Dwight Roinestad
There are many difficult legislative issues facing seniors in today’s rapidly changing world and highly charged political environment. This complex world and the often time sensitive nature of the local, state and federal legislative processes present challenges to any organization, especially a volunteer organization like the Colorado Senior Lobby. Recognizing this, the Senior Lobby recently decided to develop an organizational policy statement to serve as a guidepost for decision making as the organization considers positions on specific legislative proposals. A Policy Committee has been formed and assigned the task of preparing the statement. The policy statement is intended to inform public officials and others of the Senior Lobby’s general policy positions on a variety of issues of concern to seniors. The policy statement also will guide Senior Lobby decisions on which legislation and proposed legislation are appropriate for the lobby to consider for a position and will provide a framework for positions and actions on specific proposals. The policy statement further is intended to be a tool to facilitate timely and effective discussion and decision making, while retaining the Lobby’s independence and flexibility.
With this understanding in mind, the Policy Committee has been making good progress. As a first step, the committee prepared a new mission statement that expresses the core values and mission of Senior Lobby. Based upon existing language in the bylaws, the mission statement is designed to serve as a basis for the policy statement. It emphasizes Senior Lobby’s role of speaking out for seniors but also recognizes seniors are integral members of the whole community and are affected by that community. Consequently, at times the Senior Lobby must remain cognizant of issues, for example education and land use, that might not at first seem like they should be considered but affect other community members that may in turn also affect seniors. The mission statement was recently presented to the Senior Lobby’s Board of Directors for approval.
The Policy Committee is continuing its work to develop an effective policy statement for the Senior Lobby. The committee is now considering specific areas and issues of concern to the senior community and how they should be addressed in the policy statement. Input from Senior Lobby members is welcome and appreciated.
Dwight Roinestad is a Colorado Senior Lobby At-Large board member and retired from the Social Security Administration.
17,000 Coloradoans Will Lose LEAP Benefits
Eileen Doherty
As part of the budget and government shut down negotiations, 17,000 Coloradoans will lose their Low Income Energy Assistance (LEAP) benefits. The State of Colorado is receiving a 35% cut in federal funding for the LEAP program which starts November 1, 2011 and ends April 30, 2012.
This year the maximum gross income is based on 150% of poverty for this season. Previously individuals whose income was 185% of poverty were eligible. The Colorado Department of Human Services has started to notify households that will not be eligible for LEAP benefits starting November 1. Applications were also sent to households that received assistance last season and who may still qualify.
To qualify, an individual must be a U.S. citizen and a resident of Colorado with a gross monthly income of less than $1361 (couple must make less than $1839). There are no resource requirements. Individuals must also pay heating fuel costs directly to an energy provider or pay the cost of heating their dwelling as part of the rent or in addition to the rent.
LEAP provides cash assistance to help Colorado families and individuals pay winter home heating costs.
To apply for LEAP, individuals must complete the LEAP application form and submit it to the County Department of Human Services. Individuals must complete an Affidavit as proof of lawful presence in the United States. Along with application, individuals must submit a copy of a valid picture ID; copies of proof of income for all members of the household; copy of a recent heating (not lighting) bill showing the company name, address and account numbers; and a copy of the recent rent receipt if heat is included in the rent.
Some counties are only accepting LEAP applications by mail or fax and will not accept walk-ins. LEAP benefits are paid directly to the heating company, unless the individual pays heating costs as part of the rent.
Other benefits provided by LEAP through the weatherization program can include repair or replacement of a home’s primary heating system such as furnace or wood-burning stove; refrigerator replacement, insulation in attics and walls, sealing air leaks, compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy audits, and storm windows and doors. The goal of weatherization is to reduce energy usage.
To qualify for weatherization, individuals must be receiving benefits from one of the following programs: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Aid to the Needy Disabled, Old Age Pension, Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid and/or LEAP. Call the Governor’s Energy Office at 1-888-206-2122 to locate a weatherization office near you.
Individuals needing assistance with either LEAP applications or more information for weatherization can call 303-333-3482.
Eileen Doherty, M.S. is the Executive Director of Senior Answers and Services and the Colorado Gerontological Society. She has more than 35 years of experience in gerontology in administration, research, training and education, and clinical practice. She can be reached at 303-333-3482 or at doherty001@att.net.
Do Not Forget to Mark Your Calendar
Senior Day at the Capitol
Planning is underway for the annual Senior Day at the Capitol March 14, 2012. The coming 2012 legislative session promises to be one with much debate. As legislative issues affecting seniors become known program phases of the event will be adjusted to include those issues and personalities. A luncheon is being planned but has not been finalized at this time. More details regarding the luncheon and program will be available later.
Relocating the State Unit on Aging
In a joint effort to meet the Governor’s call to serve Coloradans in a more efficient, effective and elegant way the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF), and the Colorado Department of Human Services (DHS) have been working closely together to align the agencies’ infrastructure to decrease fragmentation and make the system easier to navigate for their clients and their families, especially those who need long-term services supports.
The goals of the realignment are to:
- Ensure that appropriate and necessary services are provided to clients:
- Ensure that services will be provided safely, timely, and with respect and dignity;
- Strengthen consumer choices in service provision;
- Create incentives to encourage best practice in service delivery;
- Create incentives for the use of less restrictive settings; and
- Ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used effectively and efficiently.
In August, 2011 the three departments met to discuss collaborative projects the three departments might undertake to make the delivery of services more effective, efficient and elegant for consumers. A re-design of the long-term care system was selected as a priority project.
Initially, the departments focused on the Division for Developmental Disabilities (DDD) system based on a request from the Joint Budget Committee to examine the relocation of the DDD from the Colorado Department of Human Services (DHS) to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF). Since many discussions occurred in recent years about the advantages and disadvantages of moving DDD from CDHS to HCPF the departments actually examined the system more broadly and decided to consider the impacts of relocation other long-term services and support programs as well. Based on this review, and in response to the Joint Budget Committee’s request, HCPF and DHS submitted a report outlining a proposal to relocate the DDD, the State Unit on Aging (SUA) and the Children’s Habilitation Residential Program (CHRP) waiver from DHS to HCPF.
The SUA administers the Older Americans Act (OAA) and Older Coloradans Fund (OCF) monies that are allocated to the state’s 16 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs).
The departments state that moving DDD, the SUA and the CHRP waiver to HCPF will not cause any services at the local level to change. This recommendation is part of a larger effort to improve long-term services and support for persons who are disabled or aging in Colorado.
The departments have stated stakeholders will be involved in the design and development of this proposal, including individuals receiving services and their families, providers, advocates, the Legislature, and the Governor’s Office. Over the next six to twelve months the departments will hold community forums to gather input from stakeholders and communities on outcomes and benefits they would like to see out of a combined department and programs. The first forum was conducted November 16th at the Fort Logan Mental Institution auditorium.
At the November 16 forum the auditorium was nearly filled to capacity. Many attendees expressed dismay that they were not notified of the planned relocation until just days before the proposal was released. A common comment concerned the plan being prepared before public comment. Was this backwards? Should public comment be invited first then a plan prepared? Was this move a “done deal” arranged in secret and the public hearing just a formality?
The meeting time was rescheduled at least twice if not three times. The Executive Directors scheduled their time to speak for only one hour and then left to attend another meeting. The remainder of the meeting was handled by staff. Participants were invited to call in on the telephone. It was very difficult to hear those on the telephone and their comments or questions were not repeated fully.
Participants in attendance were invited to ask questions on a shared microphone. Many questions were not heard by many in the audience due to low speaker volume.
Concerns were expressed that HCPF does not respond in a timely manner to questions and concerns directed to them by service providers and the community at large. Among other concerns were that HCPF would decide to shift the $9 million in the Older Coloradans Fund to Medicaid to draw down federal match and that the OCF/OAA programs could get lost in the massive Medicaid system. OCF/OAA programs are focused on funding services, advocacy, coordination and planning for the senior population. Medicaid is an insurance company that reimburses providers, processes claims, and is focused more on accounting than advocacy. Replacing OAA/OCF services with Medicaid would take the program in an opposite direction of the long supported concept of increasing flexibility in the use of the funds so the Area Agencies on Aging can better meet the needs in Colorado. Not addressed in the proposal is the issue of livability and how the state will redesign the long term care system to recognize the impact of the environment on peoples’ ability to access services.
Need Help?
If you live in the Denver area and need help check out the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) Network of Care website. You will find information for providers, abuse prevention, fall prevention, announcements, Medicare information, a local calendar, publication and a host of other informational services. Legislative information may also be found on the site. Go to DRCOG.networkofcare.org and be in for a pleasant surprise.
Proposed Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid[1]
President Obama, has recently proposed $320,000,000,000.00 ($320 billion) in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, in order to reduce the federal debt over the next ten years. $248 billion of the reductions come from Medicare and $73 billion from Medicaid. These cuts will be realized primarily by changing how the federal government pays health care providers, reducing payments to drug companies and by changing the way the government splits the costs of Medicaid with the states. Currently, states and the federal government share the cost of Medicaid. Typically, the federal government pays about two-thirds and the states one-third of the total. One of the biggest proposed changes in the Plan is how the federal government will split Medicaid spending with the states resulting in a savings over the next ten years of approximately $15,000,000,000.00 ($15billion).
The proposals are part of a package to reduce deficits by more than $3,000,000,000,000.00 ($3 trillion) over 10 years. Medicare and Medicaid insure more than 100 million people. The proposal would require new beneficiaries to pay higher deductibles before Medicare coverage of doctors’ services and other outpatient care kicks in. In addition, the proposal increases Medicare premiums by about 30 percent for new beneficiaries who buy generous private insure to help fill gaps in Medicare. Other provisions of the proposal increases premiums to higher-income beneficiaries, requiring certain new beneficiaries to pay co-payments of $100 per episode, defined as a series of five or more health visits not preceded by a stay in a hospital or nursing home, for home health care visits. Other provisions affect payments to nursing homes, require doctors to get approval from Medicare for the most expensive imaging services, and require drug companies to provide additional discounts or rebates,
How Does the Governor Develop His budget?
The Governor’s State Budget, which is presented on November 1, is developed with all the different state agencies and cabinet members, the Office of State Planning and Budget (OSPB), using forecasting information on the different revenue streams and taxes coming into the General Fund, and focusing on campaign promises and increases in caseload.
The following information is based upon the workings of the various state agencies and the Governor’s budget office called the Office of State Planning and Budgets (OSPB). The Legislature has their own economic and budgeting staff members, who work for the Joint Budget Committee (JBC). This article is only addressing the planning which goes into the Governor’s annual budget. In addition, this is focusing on a healthy fiscal analysis where a program may potentially request additional funds.
At the end of the legislative session in May of each year, the budget process for each state agency begins; but it is forecasting the budgetary needs for each line item and program in the Governor’s budget request two fiscal years in the future. Example, at the end of the 2010-2011 legislative session, each state agency began working on revising their budget request for fiscal years 2012-2013 and any additional funding increases for fiscal year 2013-2014. In the State agencies, the budget process never ends.
To visualize how the budgets get prepared the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) will be used as an example. Keep in mind that each state agency goes through a similar process as described. An example of requesting an increase in the State Funding for Senior Services (SFSS) line that is housed within the Division of Aging and Adult Services will be used.
Towards the end of May or early June of each year, OSPB provides each state agency an approximate target figure or percentage that can be expected or projected for allocation in the future fiscal year. In other words, each state agency is giving a ball-park figure for the final allocation projected for the fiscal year two years in advance of the current fiscal year. This means in June of 2011, the State is developing the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 2013. Typically the budget for each state agency is developed with program staff, upper management, and the agency’s budget office staff.
Program staff works with the internal agency budget staff and OSPB on the projection of the monetary needs for the program based upon historical data, previous expenditures, and requirements for Federal matching dollars, and caseload increases. In the example of the SFSS, the Division of Aging and Adult Services would submit a proposal for the projection of additional dollars that will be needed in fiscal year 2013-2014. This information is then shared with CDHS’s upper management and the internal agency’s budget office staff, who must weigh all the requests from each of the different Divisions against the target number/budget received from OSPB. This is where it gets difficult, as each program has written up a document detailing why that program needs the additional dollars that may have been allocated to CDHS. Upper management reviews the requests and prioritizes them based upon various needs, such as which ones are required by the Federal government to stay within their guidelines; which ones are a matter of preservation of life and safety; which ones are based on caseload increases; and which ones are required due to previous state legislation or constitutional requirements. This is typically when the programs are pitted against each other. In the example of the Department of Human Services, it covers a very large array of programs for children, seniors, mental health, developmental disabilities, child protection, adult protection, child support, youth corrections, food assistance, job training, child care services, the mental health institutions, the group homes for developmentally delayed, vocational rehabilitation services, veterans nursing homes and refugee services, just to name a few. As you can see if the state agency is only allowed to increase its overall budget by one percent, this is difficult to do with all the current needs for each program. At this time CDHS management determines the most pressing needs for the different constituents and programs and develops a recommendation for OSPB.
Once each state agency develops their budget request, it is sent to OSPB by August. At this time, OSPB reviews the budget documents from each state agency and tries to combine the requests while trying to maintain a balanced budget based upon the forecasts/projections. The Governor presents his budget in early November to the Legislature’s budget committee and staff called the Joint Budget Committee. You must remember, all this is happening before any of the fiscal projections are in for the next fiscal year. Then in late November until early January the JBC will hear from each State Agency and ask questions regarding the nature of the requests. (This is called the JBC briefing and the Department’s hearing). During November through April, the JBC staff is working on determining the legislature’s proposed budget. It is in Colorado’s constitution that the budget be balanced each fiscal year.
So what happens if something changes within the programs that require additional funding after the fiscal year budget has been approved by the legislature and the Governor? The program staff must request a “Decision Item” that may be an emergency, meaning it must be applied to the current fiscal year to maintain health and safety of citizens, or applied to the next fiscal year due to “new information” which can be an unexpected increase in caseload or additional federal dollars that the state must match at a specified percentage rate for the state to access or “pull-down” the federal money.
To get back to the example of the State Funding for Senior Services (SFSS) budget to request an increase, there are many levels in which the request can be denied in the process. It can be denied at the CDHS office level, at CDHS management team level, at OSPB, or by the Governor, or during the JBC process. This is not to say that the request is not needed or important, it is just that often, higher priorities “bump” the SFSS increased funding request out of the final budget request.
As you can see, it is not an easy process to get additional funding requests through the entire process and funded. This same process is required if any programs are recommended to be reduced or cut by the Governor’s budget.
Homestead Exemption at Risk, Again
Governor John Hickenlooper has recommended a $18.7 billion 2012-12 budget that puts him in direct opposition with House Republicans over a property-tax break for seniors that costs the state nearly $100 million a year. In addition to marking the fourth year in a row without salary increases for state workers the governor is recommending that the state suspend for one year the Senior Homestead Exemption. Lawmakers have suspended the tax exemption for the past two years.
The governor’s budget also calls for some relief to poor seniors by adding $9.5 million to an existing program that rebates property taxes paid, either directly or through rent, and for heating costs paid by low-income Coloradans ages 65 and older. The new money for the program would more than double its current funding. Unlike the Senior Homestead Exemption which rewards rich and poor alike, the property-tax and rent rebate program helps the poorest seniors.
The governor also is proposing a long term fix for the Senior Homestead Exemption that would allow it to be triggered only in years in which growth in the state’s personal income exceeds that of fiscal year 2007-08, the most recent high-water mark for state revenue.
2012 General Assembly To Convene January 11
The General Assembly convenes Wednesday, January 11, 2012. Before the General Assembly convenes members must be aware of an important deadline. Members may not introduce more than five bills. Of the five bills, excluding appropriations and interim bills, not more than two bills may be requested after December 1, 2011.
Throughout the session are deadlines for the introduction of bills, final passage of Senate bills in the Senate and final passage of House bills in the House, introduction of the Long Bill in the House, and a list of other deadlines too long to list here. For additional deadline information visit the Colorado General Assembly home page at www.leg.state.co.us. From there it tests one’s skill at clicking. Under Service Agencies click on Legislative Council. Once on the Legislative Council page and about one-half down under “Quick Links” click on “Legislative Schedules.” At that point you are on the home stretch. On the Schedules page click on the link to “2012 Deadline Schedule” and if everything worked okay you will see the 2012 legislative calendar.
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The General Assembly is slated to adjourn May 9, 2012.
Colorado Senior Lobby
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Colorado Senior Lobby, Inc.
A nonprofit, non-partisan, all volunteer organization
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[1] The following is taken from
The New York Times (9/19), Kaiser Health News (9/20),
The Associated Press/Washington Post
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