A recent report from AARP New York finds older rural New Yorkers are struggling to age in place due to a wealth of disparities.

The two biggest issues outlined in the report are housing and transportation access, each with its own set of challenges.

For housing, many rural homes weren't built with accessibility in mind and modifications can be costly.

New York's Access to Home for Medicaid Recipients program, which funds these modifications, received requests totaling $12 million. However, the program only gets enough funding to handle $1 million in improvements.

AARP New York State Director Beth Finkel said she feels a solution to this issue lies in easing zoning laws for accessory dwelling units.

"We could ease the zoning for those," said Finkel. "Give people the opportunity to adapt their homes or build on smaller pods, onto their homes, so that they can have their family members close by."

The other issue with housing is affordability. The report finds more than 30% of a person's income is going toward housing.

It becomes an issue for older adults who are on fixed incomes. Aside from this, she said she hopes the state will provide more funding for the Access to Home for Medicaid Recipients program.

Regarding transportation, Finkel noted that there's limited access to public transit or ride sharing.

The report also finds groups that provide transportation for seniors don't have enough funding to make it more widely available.

She said she feels now is the time to affect change to help older people in rural areas.

"It's really the right time for our governor and more lawmakers to really address these issues," said Finkel, "so we can have impact and change really what is becoming a dimmer and dimmer picture for rural New Yorkers."

Some ways to boost transportation in rural areas would be to have more public-private partnerships for transportation and increased funding.

Overall, she said she wants to ensure older New Yorkers living in rural areas have options to age in place, rather than looking elsewhere for the needs of their twilight years.

A recent report finds nursing homes across New York are going without proper oversight.

AARP New York's report finds about 80% of New York City's almost 300 nursing homes, assisted-living and adult-care facilities didn't receive a single visit from the state's Long Term Care Ombudsman Program during a three-month period in 2022.

The reason for this is that the program has long been underfunded, a trend that's set to continue in Gov. Kathy Hochul's latest budget.

Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, explained what would improve the ombudsman program and keep nursing homes accountable for patient care.

"The Department of Health needs to do a better job," said Mollot. "You know, these surveyors are inspectors. They need to be equipped and supported to ensure that residents are safe and that the facilities are not allowed to perpetuate poor care and demeaning conditions."

He added that what's critically needed is a professional ombudsman staff to meet the needs of nursing-home residents. This means regularly monitoring facilities, providing support to residents, and being a voice for residents too.

AARP New York is calling on a commitment of $15 million in state funding for the ombudsman program to ensure it has enough staff to follow through with serious complaints from nursing-home residents.

Trends for nursing homes across the state weren't much better. The report finds that more than half of facilities throughout New York failed to receive one visit from a Long Term Care Ombudsman.

But, outside of this program, there are challenges nursing homes have been facing for some time. Lindsay Heckler, supervising attorney at the Center for Elder Law & Justice, said one challenge that needs to be addressed is staffing.

"The rules and regulations that are in both federal and state law need to be fully enforced," said Heckler. "So, for example, New York State has the minimum staffing standards that are in effect. The state needs to make sure that nursing homes are doing their job and meeting those bare minimums."

Issues with staffing in nursing homes have been ongoing, but were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report from the American Healthcare Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, from February 2020 to December 2022, nursing homes across the U.S. lost more than 210,000 workers.




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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed a new law that rolls back Michigan's "Retirement Tax" that was implemented more than a decade ago.

The new law, which amends the Income Tax Act, will mean a $1 billion tax break to seniors and working families.

The measure will phase out the retirement tax over four years, saving hundreds of thousands of Michigan households an average of $1,000 a year.

Paula Cunningham, state director of Michigan AARP, said the measure will reverse a policy that many seniors considered a hardship.

"You look at your Social Security, you look at your pension, you look at your income every month and you depend on that for your livelihood as you retire," said Cunningham. "And to later learn after the fact that that money was not going to come in, because you're balancing the budget and taking money away from older adults, never seems right."

The bill, HB 4001, passed on a straight party-line vote in the Senate, and a single Republican joined the Democrats in the House vote.

The former tax policy was created in 2011 by a GOP-controlled legislature as part of a corporate tax cut.

Whitmer and Democratic leaders also sought to approve $180 "inflation relief checks" to every Michigan tax filer, but could not muster the votes to include it in the package.

Cunningham said AARP and other senior advocates fought for the change for several years, but could not get it through until Democrats gained control of the Legislature and the governor's office.

"That means about 700,000 Michiganders will see more money coming into their retirement income," said Cunningham. "That might mean a gas tank or two, might mean another trip for someone. It could mean more groceries or it may not mean a lot to some folks, but to 700,000 people who will make a big difference."

The bill also expands Michigan's Earned Income Tax Credit from 6% to 30% of the federal tax credit. Lawmakers estimate that will save low-income Michigan families about $750 a year.

A bill headed to the governor's desk aims to boost South Dakota programs that provide adult day services. Supporters say it is getting harder for families of those with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia to access this care. The Legislature recently gave final approval to a plan that sets aside $2-million to develop or expand programs that offer supervised care and enrichment services for these patients.

Erik Gaikowski, AARP South Dakota director, predicted the measure will remove a lot of stress for these individuals and family members who care for them. The group supported the it.

"The more money that we can put into these programs, the more caregivers can likely stay in the workforce or allowing those people that they love to stay in their communities and homes for longer, " Gaikowski said.

During testimony leading up to the bill's passage, supporters noted that South Dakota is down to just three adult day providers that contract with the state. Meanwhile, the state Department of Human Service had said while it does not disagree with the spirit of the plan, it suggested there were not enough specifics in directing the agency to administer the grants.

A number of family caregivers provided testimony during the hearing, including Richard Butz, whose wife has Alzheimer's. Appearing remotely, he suggested quality adult-day services can help keep the caregiver network from reaching a breaking point.

"Most caregivers are struggling with full-time care themselves, or a long-term care facility, where the energy of the staff is absorbed in providing for the activities of daily living," Butz said," leaving little or no time or energy left to provide life-enriching experiences. "

According to a 2018 report from a statewide working group, more than 17,000 people in South Dakota live with an Alzheimer's diagnosis. More than 38,000 serve as their unpaid caregivers.