{"id":54407,"date":"2014-03-26T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=54407"},"modified":"2014-03-26T12:46:18","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T16:46:18","slug":"senator-valesky-idc-release-senior-affordability-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=54407","title":{"rendered":"Senator Valesky, IDC Release Senior Affordability Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"031914_valesky<\/a>Pictured State Senator David J. Valesky is joined by dozens of senior
\nadvocates in Albany on March 19 to promote the Independent Democratic\u00a0Conference’s senior affordability report<\/i>.<\/p>\n

(Albany, NY \u2013 March 2014) State Senator David J. Valesky (D-Oneida), Chair of the Senate Aging\u00a0Committee, \u00a0along with his colleagues in the Independent Democratic\u00a0Conference, released a report in support of the conference\u2019s proposals\u00a0making New York State more affordable for senior citizens. Each of these\u00a0proposals were addressed in the Senate one-house budget resolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs more and more of our population reaches retirement age, we must\u00a0prioritize policies to meet their needs,\u201d Senator Valesky said. \u201cAging\u00a0issues touch many aspects of state government\u2014health care, housing, and\u00a0transportation, to name just a few. The IDC’s Affordable New York plan\u00a0recognizes the need to create and expand programs that we know matter most\u00a0to seniors and their caregivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

EPIC Expansion
\nThe EPIC program currently assists more than 270,000 income-eligible\u00a0seniors age 65 and older supplement their out of pocket Medicare Part D\u00a0drug plan costs. Currently, the eligibility requirements for EPIC are\u00a0capped at $35,000 for an individual and $50,000 for a married couple. The\u00a0IDC plan would expand the income threshold to $75,000 for an individual and\u00a0$100,000 for married enrollees. It would also exclude social security\u00a0income from the income calculations.<\/p>\n

Paid Family Leave
\nThe number of older New Yorkers is growing as the Baby Boomer generation\u00a0ages. More and more New Yorkers are now caring for their aging parents,\u00a0requiring them to take time off from their jobs, or even worse, stop\u00a0working entirely. The IDC has proposed a statewide paid family leave\u00a0program that would allow qualified public and private sector employees to\u00a0receive up to half their weekly wage for up to six weeks in a year.
\nIndividuals would qualify for such benefits to care for a family member\u00a0suffering from a serious illness or disability. This includes a child,\u00a0spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandchild, grandparent, or in-laws.<\/p>\n

Creation of an Independent Consumer Advocate<\/p>\n

New Yorkers pay some of the highest utility rates in the nation, and
\nseniors living on a fixed income have difficulty dealing with large rate
\nincreases. The state had strong consumer advocates who participated in the\u00a0rate-setting process until the office was abolished in the mid-90s. The IDC\u00a0plan would create an Independent Consumer Advocate to ensure consumers have\u00a0a seat at the table when regulated utilities ask to raise rates. This\u00a0position would have political independence, the ability to negotiate deals\u00a0on behalf of consumers, and the power to sue over unfair rate hikes.<\/p>\n

Increased Funding for Non-Medicaid Services<\/p>\n

New York State funds the Community Services for the Elderly (CSE) program,\u00a0a flexible program offering services to meet the unique needs of senior\u00a0citizens throughout the state. Some of these services include: case\u00a0management, home delivered meals, nutrition education and counseling,\u00a0information and assistance, transportation, health promotion and wellness\u00a0activities, senior center programs, personal emergency response systems,\u00a0and minor residential repairs. There are currently 7,000 seniors on waiting\u00a0lists for these services throughout the state\u2014a number that is projected to\u00a0grow as the aging population increases. Without these services, New Yorkers
\nare likely to be placed in more costly institutional settings, like nursing\u00a0homes, that are funded largely by taxpayers through the Medicaid program.<\/p>\n

The IDC has advocated to increase funding for CSE programs by $5 million in\u00a0this year\u2019s budget to address the current waitlists.<\/p>\n

Reduced Driver\u2019s License Fees<\/p>\n

The IDC is also advancing a proposal in this year\u2019s budget to provide a 10\u00a0percent discount to senior citizens at least 65 years of age for driver\u2019s\u00a0license renewal fees.<\/p>\n

The full IDC report, \u201cAffordable NY: Making New York More Affordable for\u00a0Our Seniors,\u201d is available on Senator Valesky\u2019s website,\u00a0www.valesky.nysenate.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pictured State Senator David J. Valesky is joined by dozens of senior advocates in Albany on March 19 to promote the Independent Democratic\u00a0Conference’s senior affordability report. (Albany, NY \u2013 March 2014) State Senator David J. Valesky (D-Oneida), Chair of the Senate Aging\u00a0Committee, \u00a0along with his colleagues in the Independent Democratic\u00a0Conference, released a report in support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}