and parceling it out into different areas of the federal government.

05:10 - So there's a lot of confusion going on, as we've said now, at least 3 or 4 times,

05:15 - right.

05:15 - All three of you have indicated there's agreement.

05:17 - There's consensus that there's confusion about the news coming out of Washington.

05:20 - So I'm trying to interpret any kind of clues I can find out there.

05:23 - And I notice when I, gave that quote from Forbes magazine earlier that Trump,

05:28 - President Trump has cut 40% of the staff that oversees programs for seniors.

05:33 - At least that's not programs per se.

05:36 - That's the way I read it.

05:37 - Wait, wait, like he write the program that provides insulation for homes

05:42 - and so on for seniors and very poor people right now

05:45 - that has not had the funding cut, but every staff has been removed.

05:50 - So you've got a program in place that's funded but can't do anything

05:53 - because there are no staff there to actually do something.

05:57 - Yeah. And that's important with Leahy.

05:59 - That's important when it's going to start getting colder again.

06:02 - You know we're not thinking about it right now.

06:04 - You know it's the summertime.

06:05 - But when it starts to get cold again that's how people pay for the oil,

06:09 - pay for their heating costs.

06:11 - And at that point,

06:12 - if there's no staff to be able to send the dollars down to the states,

06:15 - you know, so it as you know, as Roy has said,

06:19 - you know, the bottom line here is they may or may not be cutting the program

06:22 - per se right now, but without staff to do it,

06:26 - your hands are tied and that money just sits there.

06:28 - Exactly right. Exactly.

06:29 - And then eventually

06:30 - it gets rolled back into the budget because it's not been spent.

06:33 - So now here's another item from Forbes magazine.

06:37 - They say that, the staffers that oversee Meals on Wheels were fired.

06:42 - So let's talk about the area agencies on aging.

06:45 - And what could that mean to services in Pennsylvania, Rebecca?

06:48 - Well, again, any time the oversight organization, you know, staff are gone.

06:54 - If there are any changes or questions, you can't get the answers.

06:57 - So you don't know what it is that you're supposed to be doing.

07:00 - There are some, more recent,

07:04 - called

07:04 - federal final rule, but rules that have gone into place

07:07 - and there's a lot of questions about how to implement

07:11 - some of those rules at the state level.

07:12 - And there's no answer right now

07:15 - because the staff are not there.

07:18 - It sounds like the result is that is really a form of paralysis.

07:22 - Yes. It's a form of saving money by simply not having staff

07:25 - be able to complete the programs.

07:27 - And that's part of what their goal is, I believe, at the federal level

07:30 - is to be able to look to ways you will not spend this money

07:34 - and call that a savings, when in fact it's not being spent

07:38 - because they fired all the staff or transferred them elsewhere

07:41 - so that the program is, in all intents and purposes, totally out of business.

07:46 - And so when people hear about staffing cuts and they hear about, you know,

07:49 - that the programs are still there, but, you know, the dollars aren't coming down,

07:53 - you got to put a face to that.

07:54 - You have to remember that there's people at the other,

07:56 - and someone has to be there to do the work well.

07:58 - And also the people

07:59 - that are supposed to be receiving this, you know, they're in their homes right now

08:02 - and maybe, maybe it's just,

08:04 - you know, they're in their homes because of these programs.

08:06 - If if these programs go away, they may have to go into a facility

08:10 - because they won't be able to stay in age, in place in their homes.

08:14 - And that's particularly true

08:15 - with programs like Meals on Wheels, you know, no question about that.

08:19 - And something else for Pennsylvania, the area agencies on aging.

08:23 - We're fortunate because we have a lottery fund.

08:25 - Thank goodness we have the lottery fund.

08:27 - And so that means here about 20% of the funding

08:31 - that area agencies on aging receive comes from the federal government

08:35 - that older Americans act, that that Roy was talking about,

08:38 - the 80% roughly comes from the lottery fund.

08:42 - So we are very fortunate that we are here in Pennsylvania and have that,

08:45 - but at the same time, we are able to serve

08:49 - more people because of that and keep people in their homes.

08:52 - And so, you know, if you were to take a large hit on the year old federal funding,

08:58 - a lot of the programs that we have that we offer were fortunate

09:01 - because we're able to provide more than just Medicaid.

09:04 - So those people who are just barely over the line financially

09:08 - that would have otherwise received Medicaid services, they would get nothing.

09:12 - We actually are able to serve those people,

09:15 - and we're the difference, I would argue in many ways between somebody getting,

09:20 - receiving Medicaid,

09:22 - you know, they're able to stay in their homes,

09:24 - they're functionally able to stay in their homes

09:26 - because they're receiving just a little bit.

09:27 - Maybe it's the Meals on Wheels and, you know, the home delivered meals.

09:32 - Maybe

09:32 - it's having somebody come and coordinate care for them.

09:35 - You know, there are a variety of services that they receive during the days

09:39 - that are keeping them in their homes where they want to be.

09:43 - And it's much more expensive when you start looking at a facility.

09:46 - So it ends up harming in the long run.

09:48 - When you don't have the funding in these places that are preventing care

09:53 - like you would receive through the Medicaid program

09:56 - and through nursing facilities, it ends up costing more in the long run.

10:00 - And I think that's something that we're not necessarily thinking about.

10:02 - And I think just going back to these are great points, Rebecca.

10:05 - And I think going back to the $880 billion that's being cut

10:10 - or looked at being cut right now in this big,

10:12 - beautiful bill that's happening as they call that's what the president calls.

10:15 - Yes. What the president calling.

10:16 - That's and that's what, Congress, Republicans in Congress are calling it.

10:19 - You have to remember that the impact back down to the state level,

10:24 - we are, as we mentioned, going through this budget process.

10:27 - And if they're going to be doing these cuts at that level,

10:29 - it means the is going to have to pick up more of the Medicaid costs,

10:33 - which means where are they? Where are they going to come from this?

10:35 - So they're going to go

10:36 - after some of the dollars, these lottery funds that have been there

10:40 - just for these programs, supplementing the Older Americans Act

10:44 - and some of the other programs that we've been working on

10:46 - that is going to that is going to be looked at as dollars

10:50 - that can go over to supplement the the Medicaid funds.

10:53 - Or the other side of that coin is that services may actually be discontinued

10:58 - because there's only two basic funds from which services for older

11:02 - adults are coming to Pennsylvania.

11:03 - The one is, as we've just been discussing, the Medicaid fund

11:07 - for those who are poor enough to receive Medicaid,

11:10 - but the only guarantee in Medicaid is to be in a nursing home.

11:13 - Everything else is considered a waiver, a so called home and community

11:16 - based services that we talk about,

11:18 - which includes things

11:19 - like Meals on Wheels and home care and registered nurses coming in.

11:22 - People helping individuals take baths and cleaning their home.

11:25 - And so all of those are considered waiver services that are optional.

11:29 - And so the state doesn't have to produce those and does not have to continue

11:33 - producing them, if, in fact, they're now producing them to the folks who need them.

11:36 - So if the federal government cuts back substantially on Medicaid, the belief

11:40 - is that most states, most states will do away with those optional services.

11:46 - And you have to remember when they again, as we talking as they do

11:48 - away with the optional optional services, where do they need to go?

11:52 - They, they need to go out of their homes and go into a facility.

11:55 - Well, 64% of individuals right now in nursing homes across

11:58 - Pennsylvania rely on Medicaid dollars.

12:01 - So what's going to happen with that when you start building those numbers up?

12:05 - It's just just it's a cycle and it's just a no win situation.

12:10 - Before we continue our conversation about potential federal funding cuts,

12:14 - let's go back to what Rebecca brought up a couple minutes ago, the lottery fund.

12:18 - In other words,

12:19 - I think there's some people out there that need to know more about

12:21 - just how the lottery fund does, how these programs

12:24 - play a prescription drug program within the lottery.

12:28 - Tell us about that.

12:29 - The Pace program is one that we have, provides

12:34 - prescription assistance to, individuals aged 60 and over.

12:38 - There's also the Snap program,

12:40 - in which one you qualify for depends on your level of income.

12:43 - But again, these these programs that are provided

12:46 - through the Department of Aging here in Pennsylvania are for the people who,

12:52 - they did the right thing in that they saved their money.

12:55 - You know, they planned for retirement.

12:57 - They have just a little bit more, as far as, you know, assets, maybe.

13:01 - And because of that, we're able to still serve them.

13:06 - And the lottery Roy was actually around when the lottery started.

13:10 - Thank you. Roy, you're very welcome.

13:12 - Thank you very much.

13:13 - Appreciate it.

13:14 - I am aging in place.

13:15 - Yes, yes, I but, you know, Pennsylvania had the foresight,

13:19 - foresight to create the lottery and the intent of the lottery.

13:22 - You know, not only has been the Pace program, there's always also the home.

13:26 - Property tax and rent rebate that older eligible for transportation.

13:31 - Transportation is also part of it.

13:33 - And the intent behind the lottery was to be able to keep people in their homes.

13:37 - It was for those well, I'll let you know.

13:40 - Go ahead. You're doing well. Well thank you.

13:43 - It's,

13:46 - services, you know, outside of medical assistance or Medicaid,

13:49 - you know, and that's really the focus is to keep people in their homes.

13:53 - And, and again, we're so fortunate that we have.

13:55 - Well, thanks for telling us about that, Rebecca.

13:58 - I make it a point on this program to explore the lottery whenever it comes up.

14:01 - There are people out there that need to know about those benefits

14:04 - that in fact, they could take advantage of.

14:06 - Now, could federal cuts, potential federal cuts,

14:09 - I'll call them, affect transportation for seniors.

14:13 - What have you seen so far?

14:16 - Well, they will they really will go effect because there is money coming in

14:19 - from the federal government, part of $31 billion

14:21 - I mentioned that we received from the federal government.

14:23 - Part of that has transportation money in it.

14:25 - I don't recall off the top of my head how much it is, but clearly

14:28 - if that were cut back again, it would fall upon the state or the municipalities.

14:32 - And as you know, right now, Pennsylvania's in the legislature

14:36 - having a very significant discussion about how do we further fund mass transit

14:40 - or how do we further fund that type of transit,

14:42 - which is necessary to be able to send out, to pick up an individual

14:46 - to get them to the doctor appointment or whatever it may be,

14:48 - which is part of what the lottery does in Pennsylvania.

14:50 - And depending upon

14:52 - how much the federal government cuts, that just exacerbates our problem.

14:55 - We've got that situation right now where we can't seem to be able

14:59 - to find a way to solve it.

15:00 - And by the way, mass transportation in the major cities

15:03 - is not all that it's cracked up to be for this.

15:05 - Because if an older individual has to get onto a bus

15:08 - and maybe change 2 or 3 times before they can get to where they're going,

15:13 - that can get extremely confusing.

15:15 - So it's, you know, it's not just the cities

15:17 - that have this problem, it's also the rural areas.

15:19 - But yeah, the the bottom line to your question is cuts in federal transportation

15:23 - money will absolutely affect Pennsylvania and absolutely affect older adults here.

15:28 - Well, my understanding of

15:29 - other potential cuts could affect elder abuse prevention.

15:33 - So the word prevention let's focus on that.

15:35 - In other words that implies that there are programs out there that can prevent it.

15:39 - Can anybody explain those to me?

15:41 - I can certainly start.

15:46 - Frankly, everything that the Triple A's do that the area agencies on aging do,

15:50 - can be seen as prevention of abuse, neglect.

15:54 - Give me some examples.

15:55 - Well, one example, if you're talking about neglect,

15:58 - let's say that there's a caregiver who, is is working hard.

16:02 - Maybe they are also working, or maybe they have needs themselves.

16:06 - If nobody is there supporting that caregiver, maybe they're unable

16:10 - to take care of their loved one who also lives with them.

16:14 - You have a lot of couples, you know, who 1st May be, less able

16:19 - because of various functional issues, then another, the other.

16:23 - It doesn't mean that they necessarily have the ability to provide everything

16:27 - that somebody would need an area agency on aging.

16:29 - When they come in, maybe they're coming in to see the person

16:32 - who's the least, you know, able to to take care of for themselves.

16:37 - Maybe the

16:38 - triple AA comes in and sees them and ask some questions,

16:41 - but they're also looking around at what's happening in their,

16:44 - in the person's house.

16:45 - Does it look like things are kept up?

16:47 - Does it look like they have enough food?

16:48 - Does it look like, you know, the person's being bathed adequately

16:53 - sometimes when it comes to some things like, neglect.

16:57 - It's not something that's intentional.

16:59 - It's something that can happen.

17:01 - And if we're not able to support

17:02 - that caregiver, that can that can definitely happen.

17:05 - And another piece of it is also self neglect is a large portion of of what area

17:10 - agencies on aging

17:11 - are seeing when they're going out and doing those protective services,

17:14 - investigations.

17:15 - And that's also because somebody doesn't have access to services.

17:18 - Someone has to initiate that visit. Rebecca.

17:20 - That's what I'm thinking about right now in

17:22 - both of these examples you're talking about.

17:24 - Yes. Well, sometimes there's something that's, called a report of need.

17:28 - It's when somebody calls and says,

17:30 - you know, I think I saw something happening to Mrs.

17:32 - Jones. She lives here.

17:34 - And somebody will come out. That might be a neighbor.

17:36 - Yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely. It could be a neighbor.

17:38 - Could be, somebody at the library.

17:40 - It could be, you know, the mail carrier.

17:42 - Because the caregiver might think we're doing fine here,

17:44 - but then they find out otherwise after you visit.

17:46 - Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

17:47 - And then sometimes it's just, you know, a child

17:51 - saying my mom and dad live on their own.

17:54 - I think they might need help, but I'm not sure what they have.

17:57 - You know what they need?

17:58 - The triple laser, those local resources.

18:00 - You know, we obviously we have 67 counties.

18:03 - We have 52 area agencies on aging.

18:05 - So they're very local.

18:07 - They're very familiar with what's happening in their local communities,

18:10 - which is one of the benefits of having the number of templates that we have.

18:14 - And all 67 counties are served by a triple AA.

18:18 - So the entire the entire Commonwealth is covered.

18:21 - But if you call and say, I need some help, I'm not really sure.

18:24 - Or my, my mom, my dad, my, you know, needs help.

18:28 - The triple AA will go out and we'll meet with them.

18:30 - And that's when they're looking from the moment they walk in that door,

18:33 - does it look like they have the food they need it?

18:35 - Does it look like they've been able to receive, you know, bathing adequately?

18:39 - Even something as simple as having extension cords, you know,

18:43 - across the floor.

18:44 - Those can be trips a trip has. Yeah.

18:46 - And then somebody trips and they fall and they break a hip end up in the hospital.

18:50 - They can cascades into expensive problems. Exactly.

18:53 - And I think the other key thing too is we're we're really lucky.

18:57 - And, in Pennsylvania to have the Erie Agency on Aging network,

19:01 - you know, people forget that they're they're, you know,

19:04 - they're the single point of entry, for all of these things.

19:07 - So, as Rebecca was saying, they'll get they'll get a report of need,

19:10 - they'll go in, and then they can they can now say, okay, you need x, Y, and Z.

19:16 - They can come back and they have the programs.

19:18 - They have the staff that are able to point them in the right direction of saying,

19:22 - you need a meal once a week, you know, we'll get Meals on wheels for you.

19:26 - You need someone to come in here, once a week for a couple times

19:30 - a week for bathing or for helping with, preparing a meal to again

19:34 - to keep them in their homes as long as possible.

19:37 - Which is great for them. It's what they want.

19:39 - It's what their families want.

19:40 - It's also good for the taxpayers because it's keeping people at a lower cost

19:44 - in their community.

19:45 - Instead of going into a more costly facility.

19:49 - And full disclosure, I must

19:50 - say that I represent the Triple A's, and I represent P for a.

19:53 - All right. So everything I have to say I believe in.

19:56 - But everyone should know that I also represent them.

19:58 - But you asked for an example of how things can go awry,

20:01 - and people don't even know that they're involved in it in that way.

20:05 - We had a case in Pennsylvania not too long ago where an individual,

20:09 - his, his mother or his wife, I don't remember which it was now,

20:13 - was a wanderer,

20:14 - and he was concerned about her being injured

20:16 - and wandering out into the street

20:17 - or falling down the stairs and so on while he was at work.

20:20 - So in the morning he would take her down into the basement where he had things

20:23 - set up with a bathroom available and so on, and he would tether her

20:26 - so that she could not leave the basement or get hurt trying to go up the stairs.

20:30 - So basically, you know, what have we found out about it?

20:34 - When the triple AA found out about it went out and did the the investigation,

20:38 - and they explained to him that he couldn't do that

20:40 - and he thought he was doing

20:41 - the best thing possible because he was keeping this woman safe

20:44 - from wandering out of the house or falling down the stairs

20:47 - and injuring herself and not being able to call anybody for help.

20:50 - So but they explained to him, of course you can't chain your mother or whoever

20:54 - it was, to a post in the basement, even if you have everything

20:57 - set up for heat and cool and bathroom food and everything else. So.

21:02 - But he thought he was doing the best thing he could possibly to keep it.

21:04 - Interesting example.

21:05 - Yes. If I can also jump in and talk about something that is

21:08 - is increasing in number dramatically and that is financial exploitation,

21:13 - and another way that there can be kind of an early warning system

21:17 - by having the area agencies on aging interacting with older adults,

21:20 - you know, maybe an older adult will say, oh, I was just talking to my friend.

21:24 - And, you know, their daughter is investing in this fantastic, you know, thing.

21:31 - And so I'm going to put $20,000 toward assured me of the big return.

21:35 - Exactly, exactly.

21:36 - And sometimes it's even a small amount, you know, getting phone calls and saying,

21:39 - I have your, your grandson

21:42 - or your nephew, you know, and send us gift cards,

21:46 - to, to be able to pay off, you know, some kind of debt maybe that

21:50 - they've incurred those kinds of things and having those conversations.

21:54 - This is where the social aspect is so important,

21:56 - having those conversations, going to places like senior centers,

21:59 - they talk with each other and then you realize that doesn't sound right.

22:03 - Actually.

22:04 - Maybe you want to, you know, check into that or maybe you want to.

22:07 - Take a step back and not be sending, you know, large amounts of money

22:11 - to places overseas or getting the gift cards or, you know,

22:15 - all of those kinds of things.

22:17 - And your education is key on that at AARP.

22:20 - We, we, we basically have a consumer issues task force, and we have about,

22:24 - 20 volunteers to go across across the state that really do education.

22:29 - And we've been working with the FBI locally.

22:31 - And, what do they do?

22:33 - Do they go to senior centers, they give lectures, they go.

22:36 - They go across whoever will listen to them, they'll go

22:39 - and they'll they'll give their spiel about how important it is.

22:42 - You know, you know, if you're on that phone,

22:44 - ask the questions or hang up, you know, you know,

22:47 - things like just not engaging at all can save you a lot of money in trouble.

22:51 - And now and now with you, you know, with technology, you know,

22:54 - they're getting these, texts that are basically saying

22:57 - that they owe money to to the turnpike because of the toll issue,

23:01 - which, you know, they just have to know because you get that you're worried.

23:04 - So people are just paying and this money is going off.

23:07 - Right. And, you know, to the, to these crooks.

23:09 - So it's constant.

23:10 - And as Rebecca said, it's just growing and growing.

23:14 - And we're talking billions of dollars around the country now of people

23:17 - being fraud defrauded out of their their hard earned dollars.

23:21 - Well, speaking of dollars, let's talk about Social Security benefits.

23:24 - President Trump says he will not reduce Social Security benefits on his watch.

23:29 - However, some argue that the system could run out of money anyway.

23:34 - Who can expand on that?

23:36 - Well, it's very unlikely people are living longer, Roy.

23:38 - I know that's part of it. Exactly right. Yes.

23:40 - But it's very unlikely that the government

23:42 - would renege on a social contract as important as Social Security.

23:46 - No doubt in my mind about the fact that they will do everything possible

23:49 - to keep that system operating.

23:51 - Now, does that mean that they won't reduce benefits?

23:53 - No, because again, there were sneaky ways you can do that.

23:56 - One is just let inflation take over.

23:58 - All right. Inflation takes over.

24:00 - You don't provide a cost of living increase

24:02 - that's substantial on a year by year by year basis.

24:04 - You raise the rate of retirement from whatever it is now 70 to 74, 75,

24:09 - whatever it is.

24:09 - So you decrease the number of people coming into the system.

24:12 - At the same time, people on the other end are dying, going out of the system.

24:15 - So there are ways to cut Social Security, quote unquote,

24:18 - and still not cut adjust to adjust the system, but maintain it.

24:22 - Exactly.

24:22 - I, I think I think the other piece is going back to the staffing issue.

24:26 - With Social Security,

24:27 - they cut staff as well with the Social Security Administration.

24:30 - At A or P.

24:32 - What we did is, is, you know, our members were up in arms.

24:35 - We have 1.8 million members here.

24:36 - We have 38 million members across the country.

24:40 - And they were just like, what is going on here?

24:42 - We we need to be able to access and this program, we need to ask these questions.

24:46 - We need hey, I'm just applying for it now.

24:48 - We we had stories, of of people that that would have to wait

24:52 - five hours on the phone to try to get through.

24:55 - And then they were disconnected after the fifth of this hour.

24:58 - It was just, just horrendous.

25:00 - So we've been we've been working on that.

25:01 - We had 2 million individuals call and send emails in to the to the members

25:06 - of Congress to say this is unacceptable and to go into the administration.

25:11 - We were able to for the administration to backpedal a little bit on this,

25:15 - to be able to say, you know, we're not going to close offices down.

25:18 - We're not, we're going to keep the phone lines open.

25:21 - We're going to get additional staff to be able to help that.

25:24 - And that just happened, you know, again, it's it's getting it's getting people

25:28 - that are being impacted by this, you know, their strength in numbers.

25:32 - There are strength in numbers.

25:33 - And that's what AARP has with our numbers. All right.

25:35 - I mean,

25:35 - I think it's important to remember that Social Security is an insurance program.

25:38 - It's not just some welfare entitlement that was created some time ago.

25:42 - It's a it's an insurance program that both employers

25:45 - and employees have paid into as playing the premiums for that program.

25:49 - So it's no different than any other life insurance program.

25:52 - You can call it your old age pension.

25:54 - Indeed. You could.

25:56 - We don't like to call it a age, but it's something that people have pay.

26:00 - You know how terms go in and out of style, right?

26:03 - It's worth their whole life and it's theirs.

26:05 - And they're they they're, They should they should have it.

26:08 - Well, just to get some further context on the importance of Social Security,

26:12 - how much does seniors rely on their Social Security benefits?

26:15 - My understanding is it's supposed to replace about one third of your income.

26:19 - When you were working

26:21 - that Rebecca, you reaction to that? No.

26:25 - I don't know exactly what the percentage is, in fact, but,

26:29 - but something about one third of your income, number one,

26:35 - one third of your income is a significant decrease.

26:38 - And then on top of it, if you look at what some of these folks

26:42 - are actually getting, and unfortunately, I don't have that information

26:45 - right off the top of my, I think, you know, at my fingertips. Sure.

26:47 - There is no way that you can live off

26:50 - of the low amount that security is is providing.

26:55 - It's just it's just not possible.

26:57 - And I can tell you in Pennsylvania it's 40 some percent.

27:00 - I don't again, I don't have that exact number of individuals that that

27:04 - that are fully retired that live off just their Social Security benefit.

27:08 - That's 40%.

27:10 - We're talking, you know, you know, probably a million individuals are close

27:13 - to a million individuals that are just living off.

27:16 - And as Rebecca said, that's not enough money, you know.

27:19 - And so they rely on these other programs that, that, that we're fighting for here

27:24 - at both the state and federal level to be able to live independently.

27:28 - So, so 41% of individuals living just off their Social Security is is unacceptable.

27:34 - While the governor and legislators

27:37 - are thinking about the budget that is due at the end of June, by the way,

27:41 - the Family Care Act, it has to do with paid leave.

27:45 - Explain that what the idea is there.

27:48 - And is that in the, budget

27:51 - proposal from the governor, do we know offhand?

27:54 - Offhand, I believe it is, but I couldn't tell you to what amount.

27:57 - Yeah, yeah.

27:57 - Anyway, Roy, tell me what the basic idea is anyway.

28:01 - And, what it's supposed to provide.

28:03 - Well, we started trying to convince employers

28:05 - some years ago that this was a good idea for them to embrace as well.

28:09 - Not call it family care, not just simply child care.

28:12 - Leave because it helps to keep the, the, employer

28:15 - focused upon what they need to do, and it helps to keep the employee focused

28:19 - upon what they need to do.

28:20 - And then the employee can then come back.

28:23 - Or maybe it's, a part time type of a leave.

28:25 - So that's four hours a day.

28:27 - The employees on instead of four instead of eight.

28:30 - And the whole idea behind

28:31 - it was to be able to keep that, well, skilled, well-trained employee

28:35 - and at the same time be able to recognize that there are family needs,

28:39 - at least for a certain period of time, whatever that may be,

28:42 - that this person has to give to the family or to leave the job altogether.

28:46 - That's just wasn't good for employers.

28:48 - And we're still trying to convince a lot of employers and a lot of legislators

28:51 - of that possibility as well,

28:53 - that this is really a good thing for economic development

28:56 - and for maintaining the economy within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

28:59 - Now, whether or not they'll actually pass the whole thing and pass it at a rate

29:03 - that's reasonable.

29:04 - Well, that's what the debate is all about it.

29:06 - And speaking of debating, we know that, so-called skill

29:10 - games are being debated in Harrisburg, and there's a lot of give and take.

29:12 - Their skill games are those things that look like slot machines.

29:16 - You can find them in many markets.

29:17 - Pizza parlor, social clubs.

29:19 - Governor wants to regulate them and tax them.

29:22 - Do seniors stand to gain anything here?

29:27 - They stand to

29:27 - lose a lot and continue to lose a lot of skill games.

29:31 - Have been cutting into the the proceeds that lottery has been giving.

29:37 - And so that's that's a major place where we have some places have both don't they.

29:43 - Oh yeah, they do, they do.

29:44 - And they're unregulated, which means they, there's no one who's making sure

29:48 - that what they're paying to, whether it's the social club

29:52 - or the mini mart, is actually getting the amount that they're supposed to.

29:55 - There's no one actually making sure that the person playing

29:58 - is getting the amount that they're supposed to.

30:00 - It may seem like you're making all kinds of money,

30:01 - but you don't know behind the scenes.

30:03 - You know, what it is that's happening

30:04 - is so regulating them would be at least give a little bit of of reassurance.

30:09 - They're not talking about getting rid of them entirely,

30:11 - but regulating them, treating them similar to,

30:15 - you know, some of the casinos and, and that kind of thing.

30:18 - Then it also the governor is favoring 52% tax rate, which is comparable to slots.

30:23 - Yes, yes, yes.

30:24 - And we believe that a significant portion of the

30:28 - the funding that the state would receive should go into the lottery,

30:32 - to be able to kind of recoup some of those funds that

30:36 - have been taken away have been lost because of the games that are

30:40 - that are happening.

30:41 - And there's still a major question

30:42 - about whether the actual games out there are legal or not legal.

30:46 - With just in the past few days,

30:47 - there was a raid established by Pennsylvania's attorney General Sunday,

30:51 - and the state police cooperated and seized over 1000 machines

30:55 - out in several counties in western Pennsylvania.

30:57 - Now, it just happens that the companies that were placing those machines,

31:00 - one of the principals has been convicted in the past,

31:03 - a felony, counts of illegal gambling and all that sort of thing.

31:06 - So that may come to play in whether or not this, seizure can actually, stand up.

31:11 - But as Rebecca indicated, without any present regulation

31:14 - and any present licensing, has been a serious question

31:18 - for a number of years now as to whether or not the state

31:20 - can actually do anything until the legislature acts.

31:23 - And that's why we're pressing for the last at least 7 to 10 years

31:27 - to get the legislature to act and either declare these games totally illegal,

31:31 - or if they're going to legalize them, regulate them, tax them appropriately,

31:35 - and, as Rebecca indicated, provide funding from some of that taxation

31:39 - back into the lottery, because clearly it'll be competing

31:41 - directly with the lottery as they have been.

31:43 - And I think and I think at this point, as we're talking about, you know, cuts

31:48 - at the federal level, cuts at the state level, it's important to be able

31:52 - to have another revenue source that's coming in for older Pennsylvanians.

31:56 - And I know we'll probably be talking about this later.

31:59 - But, you know, the area agencies on aging have been doing stellar work

32:03 - with less dollars, and being flat funded for years now.

32:07 - And there's a need to be able to get more additional dollars out into the triple

32:11 - A network for that programs to continue, in the great work that they're doing.

32:15 - And if I can jump in, please do. Please.

32:17 - I would love to be able to try to explain this.

32:20 - If you think about the cost, it it it just going to McDonald's.

32:25 - I have two children, so four of us go to McDonald's.

32:29 - You used to be able to, I don't know, even spend $20 to be able to get lunch,

32:33 - but now it's now 40, $50 plus just to go to McDonald's.

32:37 - The cost to get a doesn't it cost to get, you know, your your bread.

32:42 - All of those things have gone up significantly even.

32:46 - You know, we could go back a long ways.

32:49 - And you

32:50 - you know, I don't think anybody would ever say

32:51 - that the area agencies on aging were fully funded.

32:54 - However, we decided, let's just take a snapshot.

32:58 - Let's say 2019, it was the last year before Covid hit

33:02 - and the amount of funding that the area Agencies on aging received.

33:05 - When you have inflation, flat funding, with inflation effectively is a cut.

33:11 - There have been small, you know, increases along the way.

33:13 - This current governor has actually provided some, some increased dollars.

33:17 - But if you just look at inflation and the number of older adults,

33:22 - that's been increasing dramatically, we're almost at the point where we will

33:26 - have 1 in 3 people in Pennsylvania will be an older adult by 2030.

33:31 - So that dramatic increase in inflation, number of older adults,

33:36 - in order to just serve people like they did in 2019,

33:40 - we need another $105 million a year.

33:44 - 2030 is right around the corner.

33:46 - Yes, it is.

33:47 - So just to keep us at the level we were five, six years ago.

33:51 - But the significance.

33:52 - So that's why this year we are we we're very grateful that the governor

33:56 - did put in this proposal to, to the legislature a 20 million increase.

34:02 - Again, as Rebecca said, that's not close to the 105, but it's a start.

34:05 - And we thank the governor for that.

34:07 - We're just now working with ARP for a, Roy and other lobbyist

34:12 - really looking at, to to make sure that at least that that could start it

34:16 - because as I mentioned earlier, it's been flat funded for quite a few budgets now.

34:21 - And, and the Triple A's are working and doing the best that they can

34:24 - without stopping that, you know, they're trying not to have waiting list.

34:28 - They're trying not to stop programs, but if they go for another year

34:32 - of a flat funding or, you know, or no funding at all, it's just

34:37 - they can't keep this up.

34:38 - And as Rebecca mentioned, 1 in 3 individuals

34:42 - just within the next five years will be over the age of 65.

34:46 - We'll have more people in Pennsylvania

34:47 - over the age of 65 than we will have under the age of 18

34:51 - in the next five years, and we need those dollars to be able

34:54 - to do that, to be able to

34:56 - to keep these programs and be able to support, that population.

35:00 - We actually asked our triple A what will happen if you don't

35:03 - get additional funding if we have a flat funding, they estimate

35:07 - at least 44 zero senior centers across the state will be closed.

35:12 - They estimate more than 100 programs across the state will be closed.

35:16 - Just completely ended.

35:17 - That's not to include decreases in levels of service for them.

35:21 - For folks.

35:23 - Let me return to skill games just for a minute.

35:25 - And a question for you, Roy.

35:26 - As I indicated, the governor is, supporting a 52% tax rate.

35:31 - And so we're talking about this

35:32 - because there's potential revenue out there for somebody.

35:34 - Now, on the other end of the spectrum, Senator Genius proposing a tax

35:38 - rate of 16%.

35:40 - Now, given your experience in the legislature

35:42 - and you know about tactics within the legislature,

35:44 - does this somehow ignite the debate that somehow, a number

35:48 - will be found in the middle that will satisfy everyone?

35:50 - Well, I don't know if it'll satisfy everyone, but absolutely.

35:52 - A number will be found in the bill.

35:54 - 9 or 16% or 52% is likely to pass.

35:58 - And there's a very valid reasons for that as well.

36:00 - The casinos, of course, are contributing a lot of money,

36:03 - and they're contributing a lot of money to older adults as well.

36:06 - And in fact, the governor's budget this year proposes to move

36:09 - funding of the entire property tax and rent rebate program

36:12 - over to the fund from which the casinos are,

36:15 - you know, to which the casinos contribute money every year.

36:18 - So they're looking at it and saying, look, 52%.

36:22 - We want them to have that 52% the same as we're paying.

36:25 - But the casinos have a way of offsetting because they have more than slot machines.

36:29 - All right.

36:30 - So they can offset that 52% with other games that they have and so on.

36:34 - Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, with Senator Yours Bill at 16%,

36:37 - the casinos have a really legitimate argument there that 16%.

36:41 - And these folks are now going to be competing directly

36:43 - with what amounts to slot machines, as we said, just simply isn't enough.

36:47 - You know, let's get a more realistic number in there.

36:49 - And the truth of the matter is that the manufac is located in Williamsport,

36:53 - Pennsylvania, are quite willing to go at a higher rate than that.

36:56 - But naturally, for negotiation purposes, everyone

36:59 - starting low and everyone starting high somewhere in between there.

37:02 - If this thing passes this year and it probably has the best chance of passage

37:06 - this year that it's had in the last decade, we'll see what the number is.

37:10 - Yeah.

37:11 - Let's talk about another item within the governor's budget proposal.

37:14 - It has to do with a program called the Whole Home Repair Program.

37:18 - So the idea is to help, Pennsylvania do major repairs on their house.

37:23 - And I can certainly see that this would be a benefit to seniors. And

37:27 - what's the what's the temperature within the legislature now for this program?

37:34 - Is there a couple more

37:36 - bill handed the time to you? Right to you.

37:39 - The temperature is good because the $50 million program

37:41 - that was approved in the last budget, that money went out so fast

37:44 - and there was so much need left over for legitimate programs

37:48 - that the supporters came back.

37:49 - And I think they asked for 100 million this year in the current budget.

37:52 - I believe they doubled it because the first program was during Covid.

37:55 - Wasn't it?

37:56 - And maybe that had to do with overwhelming the, money that was available.

38:00 - It wasn't actually during Covid itself,

38:02 - but it was right thereafter that the whole thing began. Okay.

38:04 - And everything to do with overwhelming the money.

38:07 - And where we're at right now is the legislature,

38:10 - because, again, of the fear of what's going to happen from the federal level

38:13 - and how much money we're likely to lose there, right?

38:15 - They're reluctant to expand any program in Pennsylvania right now.

38:19 - What does that mean for the folks locally?

38:21 - Well, you know, it rolls downhill.

38:24 - If you're not going to fund it at the federal level,

38:26 - you're not going to fund it at the state level.

38:27 - It falls down at the county level or the municipal level

38:30 - beyond the counties, and you either fund it or the program goes away.

38:34 - So I can't predict what's going to happen with this one.

38:36 - The results of it have been excellent, but whether or not they will expand it

38:40 - and continue again, that's all part of the budget debate right now.

38:44 - And again, as we talked about it, I think I think that the area agencies,

38:47 - our area agencies on aging have always had a program that would be able to

38:53 - to put, changes into a home, you know,

38:56 - so that so that people could stay in their homes as long as possible, so,

38:59 - so that they would either fix up a bathroom, you know, to put, you know,

39:04 - modification for a

39:05 - mobility challenge so that, so that they're able to stay in,

39:08 - what at A or P what we've been doing is that we've, we've been seeing we'd love,

39:12 - you know, AARP

39:13 - in support of trying to get these dollars on the home, repair program.

39:17 - But we've been working at the local level with, with mayors, with city councils,

39:21 - with county councils to be able to say that we need more affordable housing,

39:26 - stock in this, in this state, and we need to be able to do that.

39:29 - So we've been working with them, on a whole host of different ways

39:33 - across in Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley, Pittsburgh,

39:37 - Lancaster, here in the center part of the state.

39:40 - To really be able to, to start looking at that, knowing,

39:43 - that that this housing is needed

39:46 - and these repairs to current homes are also going to be needed

39:49 - for people to stay in their homes as long as possible.

39:51 - One of the other things that I'm going to kick this over

39:54 - to Rebecca here in a second, because I know she's familiar with this.

39:57 - The Triple A's have been helping in different counties to provide small

40:00 - housing units on the property next to the property, or next to the home

40:04 - that the children may live in or what have you.

40:06 - And mother and dad can move in there.

40:08 - And they need, obviously, to work with the local governments

40:10 - because a lot of the issue there is a zoning issue,

40:13 - you know, can we do it or can if you have a local government that's cooperative,

40:16 - they've been able to do it and do it successfully.

40:19 - And then of course, the, the, modular home that they put in place,

40:23 - the small home, the tiny home as are being called these days. Right.

40:26 - Once it's no longer needed there, it can be probably rehabbed

40:29 - and certainly moved to another location.

40:31 - Did I pretty much encapsulate that?

40:33 - Rebecca, you absolutely did go. Yes.

40:35 - They call the program Eco Cottages.

40:38 - Don't ask me what that stands for, unfortunately, but it is eco cottages

40:41 - and they do. They are able to move them to another home.

40:44 - And one of the biggest obstacles has been those zoning issues.

40:47 - So that's the thing that comes to mind immediately.

40:49 - You just can't put up a place to live wherever you want.

40:52 - You have to talk to someone about that. Exactly.

40:54 - And you have to make sure that you can connect

40:55 - into the water and sewer situation as well,

40:57 - because you don't want grandma, grandpa trying to come across the

41:00 - in the wintertime.

41:01 - Right?

41:02 - I did outhouses as a kid. I don't want to do that again.

41:07 - As far as, transportation is concerned,

41:09 - which we talked about, in some detail earlier.

41:13 - What's a good mindset for adapting to suddenly not being able to drive?

41:17 - That's upsetting news.

41:19 - And, what's a good frame of mind, to adopt?

41:25 - So who would care that that's kind of a think piece for today's show.

41:28 - It is a think piece.

41:30 - I mean, I think it is definitely a difficult

41:34 - part of life that you come to.

41:37 - That's where knowing that we can rely on public

41:41 - transportation and shared ride and all of those programs is so important.

41:45 - Right.

41:45 - And so connecting, you know, in some ways,

41:48 - I think knowing that you can rely on or reach out to your area agency

41:52 - on aging to see what might be available to help you getting

41:55 - to your doctor's appointments or to the grocery store, those kinds of things.

42:00 - The thing that I

42:00 - will say, though, and, and that is, you know,

42:03 - there are some things that we lose as we get older.

42:08 - The important thing, though, is, is to not focus just on what we're losing.

42:14 - It's, it's focusing on kind of the whole picture of aging

42:17 - and not just things like, you know,

42:19 - I can no longer drive or I'm not working anymore.

42:23 - I could probably talk about this for hours, but but making sure

42:26 - that when you're thinking about older adults, you're not thinking

42:30 - about the frail elderly, you know, vulnerable older people,

42:35 - you know, you think about all of the value that they provide to our communities.

42:39 - You think about, you know, something that happens, you know,

42:42 - when when looking at employers and when they're looking to hire new staff,

42:47 - a lot of times people think,

42:48 - oh, I want to hire younger people because they'll be there longer.

42:51 - You know, we'll be able to train them in the way that we want them to be,

42:54 - when actually I think it's something around the average,

42:58 - employment time

42:59 - for younger adults is around two years at any given place.

43:03 - The average amount of time

43:04 - an older adult actually spends in a in and a job is nine years.

43:08 - So if you're actually

43:09 - looking to bring someone in,

43:10 - if some of those things, we need to look

43:12 - at a little bit differently and not focusing on the negatives,

43:15 - but focusing on the positives that that come along with aging.

43:19 - And I think I think just going back to transportation, just for a second, I,

43:22 - you know, yes, we rely on on the shared ride program and it is a hard conversation

43:27 - to have with a family member to say that maybe you shouldn't be driving anymore.

43:32 - But,

43:32 - you know, some of the things that we should be thinking about are other models

43:36 - we should be thinking about, like Uber or Lyft, you know, and,

43:40 - you know, that's out there now that can come right to,

43:42 - you know, as long as the person

43:43 - can get outside and get into a vehicle, that is something to do.

43:47 - There.

43:47 - There's also,

43:48 - volunteers, you know, there's there's such programs as villages, programs,

43:52 - that that are happening around the country and several here in Pennsylvania where,

43:57 - where a group of neighborhoods or areas, like Levittown and Bucks

44:01 - County or, or, you know, Rittenhouse Square and Philadelphia,

44:06 - where a group of people, pay into a just a pot of, of dollars.

44:10 - And their help, they help them with getting a handyman or.

44:13 - Hey, I need a ride to my doctor's office.

44:15 - There's those types of things.

44:17 - So we need to just start thinking us in a more positive way.

44:20 - As Rebecca is saying, is that there's technology now.

44:22 - There's different ways of doing this.

44:24 - And, you know, getting people out and about is still key for,

44:29 - you know, the most critical element is planning ahead early enough.

44:32 - You know, unless someone has a stroke, for example, you don't just suddenly

44:35 - not be able to drive or suddenly lose something along this line.

44:39 - But people, jihadists, they just don't just put it off.

44:42 - They just keep putting it off.

44:43 - Sure, it's human nature. Just keep putting it off.

44:45 - But that ability to plan ahead and to have family members

44:48 - open the conversation and as you indicated, it's

44:50 - sometimes a difficult conversation, but it's necessary.

44:53 - You know, I had to talk my father out

44:55 - of being able to drive, for my mom to stop driving.

44:59 - I said to her, well, you've had 60 years behind the wheel.

45:02 - That's a pretty good run.

45:03 - Yes, that's the way I think you're still alive.

45:05 - Exactly right. Success! You're still alive.

45:08 - Something Roy just said to you about planning ahead.

45:10 - I think that's important.

45:11 - A lot of times we find that people are calling

45:12 - the area agency on aging when they're in crisis.

45:15 - You know, I, I mom's coming home. She fell.

45:17 - I don't know what to do.

45:19 - Thinking ahead and reaching out and saying, you know, maybe

45:21 - my area agency on aging knows of a program.

45:24 - Maybe they don't provide it themselves, but they know in the community.

45:27 - Reach out to them now before you're at the point where you're in a crisis

45:31 - to find out what's available to you, and then you can be you can plan

45:34 - and you know,

45:35 - you know, so you're not waiting until you're in this kind of situation.

45:39 - So that planning is really important, you know?

45:41 - And for those who are watching

45:42 - and listening to the program, you don't have to, you know,

45:45 - we don't have yellow pages anymore, unfortunately.

45:47 - But you don't have to go online

45:48 - necessarily to find out about an area agency.

45:50 - You go to your legislators office.

45:52 - They all know where the area agency on aging are.

45:55 - They work with us continuously, so it's easy to find out

45:58 - from a number of different sources how to get in contact.

46:01 - Your lawmaker can connect you with a whole bunch of resources you never have.

46:04 - Absolutely.

46:05 - Let's talk about the governor's plan, that he signed back in 2023.

46:10 - And they call it aging our way.

46:13 - And it has to do with long term solutions.

46:15 - And the governor ordered this plan to be developed by the Department of Aging,

46:19 - and they're calling it, at least they were calling it a ten year roadmap.

46:22 - Well, here we are, two years into this plan.

46:25 - What accomplishments are achievements are out there

46:27 - that show that we're making progress with what the governor wanted to do.

46:32 - I can tell you, I was fortunate on Monday,

46:33 - I was able to see a preview of what they call the caregiver toolkit.

46:38 - And of course, I'm not going to remember the official name of it,

46:40 - but we were able to see a preview of what it will look like.

46:43 - It is amazing.

46:44 - It's really I remember hearing about the toolkit.

46:46 - So it's it's so you would be able there's there's a lot of different ways

46:51 - that you can use it, but you can go in, you can actually fill out

46:54 - a little questionnaire that says, you know, are you caring?

46:57 - Are you in the sandwich generation?

46:59 - You're caring for a parent and you're caring for a child?

47:02 - What kinds of needs does the person maybe need?

47:05 - Transportation.

47:06 - There's information about caregiving and supporting the caregiver.

47:10 - There's information on, a variety of programs that exist currently.

47:15 - It's very tailored.

47:17 - You know, it's it's based online.

47:19 - But it's very tailored to what it is that you need a program

47:22 - that can make you a good caretaker. Yes.

47:24 - Oh, yeah. Yeah.

47:25 - Because people don't know.

47:26 - I mean, there are obvious needs, of course,

47:28 - but there's a whole bunch of things you can benefit

47:29 - from other people's experience.

47:30 - Oh, yeah.

47:31 - Most of us just stumbled into it because it happened, right?

47:33 - It just happened. Yeah.

47:35 - I think it's called par care, I believe I think

47:37 - and I think that'll be the name for it. Don't care.

47:39 - Yeah. Yeah.

47:41 - And I think and I think one of the other, the other pieces you know

47:44 - we're very excited about the caregiving toolkit or cares.

47:47 - One of the other things that I think, our short term wins

47:51 - are the age friendly designations, you know, around around the state,

47:55 - as I mentioned earlier, it's really, cities, counties,

48:01 - and, and the governor's looking at, making, Pennsylvania an age

48:05 - friendly state, which, which is part of one of the recommendations in the plan.

48:10 - And I think, you know, what what we're seeing with these age friendly,

48:15 - designations around the state is, is is really pulling in elected officials,

48:19 - pulling in nonprofits in, in each of these areas,

48:23 - so they can start looking

48:24 - at housing issues, start looking at transportation, open spaces,

48:28 - you know, caregiving issues, things that are going to be impacting,

48:32 - making, making, you know,

48:35 - cities or townships, age friendly for all ages, you know,

48:40 - so that people are looking at sidewalks, looking at,

48:44 - the time it takes to cross a busy street, curb cuts, all of these things.

48:48 - And and as Roy had mentioned earlier, I think this is the piece with,

48:52 - with the aging our JPA that's incorporating not just not just

48:56 - state, input, but also local input because it's the zoning, right?

49:02 - That really is going to be key

49:03 - on being able to do

49:04 - some of these echo housing and some of these other pieces of curb

49:08 - cuts or light changes, that, that start off at the local level.

49:12 - So I think that the aging are we way over the last two years has really hit

49:17 - the ground running.

49:18 - And I'm really looking forward to to seeing I know there's some dollars.

49:21 - I don't know the exact number offhand that's in the budget

49:25 - to, to, be able to implement some of the other recommendations

49:28 - as we move forward.

49:29 - In this year's 2020 final, 5,900,000 this year, 5,900,000.

49:34 - And so I'll change that.

49:36 - That's that's where we're back at. I always big boy a loss.

49:38 - He has he has the numbers, the numbers at his fingertips.

49:42 - But one of the if I may just say, well, it's the beauty.

49:45 - We don't know what's really going to actually turn out for this ten year plan.

49:48 - But the beauty of constructing it was that it came not just grassroots,

49:52 - as I like to say, but actually grass seed by going out all around Pennsylvania.

49:56 - And Rebecca has Triple A's, host at many of the meetings

49:59 - that citizens came into 20,000, right? Yes.

50:02 - And and 8000, comments that were recorded and so on.

50:06 - So everything that is, is in there was designed around what people said

50:10 - they needed

50:11 - as to where they are living in their communities

50:13 - and how they're living their communities.

50:15 - And that was the real basis of a very few government

50:17 - programs have gone through that kind of a of a construction,

50:20 - if you will, to ask that simple question, what do you need? Yeah.

50:23 - And it wasn't in the silo either at the state level

50:26 - because it was the governor.

50:27 - It was, it was, it was really run by,

50:31 - the department of Aging secretary, which I am, his team.

50:34 - But they included every, every single, you know, so

50:38 - it would, you know, it was it was Health and Human Services.

50:41 - It it was, insurance, it you name it, it was, it was even,

50:46 - you know, the Department of Environmental Protection,

50:48 - all of these different pieces, parks and RECs, you know, people were coming in

50:53 - and talking about making sure that that across the board,

50:56 - they were making things age friendly and appropriate,

50:59 - and making recommendations for that as we move forward.

51:02 - And they're all working on these things right now.

51:04 - So it's not working in a silo.

51:06 - It's really bringing people together and organizations together

51:09 - as far as basic needs are concerned.

51:10 - Let's talk about, food nutrition here in Pennsylvania and food programs

51:15 - like Snap.

51:15 - So I'm kind of going full circle to, potential cuts

51:19 - from the federal government.

51:21 - And what could that mean to Snap or or any food program here in Pennsylvania?

51:25 - We talked about Meals on Wheels.

51:27 - Yes, yes, yes.

51:28 - Well, again, snap is one of the programs that has been leveled for cutting

51:31 - and ending at the federal government.

51:33 - They just feel, for whatever

51:34 - reason, that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is no longer necessary.

51:38 - And the truth of the matter is, Larry,

51:40 - that many of the people who receive Snap benefits

51:43 - don't know what they are actually receiving because years ago,

51:47 - not that many years ago, everybody got excited

51:49 - about being politically correct and what we called things.

51:51 - All right.

51:52 - So we could no longer

51:53 - call it a welfare card or a medicaid card or anything like that.

51:57 - So you see, like old age pension and food stamps.

52:00 - And that's what snap is.

52:01 - It was a food stamp program under a different name.

52:03 - Yeah, it's still the food stamp program under a different name. Right.

52:06 - But people who are getting it don't realize they're getting food stamps

52:09 - because they're calling it snap.

52:11 - So to try to even get people to contact their congressman and so forth

52:15 - to protest as they well, what's snap, right.

52:18 - I have this card. I you know, I don't know what that is.

52:20 - You have to adopt the nomenclature and government keeps changing it.

52:23 - Exactly right. Yes. Yeah.

52:24 - Just as we changed a lot of things so that we wouldn't have

52:28 - people feeling that they were somehow inferior, perhaps.

52:31 - And that was the whole. And the intent behind it was great.

52:33 - But here's where it's lids that people are now receiving these government services

52:37 - and they don't know exactly what those services are because of the name of it.

52:41 - And and here's an example of another program that will be cut

52:45 - that's going to be putting more pressure on the area agencies on aging,

52:48 - because people will all of a sudden

52:50 - not be getting their snap cards anymore, being able to go to the grocery store.

52:54 - So it means they're not going to be eating,

52:55 - and then they will be coming to the triple A, their agency on aging, to say,

52:59 - you know, I need this.

53:01 - So it means more for Meals

53:02 - on Wheels for senior centers that that have congregate meal sites.

53:06 - It would be putting more pressure on them to be able to serve more people.

53:10 - And the less dollars in the food banks and the food banks are getting pressed

53:14 - as well.

53:14 - Interestingly enough, that whole program of food stamps was started in great part,

53:18 - by a congresswoman from New York City who found a way to be able to provide

53:22 - food for people at the same time

53:24 - subsidized the agricultural industry in the United States.

53:27 - That's how they got the votes together to put it into place.

53:30 - So if snap snap program go back, Roy, I ask because I have a hunch, you know,

53:34 - that must go back into the mid 60s, maybe the late 60s, 60 years out.

53:40 - Yes. Yeah.

53:41 - Yep. And the, right now, what's happening with that cut is that the farmers

53:47 - are now beginning to realize that they're on the bottom end of that as well.

53:51 - Because if Snap is going to go out of business,

53:53 - so are the subsidies that they've been receiving to provide food to the program.

53:57 - So all this thing kind of thing trickles down and circulates in a different way.

54:02 - At the beginning, Shirley Chisholm, by the way, was a congresswoman

54:05 - that came up for Shirley Chisholm. I can see her in my mind.

54:08 - At the

54:09 - beginning of our show, I indicated it's Older Americans Month.

54:12 - That's the month of May.

54:13 - So that sounds like it's an awareness campaign bill.

54:16 - So in that case, what's the message coming from AARP?

54:20 - This month

54:22 - to us, basically, you know, older Americans

54:25 - Month is is a month where we celebrate aging.

54:28 - We celebrated in a positive way as Rebecca has been saying,

54:32 - we also want to celebrate it, to remind people that,

54:36 - that people need support as well, whether it be Social Security,

54:39 - whether it be Medicare, Medicaid, whether it be the Triple

54:42 - A's, the agencies on aging that need the support that they need

54:46 - in the budget, budgets being passed to be able to have the programs

54:50 - and the staff to be able to to help people across this Commonwealth.

54:54 - So that's what we want to do.

54:55 - We want to be we want to be positive.

54:57 - We want to remind people that there's a segment, a large segment

55:00 - one and three and five years, and by 2030, yeah, that will be over

55:04 - the age of 65, that, that may or may not need the supports.

55:08 - But that we want to make sure that these dollars,

55:11 - in this positive, influx is there for all of them.

55:16 - And there's a tremendous amount of talent among these folks as well,

55:19 - you know, regardless of how old they may or may not be,

55:21 - there's a tremendous amount of talent there.

55:23 - I would recommend for those of you who have not seen it to watch the film,

55:26 - known as known as is a perfect example of how an individual got the bright idea

55:32 - of asking grandmothers to be able to come in

55:35 - and be the chefs in a restaurant he was starting, and cook the type of food

55:39 - that their families had cooked forever and ever.

55:41 - All right, great film to watch about how valuable, older adults can be.

55:46 - One more question that has to do with older Americans Month,

55:49 - because when I think of that name, there's the Older Americans Act,

55:53 - and that was, signed law in 1965.

55:56 - I understand that was landmark legislation.

55:58 - We probably can't do it justice in just a couple minutes.

56:01 - But what are some of the important protections that came out of that 1965?

56:04 - How has it been updated since?

56:07 - Well, that's the the legislation

56:09 - that enacted the Area Agencies on Aging originally and created them.

56:13 - Each state was able to, kind of configure their

56:17 - is however they saw that, but

56:20 - everything that's grown from area agencies on aging since

56:24 - that point really has come back to the Older Americans Act.

56:28 - And that's also the funding kind of vehicle maybe is

56:32 - is how to say it at the federal level.

56:34 - It's through the Older Americans Act, as well,

56:39 - you know, all of the the protective services,

56:42 - all of the, you know, preventing elder abuse, neglect, all of that,

56:46 - those meals, those in-home services, all of those things can tie themselves

56:50 - back to the Older Americans Act,

56:51 - which was created in great part in order to provide congregate meals,

56:55 - because during the 1960 campaign for President,

56:58 - there was a lot of information that was that was becoming known

57:01 - about many of the states, including right next door in West Virginia

57:05 - and also in Appalachia section of Pennsylvania of people

57:08 - just not having sufficient nourishment.

57:09 - So the idea of at least one nourishing meal a day at a congregate

57:14 - setting would take care of providing them that nourishment,

57:16 - and also the socialization that they needed.

57:18 - But the action danger today, it's in danger

57:20 - because Congress has not renewed it.

57:22 - It's it's essentially out of out of business,

57:25 - except the way things work in Congress as long as they keep funding it,

57:29 - people can keep using the services so they can continue to fund it

57:32 - through the continuing resolutions and so on that they passed.

57:35 - But it has to be renewed.

57:36 - That's number one.

57:37 - Number two,

57:38 - the Trump administration has decided to do away with the administration

57:42 - for community living and to do and to take the Older Americans Act and divide it.

57:46 - And put pieces of it into the administration for children

57:50 - and families and part of it into, CMS, for Medicare and Medicaid services.

57:56 - So that's the worst thing that can happen, splitting it up

57:59 - and splitting up the smoothness of it.

58:01 - Our guests have been Rebecca Mae Cole, executive director

58:04 - from the PA section of Area Agencies on Aging.

58:08 - Roy author Bok, founder and president of the Ostler Park Group.

58:12 - And Bill Johnston Walsh, state director of the AARP of Pennsylvania.

58:17 - Thanks, everyone. Thank you.

58:20 - That said, for

58:21 - focusing on aging adults, I'm Larry Kasper.

58:25 - Thanks for watching.

58:47 - And. Focus on Aging

58:56 - Adults is sponsored in part by AARP.