By Marianne Lyons Delorey, Ph.D.
May is Older Americans Month. This month, we celebrate our older adults and the paths they have traveled.
Unfortunately, just as we celebrate our country’s older members, our current administration is systematically destroying the safety net that our older citizens have enjoyed and have come to rely on. At the pace they are working, it is a matter of time before our safety net is completely unraveled. Our older adults need to flip this to prevent it from happening.
Already, the administration has slashed the workforce of several federal agencies, among them HUD, the Department of Agriculture, and Health and Human Services (HHS, which oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and the Administration for Community Living (which helps fund senior centers and Meals on Wheels).
These staffing cuts are just the start. If you have not read Project 2025, please do so. The overall strategy of this administration is to first disrupt the government by getting rid of civil servants and replacing as many positions as possible with political appointees. They then intend to reduce the federal workforce.
In most cases, the next step in the Project 2025 playbook is to slash funding, privatize programs, push programs to the states, and otherwise minimize the role of the federal government.
Having read through the salient parts of Project 2025, here is what they suggest for the major programs our seniors rely on:
Social Security – Overall, conservatives do not like this program. They feel like the government has no role in social insurance and their preference is to give the program to states to administer or privatize.
Medicaid – The good news is that conservatives do not focus on this program as a primary payer for nursing home care in Project 2025. They would definitely prefer to see it state regulated and privatized, however. They perceive this will help offer more choice to those who use Medicaid as an insurer.
The big threat to Medicaid, however, is the overall cost of the program. One of the authors outright stated it is a “Cumbersome, complicated, unaffordable burden.” Others noted that the combined cost of Medicare and Medicaid Due to Obamacare, is almost exactly the same cost as the national debt, clearly drawing a line between the two despite the fact that Medicare is funded out of a different bucket.
Project 2025 further suggests strengthening asset testing and adding work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries.
Medicare – The priorities for Medicare closely mirror those for Medicaid. Their primary goal is to increase and encourage Medicare Advantage plans as they are the first step in privatization of this program.
They believe that introducing choice lowers costs. They also want to remove price controls (base payment on health status of patient rather than where they receive service and allowing physician-owned hospitals more latitude).
HHS – As of this writing (early April), significant numbers of staff at HHS got layoff notices and many were turned away when they showed up for work. HHS houses many important programs, for this column I am focusing on The Administration for Community Living, or ACL, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
The ACL coordinates federal policy on aging and disability. The agency funds programs that run senior centers and distribute food through the Meals on Wheels program.
The ACL also administers the Older Americans Act which provides funding to states for Area Agencies on Aging.
Department of Agriculture – SNAP benefits are handled under this department. Among other objectives, the administration will re-implement work requirements for beneficiaries.
Project 2025 is clear that their first goal is to reset the government. Making these huge staffing changes intentionally throws the agencies into turmoil so that they will not be able to respond to the needs of the users – our seniors, our residents, our clients, our family members. I encourage you all to “Flip the Script” on Project 2025.
When former President Obama was inaugurated, Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights pioneer who believed his efforts helped redeem the soul of his country, asked him to sign a picture of them together. He signed the photo, “Because of you, John. – Barak Obama.”
Who will be the next to rise to the challenge of helping to save our safety net?
Marianne Lyons Delorey, Ph.D. is the executive director of Colony Retirement Homes. She can be reached at 508-755-0444 or mdelorey@colonyretirement.com and www.colonyretirementhomes.com
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