Congress Revving Up To Revamp Elder Services Programs

Congress is revving up to remodel the federal government’s omnibus package of elder services programs.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will consider revisions to the Older Americans Act Wednesday sponsored by the unit’s Republican and Democratic leaders.

The chairman of its counterpart in the House, Minnesota Republican Representative John Kline, also wants to reform the act this session, his spokesman Brian Newell told Financial Advisor Magazine Tuesday.

The Older Americans Act is a collection of federal grants to states for services including aged in-home and senior center meals, transit, part-time jobs for those over 55, homemaker services (including laundry and cleaning) and caregiver counseling and temporary relief help for 11 million Americans.

While Kline has yet to unveil his laundry list of proposed revisions, the bill from HELP makes elder abuse a significantly greater priority.

The legislation prods the states to increase information they submit to the federal government on senior mistreatment. Grants for legal assistance in adult protective services would be explicitly permitted for the first time.
A provision calling for the modernization of senior citizens centers could be a signal Congress wants the facilities to include more active activities to appeal to the younger old, said Diane Lifsey, a lobbyist for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare.

She speculated the bill’s request for more state efforts in chronic disease self-management program could be aimed primarily at diabetes treatment.

Lifsey applauded a section making seniors caring for adult children with disabilities or their own children under 18 are eligible for the Family Caregiver Support Program.

The Older Americans Act came into being as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Program in 1965, the same year Medicare was passed.

The law’s grant programs are primarily aimed at improving the quality of life for seniors by making it more possible to stay in their own homes and to save government money since nursing homes are expensive.