Legislative Bulletin: Health/Medicaid Budget Hearing Recap

Health/Medicaid Budget Hearing Recap

On Monday, lawmakers convened the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Health/Medicaid, hearing from more than 40 witnesses over a 10-hour period. Ami Schnauber, LeadingAge NY’s Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy, presented testimony highlighting a number of our concerns with this year’s Executive Budget and calling for greater investment in the long-term/post-acute care (LTPAC) sector. Among the issues she raised were:

The challenge of having a growing aging population and diminishing pool of workers that can provide care;
How the proposed $407 million in spending reductions to long-term services and supports would exacerbate current care and service gaps;
The need to dedicate more third round Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program funding to LTPAC providers;
LeadingAge NY’s opposition to a proposed cap on the number of Licensed Home Care Services Agencies (LHCSAs) in a Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) plan’s network;
The need to reject the proposed $42.6 million in cuts to nursing homes;
LeadingAge NY’s concern about a proposed 2-cents-per-milligram surcharge on opioid prescriptions, particularly as it relates to hospice;
LeadingAge NY’s support for allowing Assisted Living Program (ALP) residents to access hospice services and developing a need methodology for ALP expansion; and
The need for a $10 million, five-year investment in a Senior Housing Resident Service Advisor Program to bolster the State’s historic $125 million commitment to senior housing.

Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker and New York State Medicaid Director Jason Helgerson were the first to testify and answered legislators’ questions for over four hours. Highlights included the following:

Senate Health Committee Chair Kemp Hannon and Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried expressed concerns about the proposed LHCSA cap.
Assemblyman Gottfried questioned Dr. Zucker and Director Helgerson about the Governor’s proposal to consolidate several dozen public health initiatives in a pooled appropriation, with aggregate funding reduced by 20 percent. (LeadingAge NY recently signed onto a letter urging lawmakers to reject this proposal, which we encourage impacted providers to share.)
Senate Finance Committee Chair Catharine Young voiced her concerns about the proposal to carve transportation services out of the MLTC benefit package and transition them to the State’s transportation contractor. After reading an email from a constituent describing a negative experience with the State’s vendor, the Senator stated that “we are not a one-size-fits-all state” and “local people know how to run local networks.”
Assembly Health Committee Ranker Andrew Raia inquired about the last time nursing homes received an increase in the trend factor.
Assemblyman John McDonald expressed his concerns about the proposed 2-cents-per-milligram opioid surcharge, noting that the language suggests the intended payer could be the consumer.
Senator Patty Ritchie questioned Dr. Zucker and Director Helgerson about their plans to address the nursing home closure crisis in rural areas.
Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Helene Weinstein raised the issue of home care workforce shortages.

The entire Health/Medicaid Budget Hearing can be viewed here, with Ami’s testimony beginning around the seven-hour, 49-minute mark. To access LeadingAge NY’s written Health/Medicaid testimony, please click here. Separate testimony submitted for last week’s Human Services Budget Hearing that emphasizes the need for investment in classic and Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs), the Community Services for the Elderly (CSE) program, the Expanded In-Home Services for the Elderly Program (EISEP), and NY Connects is now available on our website as well.

Please Register and Schedule Meetings for March 6^th Advocacy Day

Attention all advocates: LeadingAge NY’s second 2018 Advocacy Day on Tues., March 6^th is rapidly approaching! We hope you will be able to join us in Albany as we work to ensure that housing, adult care facilities (ACFs), assisted living, aging services programs, and NORCs are properly represented in this year’s final budget.

If you haven’t already, now is the time to register and begin setting up meetings with your lawmakers. Those who are scheduling meetings are reminded that if your legislators do not have formal availability on Advocacy Day, you can inquire about meeting with them briefly outside the Assembly or Senate Chamber (“off the floor”) or speaking with their top staff. Alternatively, if you are not able to attend on March 6^th, you can always request a meeting back in their district office. As with our first Advocacy Day, LeadingAge NY can assist with scheduling if necessary and asks that those who do set up their own meetings email their schedules to Jeff Diamond at jdiamond@leadingageny.org.

Advocacy Day will begin with 8 am registration and breakfast in Meeting Room 1 on the Empire State Plaza, with meetings to be held between 9 am and 5 pm. Lunch will be served back in the Meeting Room from noon to 1 pm.

Advocacy Day Prep Call to Be Held March 2^nd

In preparation for next month’s Advocacy Day, LeadingAge NY will be hosting a conference call for all attendees on Fri., March 2^nd from 11 am to 12 pm. Staff will review the updated issue briefs, answer any questions that participants may have, and go over important logistics. To join, please dial 1-888-585-9008 and enter the Conference Room code: 821-898-111.

With the Legislature on Recess All Next Week, Please Advocate on Key Budget Issues

Lawmakers have returned to their district offices for recess until Tues., Feb. 27^th, providing a valuable opportunity for you to engage on our key budget initiatives. As LeadingAge NY previously reported, revenue consensus is expected on or before March 1^st, and one-house budget bills are slated to be passed by March 14^th. These are critical weeks in the negotiation process, and your legislators need to hear from you as they develop their one-house budget priorities. Please call them today and schedule a time to meet!

As you advocate over the coming weeks, LeadingAge NY encourages you to focus on the five priorities listed below. The links will direct you to our advocacy campaign pages, where you can quickly and easily send pre-written letters, tweets, and Facebook posts to your lawmakers.

SSI Increase Legislation Reintroduced in Senate

On Wednesday, Senate Aging Committee Chair Sue Serino reintroduced legislation that would increase the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) reimbursement rate for ACFs by $20 per day per resident over five years, beginning April 1, 2018. This bill, initially introduced at LeadingAge NY’s request, passed both houses of the Legislature last June but was ultimately vetoed by the Governor. The current SSI rate of just under $41 per day is less than half of the average daily cost of providing ACF services for low-income seniors. As LeadingAge NY has long argued, this significant daily loss is unsustainable, and if communities do not have sufficient ACF and assisted living options for Medicaid-eligible seniors, unnecessary and costly nursing home placement is often the only other option.

LeadingAge NY has requested that lawmakers include an SSI increase and other provisions that support ACF and assisted living providers in this year’s final budget; we encourage you to do the same here.

Senate Majority Unveils “Jobs and Opportunity Agenda”

On Tuesday, the Senate Majority Conference unveiled a broad-based “Jobs and Opportunity Agenda” focused on “comprehensive tax, regulatory, and economic development reforms that will help make New York more competitive and foster job growth.” The plan is the second piece of the Majority’s three-pronged “Blueprint for a Stronger New York” and prioritizes cutting taxes on small businesses by more than $1.1 billion, strengthening the State’s economic development programs, cutting red tape and overregulation, and making New York a national leader in workforce development.

President Trump Releases FY 2019 Budget Proposal

On Monday, President Trump released a $4.4 trillion budget proposal for FY 2019 that prioritizes large increases in defense spending and deep cuts to domestic programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. The plan proposes a 17 percent cut to the Health and Human Services (HHS) budget relative to FY 2017 as well as the implementation of Medicaid per capita caps and block grants. Of particular concern to LeadingAge National and LeadingAge NY, however, is the proposed 18 percent reduction in Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding compared to FY 2017-enacted levels. Per an analysis from LeadingAge National, the President’s request would underfund the Section 202 Project Rental Assistance Contract and Project-Based Rental Assistance contract renewals; eliminate funding for the Public Housing Capital Fund, the HOME and Community Development Block Grant programs, the National Housing Trust Fund, and an estimated 200,000 housing choice vouchers; and fund homeless assistance programs at FY 2017 levels.

Stay Tuned for More Information on LeadingAge PEAK Leadership Summit

Finally, the LeadingAge PEAK Leadership Summit in Washington, DC is just a few weeks away. If you have not done so already, please register today to confirm that you will be joining us! LeadingAge NY staff and members will be participating in a series of meetings with the New York congressional delegation on Wed., March 21^st, with specific agenda items to be announced by LeadingAge National over the coming weeks.

Contacts:

Ami Schnauber, aschnauber@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8854

Jeff Diamond, jdiamond@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8821