Legislative Bulletin: Governor Announces Members of MRT II
February 7, 2020
With the announcement of the MRT II appointments, LeadingAge NY is gearing up for the state budget work still ahead. Meanwhile, LeadingAge National announces their 2020 policy priorities and a survey to help gauge the impact of our advocate network.
Members of Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) II Announced
Governor Cuomo declared in his Executive Budget Address on January 21st that he would reconvene a Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) to address the accelerated growth in Medicaid spending. On Tuesday afternoon, the Governor announced the selected members of the team in a press release. The Team is charged with advancing a comprehensive set of recommendations that will generate $2.5 billion in 2021 with recurring savings in subsequent years. Among a list of specific directives, the statement reads that the group shall provide recommendations for “ways to ensure the availability of a stable and appropriately skilled workforce, especially with respect to meeting the needs of an aging population.”
Importantly, the statement indicates that the MRT will create an advisory work group to focus on issues associated with long-term care and managed long-term care (MLTC). The release states that “understanding the causes of [the growth in MLTC] and identifying efficiencies within the program is an important priority of MRT II.” The MRT II is being co-chaired by Michael Dowling, President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwell Health, and Dennis Rivera, the former President of SEIU 1199, who were also co-chairs of the MRT I in 2011.
Fortunately, the Team’s appointees include stakeholders from the long-term care sector and MLTC plans. Nonetheless, LeadingAge NY will be following the statements and public meetings of the Team closely, keeping members apprised of any updates. We have heard that the first public meeting of the team will be on February 11th, though no details or specifics have been announced.
Beginning on February 11th, the MRT II will be accepting ideas for savings and efficiencies from the public online at this link. LeadingAge NY is actively working on a list of proposals to share with the Team. Once the online submission portal is active, LeadingAge NY member providers are encouraged to submit any ideas they may have relating to efficiencies for the Medicaid program.
Advocacy Day Recap
Over 70 attendees from LeadingAge NY member providers across the state hustled about the state capital on Tuesday for the first of two LeadingAge New York Advocacy Days. Over the course of the day, advocate members of LeadingAge and the Adult Day HealthCare Council attended over 50 meetings with lawmakers. The primary conversations in these meetings centered around the looming $2.5 billion in Medicaid Savings that the MRT II has been charged with finding. The narrative around the anticipated cuts for our long-term care providers was simple - our industry is responsible for caring for aging and vulnerable New Yorkers and we simply can not sustain any more cuts in reimbursement. The message was re-enforced with demographic and funding data provided in our general issue brief. Other key issues of the day included workforce (our #WIN4Seniors Campaign), proposed cuts to managed long term care and capital funding for LTPAC providers.
We are thankful to those that were able to join us for a great day of advocacy this week! Now, we are looking ahead to our second Advocacy Day, scheduled for Tuesday, March 3rd. The March advocacy day will be focused on issues relating to housing, adult care facilities (ACFs), assisted living (AL), aging services programs, and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs). Click here to register for March 3rd Advocacy Day. We hope you can join us!
Schedule Meetings with your Legislators for the February Recess!
If you missed this month’s Advocacy Day but are concerned about the budgetary issues impacting your organization, you’re in luck! The legislature is quickly approaching its February recess, which poses a great opportunity to connect with your lawmaker’s back in the district. The Feb. 17th-21st break is the legislatures only week-long recess before the finalization of the SFY 2020-2021 budget, and it will likely be the best time to get on legislators’ busy schedules.
In preparing for district meetings, we encourage members to use the materials created for this week’s advocacy day. These materials will be relevant for conversations with lawmakers through-out this budget season, which is scheduled to conclude on April 1st. All budget advocacy materials can be found here or on our advocacy day website.
If you are not able to schedule a meeting, we encourage you to simply give your legislators a call to air your concerns. When fielding phone calls from constituents, legislative staff are required to take notes and relay those messages directly to the elected official. Members can use the budget advocacy materials linked above as substance for any phone calls made to legislators. Click here to easily find your lawmakers contact information.
Joint Legislative Budget Hearings Continue
Two Joint Legislative Budget Hearing’s relevant for LeadingAge NY membership took place on Wednesday – the hearing on Workforce Development and the hearing on Housing. The workforce hearing kicked off at 9:30 AM with testimony from Roberta Reardon of the Department of Labor (DOL). Roberta was followed by Lola Brabham from the Department of Civil Service (DCS), and Michael Volforte of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations. The topic that sparked the most discussion among committee members was the digital marketplace worker task force, designed to examine the employment status of gig workers.
Unfortunately, healthcare workforce challenges were not specifically addressed in the hearing, however LeadingAge NY did submit written testimony to highlight the need for a robust investment in long-term care workforce.
The Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Housing began at 1 PM after a brief delay due to protestors. Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), RuthAnne Visnauskas, testified at length about the Governor’s five-year affordable and supportive housing plan and the progress that has been made in unit development since the plan was enacted. Commissioner Visnauskas testified that as of December 31, 2019, construction and preservation is completed or underway on more than 62,000 affordable and supportive housing units across the state. This figure includes approximately 56,000 affordable housing units and 6000 supportive housing units. Of the $2.5 billion allocated in the five-year plan, approximately $1.5 billion has been spent, and 75% of units that are completed or underway are affordable for individuals making under 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI).
Both Enterprise Community Partners and the New York Housing Conference testified about the need for funding affordable senior housing with a service component, such as the services that would be provided by LeadingAge New York’s proposed Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program. LeadingAge NY is finalizing its written testimony to be submitted for the Housing hearing. Once available, all written testimony is published here.
Prevailing Wage Letter to Lawmakers
We knew that the Prevailing Wage proposal laid out in A.1261 (Bronson)/S.1947 (Ramos) would continue to be a contentious issue in the 2020 legislative session. However, in a turn of events, the language has now been included in the Governor’s Executive Budget Proposal making it an important budget issue for LeadingAge membership.
The proposal would impose “prevailing wage” requirements on construction projects that receive public funding over $5 million where such funds account for at least 30% of the total construction cost. Public funding would include most bond issuances, grants, tax abatements, and other government assistance. Prevailing wage requirements could increase labor costs by 25 percent or more, thereby increasing overall construction project costs by 15 to 20 percent for many types of projects that would be affected by this expanded wage mandate.
Now that Prevailing Wage is a budget issue, we will need to fiercely advocate against this proposal in the coming weeks, so it is not included in the Assembly or Senate one-house budgets. It is also important to make the executive aware of the proposal’s implications. Please send your legislators a letter! Click here to Urge your Elected Officials to Oppose Prevailing Wage for Non-Profit Aging Services Projects.
LeadingAge National Shares 2020 Policy Priorities
This week, LeadingAge National officially published their 2020 Policy Priorities! We encourage New York members to visit the page and get the latest on LeadingAge initiatives and advocacy efforts for affordable senior housing, PACE/MLTC programs, nursing home regulation reform, strengthening our older adult services workforce and protecting social safety net programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
In addition, HUD announced $51.5 million in awards to 18 organizations to build and operate affordable housing for very low-income older adults. LeadingAge is thrilled to share that HUD has awarded 11 LeadingAge members a total of $32.8 million of funding for Section 202 Housing for the Elderly. The need for affordable housing for older adults with very low incomes has increased steadily since the 202 program’s last funding for new construction in 2011. LeadingAge led the advocacy charge to re-start funding of the Section 202 program and preserve existing 202 homes. We thank Congress for their leadership on senior housing.
It’s never been more important for you to help advocate for the issues that have an impact on you and your community each day. LeadingAge is asking members to help them gauge the reach of the national advocate network. As a LeadingAge Advocacy Champion, your voice is extremely influential in enacting good policies and reaching your elected officials. Through this brief survey you can provide information on the issues that are important to you, the stakeholders within your network and the level of advocacy you can help us with in our campaigns.
Contact: Ami Schnauber; 518.867.8854; aschnauber@leadingageny.org
Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org