Minimum wage is also an elder issue since many work
By Al Norman Why should elders care about raising the minimum wage in Massachusetts? Well, for one thing, many older people are still in the workforce, and are earning minimum wage or less. According...
View Article‘One Care’ plan: Many questions, no answers
By Al Norman Last October, the Commonwealth embarked on a new health care plan — one of the first in the country to combine Medicare and Medicaid funds into an integrated plan for adults with...
View ArticleArticle 7
By Al Norman The U.S. Census Bureau has released a new report called 65+ in the United States: 2010. Here are some of the key findings from this report: •In 2010, there were 40.3 million people aged...
View ArticleNew governor must listen to the needs of invisible elders
By Al Norman Massachusetts has elected a new governor. One of the most striking details about the long campaign was the almost total lack of attention paid to the needs of the elderly. Seniors were...
View ArticleGov. Baker has an opportunity to give state’s aging clout
By Al Norman One of the biggest opportunities waiting for Gov. Charlie Baker is to more efficiently deliver long term care services for older residents — while at the same time better coordinating...
View ArticleOlder residents are footnotes in the political life of Massachusetts
By Al Norman The start of a new year always reminds me of what I did not get accomplished the year before. As a lobbyist for the elderly, I admit that often it seems that the list of what I did not get...
View ArticleGov. Jane Swift got it right on Home Care
By Al Norman In the middle of January 2015, a group of six elder advocacy groups wrote a letter to Gov. Charlie Baker, urging him not to cut the state’s home care budget for seniors. The governor has...
View ArticleSustaining MassHealth
By Al Norman As snowy February came to a close, Governor Charlie Baker told the public that “We are going to make some significant changes with respect to how the MassHealth program works going...
View ArticleMedicare vouchers? Oh no, not again
By Al Norman “Let me be clear,” U.S. Senator Ed Markey wrote. “I will not stand by and let the Republicans break the promise of Medicare.” Markey was responding to a federal budget resolution adopted...
View ArticleThe SNAP snafu
On April 9, the Mass Home Care Association and Mass Councils On Aging, sent a joint letter to the head of the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) about mismanagement of the Supplemental...
View ArticleHome care workers: poor caring for the poor
By Al Norman The home care program in Massachusetts has been described as a service in which low-income older women are taken care of by low-income younger women. The fact is, most clients— and their...
View ArticleThe health care nuclear option
By Al Norman Congress and the White House are poised to dismantle health care protections in our state that may take decades to repair. It’s a health care nuclear option. On Feb. 24, 22 advocacy groups...
View ArticleTrump’s ‘Skinny’ budget is all bones
By Al Norman On March 16, President Donald Trump sent over his federal fiscal year 2018 Budget Blueprint to Congress. It was the president’s first budget, and there were no real surprises in it. It’s...
View ArticlePushing health care to the states is no solution
The U.S. Senate recently found itself in a mad rush to beat the clock and repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) before Sept. 30. It was an act of desperation to support a bill that simply kicked the...
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