ARRRGGGGHHHHHH! If Congress couldn't be moved to reauthorize the Older Americans Act in May, with IS Older Americans Month, what will it take for them to stop their blatant neglect & get it done?!
A lot of people ballyhoo how 2015 is the 80th anniversary of Social Security, the 50th anniversaries of Medicare & Medicaid, the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, but who are out there celebrating that this year is the 50th anniversary of the Older Americans Act?
You hear hardly a peep, yet this one law had provided essential services to millions of adults. Odds are you know or are yourself receiving services from an Older American Act program, as one in five older adults do.
In spite of all the Older Americans Act provides for so many - meals, caregiving, transportation, legal services & elder abuse prevention programs - Congress has kept it underfunded for over 20 years.
Today, it's been more than four years since the Older Americans Act was renewed. Talk about elder neglect - Congress should be taken to the wood shed by voters & given a good electorate spanking! What should be a bipartisan, non-controversial reauthorization has become a mess.
For 50 years, the goal of the Older Americans Act has been to help older Americans remain independent, in their community or in their homes. Perhaps one of the things holding Congress back from reauthorizing is that its services target those in the greatest economic or social need, with particular attention to low-income minorities, rural residents and those with limited English proficiency - a demographic given less & less attention.
How wildly ironic that reauthorization has lagged as baby boomers struggle with acting as care givers to our own parents, a status that will swiftly shift to needing the care ourselves. The Older American Act is the ONLY federal program provides resources for individuals to be effective caregivers, that aids the increasing number of older adults raising grandchildren.
Personally, I don't care why Congress has been woefully neglectful in reauthorizing the Older Americans Act. Because it is neglect, pure & simple. From voter "reforms" that disadvantage the elderly to not reauthorizing the Older Americans Act, our Congress has - especially since 2010 - shown astonishing disinterest in & disrespect of its elders!
Write to your congressional representative, to your senators. All that is required for the bums to get away with it is for the rest of us to do nothing. Stop the elder neglect - get Congress to reauthorize the Older Americans Act. NOW!
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