We are pleased to report that it appears strategies outlined by the Campaign are largely reflected in the budget agreement.  The agreement will maintain existing long term care services through at least March 31, 2013.  Funding for the last quarter of the 2011-2013 biennium will be addressed through one of several different contingencies. 

Options to address the remaining shortfall include restoring the $13.4 million with funds from subsequent revenue forecasts, if forecasted revenue increases by $25 million or more.  Another option would identify opportunities to increase federal matching dollars under Oregon’s Medicaid waiver or state plan.  Barring either of these options being successful, efforts to restore funds would then focus on future actions by the Legislative Emergency Board or in the initial months of the 2013 Legislative session to close any remaining funding gap.

The budget agreement came about as a direct result of the Campaign’s hard work on Advocacy day and the weeks leading up to session via our aggressive advertising campaign as well as hard-working Campaign members who tirelessly contacted their elected officials in support of programs for seniors and people with disabilities.

Now that an agreement has been reached on major budget issues, it is anticipated that the legislature will push towards adjournment (Sine Die) by the middle of next week.  In addition, Health Care Transformation legislation was passed through the House by Thursday afternoon and will soon be signed into law by the Governor. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Dale Penn at dpenn@ohca.com.

Thankfully, the legislature’s Emergency Board voted unanimously to restore these cuts, realizing the tremendous human and economic impacts at stake and that there was a better way to balance Oregon’s budget. Because of this action:

• Thousands of our most vulnerable citizens will maintain access to essential services that help allow them to say in their home or communities.
• Thousands of care providers will be able to keep their income, health coverage and jobs.
• More than $34 million of federal matching funds will be able to stay at work right here in Oregon, accross our communities and economy.

Unfortunately, we’re not out of the woods yet. Services were only restored through the end of February next year. Much hard work remains and tough choices lie ahead as economic challenges face our state both in the short and long-term.

Now, more than ever, we all need to come together as Oregonians to find a better way to preserve essential services key to our collective quality of life and our economic future.

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For over twenty years the Advocacy Coalition has been fighting to ensure that seniors and people with disabilities have a voice on legislation and budget issues that affect them. This is accomplished through face to face contact with legislators, testifying at committee hearings, organizing and participating in lobby days at the Capitol and doing outreach to encourage members to call, write and visit their legislators. The Coalition also works collaboratively with other like-minded groups to advocate on specific bills and budget/revenue issues to maximize the chances of success.

To learn more about the Advocacy Coalition for Seniors and People with Disabilities or to find out how you can get involved please email Bill Olson at fwolson@comcast.net or Robert Lawrence at lawrence2243@comcast.net

Bill Olson, Chair of the Advocacy Coalition for Seniors and People with Disabilities

Thank you, members of the Campaign for Oregon’s Seniors and People with Disabilities. You worked together and collectively wore your yellow scarves and buttons. You rallied at the Capitol for Legislative Action Days. You testified at hearings, met with your legislators, turned out to Town Halls and Ways & Means hearings, and made thousands of calls and e-mails. You hand wrote postcards to your elected officials and showed up at community forums across the state.

You made a difference.

• You helped stop deep budget cuts that would have devastated Oregon’s innovative and cost-effective model of long-term care.
  • More than $30 million in proposed budget cuts to Oregon’s home care workers and those they serve were restored.
  • More than $18 million in proposed budget cuts to seniors in nursing facilities that would have negatively impacted quality of care were reversed.
• You helped preserve one of Oregon’s flagship long-term care programs — Oregon Project Independence — at its current funding level that helps keep vulnerable Oregonians in their home and from entering more costly care options.
• You helped leverage millions in funding for special needs transportation to help seniors and people with disabilities stay mobile and connected in their communities.

Thanks again. Together, we can keep Oregon working and a place that respects those at the dawn, twilight and shadows of their lives despite these tough economic times.

Please stay in touch. We can be reached at 503-513-7375 or info@oregonspromise.org.

Today Lyda lives alone in her North Portland home, which she purchased nearly 30 years ago.  She spends most of her days volunteering at a senior center in North Portland, where she helps plan activities and interacts with the center’s visitors.  There are plenty of activities there to keep her busy.

A few years back Lyda had a stroke and now has trouble standing for long periods of time.  She also requires a little extra help around the house with things like laundry and cleaning the bathroom.  Because she doesn’t have family in the area, there aren’t many people she can depend on other than close friends.  This leaves Lyda and thousands of other seniors like her, dependent on a state program called Oregon Project Independence (OPI).  OPI allows disabled and low-income adults, who are not eligible for Medicaid, to get help with necessities like grocery shopping, house cleaning, and meal preparation - all things that enable older adults to continue living in their homes and communities.

Without this type of in-home assistance, minor as it may seem, Lyda would not be able to continue to live on her own.  Her only alternative would be to move in with someone else or into a nursing home-a level of care that is more than she truly needs.

For these reasons, Lyda cringes when she hears of potential cuts to OPI and other programs that help seniors living on their own.  Lyda was impacted several years ago when state budget cuts reduced the in-home assistance she was eligible for each week. “I used to get twelve hours a month, now I only get 6.  That’s only 3 hours every two weeks.”  As is, her caregiver can barely get done with her laundry in the allotted time, let alone other household cleaning.  “Sometimes I have to wait a whole month before she has time to clean my bathroom.”  Any additional reduction in hours is almost unimaginable to Lyda.  “Without her help,” Lyda says, “I don’t know what I’d do.  We need this.  Disabled people need programs like this.”

Salem, Oregon - The Campaign began running a radio spot about the disproportionate cuts to services for seniors and people with disabilities.

With 40 percent cuts to in-home and nursing facility care, the proposed cuts seek to balance the budget on the back of some of Oregon’s most vulnerable. The consequences are  too devastating: 

• Thousands of seniors and people with disabilities will suffer - from losing their in-home supports to facing reduced quality of care;
• More than 6,000 caregiver and other jobs in Oregon’s long-term care sector will be lost;
• Nearly $200 million of critical federal matching funds will be forfeited; and
• Oregon’s innovative home- and community-based model of long-term care will be further dismantled.

We must find a balanced approach that preserves core services and maintains jobs. Oregon’s seniors and people with disabilities, their families, our communities and economy are depending on it.

Please speak out today. Call 800-711-4539 NOW.  Tell your legislator that we can’t afford such drastic cuts,  and that Oregon’s seniors and care workers deserve better.