Thomas Jefferson wrote “the care of human life and happiness…is the first and only object of good government.”
In these few words, Jefferson accurately describes the LeadingAge advocacy agenda, one which implores lawmakers to protect and advance the well-being of people as they age and to support those who care for them—life and happiness.
On Wednesday, LeadingAge members from across the country braved this area’s only winter storm of the year–on the first day of spring no less– to “hike the Hill” with big and important asks of our elected officials.
While we are nonpartisan, we are not neutral. We have policy goals based on our fundamental belief that all older adults should be able to live lives of dignity, purpose and choice. In a deeply divided political environment, we have to work even harder to be heard. And, there is no message more impactful than YOUR STORIES, those of your families, your residents and clients, and your staff.
We are advocating for a regulatory environment for nursing homes that promotes, enables, and rewards quality, rather than one that punishes providers. We want nothing less than the highest quality care and service in our communities and we want nothing less than the ability to deliver on that promise. To that end, we need to end the CNA training lockout—a law that is counter intuitive and impedes quality. We are also advocating to address the inherent flaws in our current system of survey and certification. While these could largely be addressed by CMS, we are taking an AND-BOTH approach—focused on CMS and Congress.
We are advocating to INCREASE the supply of affordable housing. We have a crisis at present, evident by long waiting lists and increased homelessness. This is wrong on so many fronts. We want Congress to provide funding for construction of new service-enriched Section 202 housing and to fully fund other HUD programs. The Administration has proposed deep cuts, so we are facing an uphill battle.
We are advocating for a more rational and fair system of paying for long term services and supports. Families are shouldering the burden now and Medicaid—the payer of last resort—is straining state budgets. Last week, the Census reported that by 2030, all baby boomers will be older than age 65.
“The aging of the baby boomers means that within a couple of decades, older people are projected to outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As a nation, we are ill-prepared to meet the needs that will present themselves in just a few short years.
We need to act now to create a new way of paying for long term services and supports that infuses the delivery system with funding for high quality, community-based services and protects families from economic peril.
And, we need to draw attention to our looming workforce crisis. Too many jobs in aging services go unfilled. Too few people are seeking careers in aging services based on a lack of understanding of the value of these jobs, economics, and ageism. We have long been overlooked in federal programs focused on workforce training and development. This needs to change. At the end of the day, workforce and quality are everything— and they are inextricably linked.
While lobby day is only one day among many throughout the year during which LeadingAge has a presence on Capitol Hill, its importance comes from the collective impact of talking to staff in Congressional offices on the same set of issues at the same time. The image that comes to mind is an orchestra—one instrument alone is only a soft voice, but an entire group of instruments is a booming, powerful one.
We need to project our voices to advocate for the essential policy changes that will ensure the “care of human life and happiness” for the older adults we serve today—and those we will serve well into the future. Not just today—but every day.
Thank you for joining LeadingAge in this important chorus.