Author Archives for Herb Weiss

Benefits for seniors from Rhode Island’s next budget

Published in RINewsToday on June 17, 2024 

With a 35-2 vote in the Senate early on Friday the Senate gave its approval for a $13.963 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year, comprising 13 articles that direct additional funding toward education and children, raises Medicaid reimbursement rates, health care support, and includes a $120 million affordable housing bond. The 300-page budget bill – read here, 2024-H 7225Aaa has now gone to Gov. Dan McKee, who is scheduled to sign it at an event Monday, June 17, at 11:15 a.m. in the State Room on the second floor of the State House.

Rhode Island’s FY 2025 Budget and Seniors

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick) reeled off specifics as to how this year’s budget proposal impacts senior programs and services, noting that it aims to lower the rising housing and health care costs that impact the quality of life of older Rhode Islanders. “We have asked the voters to approve an additional $120 million in funds to increase affordable housing production. The budget accelerates a commitment to raising Medicaid reimbursement rates for services to care for our most vulnerable seniors and people living with disabilities to stabilize our health care and human service provider networks,” noted Shekarchi. 

Under the budget proposal tax relief is provided to seniors who rely on retirement income, raising the exemption to $50,000 for qualified single filers and $100,000 for joint filers. It also repeals the suspension of annual cost of living (COLA) adjustments for retirees in the state pension system who retired before 2012 and moves up the timeline for resumption of COLA for other state retirees. 

Lawmakers changed the calculation for pension benefits to base it on the highest three consecutive years of earning instead of five. Finally, the House Speaker noted that this budget fully funds Medicaid rate increases for home care and other services that help seniors age with dignity in the community and stay in their homes if they so desire, and also increases support for services provided in nursing or assisted living settings. 

Adds Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio(D-Dist. 4, North Providence, Providence), “I am pleased that the budget will invest in many Senate priorities, particularly in the areas of health care, child care, education and providing some needed relief to retirees,” says Ruggerio. “Specifically, the budget incorporates $2.7 million for primary care provider training sites, as well as $500,000 for tuition assistance for students who enter the primary care field and remain in Rhode Island. The budget also includes funding for purchasing medical debt for pennies on the dollar,” he says. 

But how does the aging network view this spending plan? 

According to Maureen Maigret, Policy Advisor with the Senior Agenda Coalition of RI (SACRI), under the spending plan approved by the Assembly $103.2 Million in all funds was added to the Governor’s proposed budget to fully fund the social and human service provider rate increases as recommended by the state’s Office Health of Insurance Commissioner (OHIC) based on the comprehensive legislatively mandated Rate Review Study performed in 2023. According to Maigret, who served as a member of the Advisory Task Force for the Rate Study, the full funding was especially important for those older adults and persons with disabilities seeking access to home and community services. 

“Too many persons on Medicaid have been waiting three months or longer to access needed home care supports which can cause health to deteriorate or to consider nursing home placement at far more expense to the state,” Maigret said. Maigret noted the increases would raise rates for providers of home care, assisted living, shared living and adult day services – all critical to helping persons with support needs to be able to stay at home where most persons with care needs prefer to live. 

Senior Agenda Coalition has worked for many years to promote better access to home and community-based services and to advocate for better wages for the direct care workers who provide this care,” she added, noting that these individuals are usually women, mostly women of color, and for too long have been undervalued and underpaid she noted. In 2022 the SACRI advocated with the legislature to set a minimum wage of at least $17/hour; however, the budget only called for a minimum of $15/hour. With full funding for the recommended home and community care provider rates, we would like to see these essential workers get a minimum starting wage of at least $25/hour in order to recruit and retain the necessary workers. 

SACRI also successfully pushed along with other housing advocates for the addition of $20 Million more to the Housing Bond to go on the November ballot for a total of $120 Million, Maigret added, noting that the coalition continues to advocate for paying adequate attention to the housing needs of older adults in the allocation of the bond funds. “Increasing affordable housing options for this population is critical,” says Maigret, stressing that census data shows that 53% of older RI renters pay more than 30% of their income on housing and studies show that 43% of extremely low-income RI renters are seniors. In the housing space, passage of bills to streamline development of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) advanced by House Speaker Shekarchi along with most of his housing package was also a major win for expanding housing options and development. 

The legislature also addressed SACRI and its advocacy partners push to increase income eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program (MSP) that helps lower-income Medicare enrollees not on Medicaid afford needed healthcare and save dollars for other needed basic needs by covering Part B premiums ($176/month in 2024) as well as required co-payments for some with very low-incomes. “The budget includes a provision requiring the state to seek federal approval to increase the eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program for “qualified individuals” (currently persons with annual income between $18,312 and $20,331) up to 185% of the federal poverty level ($27,861),” says Maigret, adding that the Coalition plans to monitor the approval process and to seek additional legislation, if needed, next Legislative session to further expand the program. Maigret says that lawmakers expanded the Temporary Caregiver Insurance Program up to 8 weeks but SACRI was disappointed that siblings and grandchildren were not added to the list of persons for whom a worker could get paid leave.

“We will continue to advocate for these additions and to increase the number of weeks of leave up to 12 which is provided by most states that have such a program,” she says. And finally, SACRI will continue to advocate for additional funding for the Office of Healthy Aging to provide each of our communities with at least $10/per person age 65 and over to help support local senior centers and programs for older adults, says Maigret, as well as increasing the income cap to $50,000 for eligibility for the state Property Tax Relief Program (called the Circuit Breaker program) that provides a tax credit or refund for older homeowners and renters and those on Social Security Disability. 

FY 2025 Budget Helps State’s Nursing Homes  

James Nyberg, Executive Director  of LeadingAgeRI is pleased with the infusion of much-needed funds in the FY 2025 Budget to help support financially-distressed nursing homes as they continue to provide quality care in a very difficult environment.  “The providers are clearly in distress and we need to avoid any further closures to ensure access to care, resident choice and well-being, and support for the workforce,” he says.  “We also are grateful that the OHIC-recommended rate increases for various programs, including assisted living and adult day services, were expedited with full implementation this October.  Assisted living providers are scheduled for a 10.8% rate increase and adult day a 19.8% increase.  This will help support our home and community-based providers and those for whom they care, says Nyberg, who serves on the Advisory Task Force for the Rate Study. Lastly,

LeadingAgeRI supports the FY 25 Budget’s increase in the housing bond to $120 million, and calls for a portion of it to be used to expand safe and affordable senior housing, the lack of which is well-documented, including a recent report by the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council. According to Nyberg, one legislative priority that remains is to establish a Medicaid rate add-on for private rooms in nursing homes, since Medicaid is the primary payer for nursing home care.  “This would be an important step in helping to support a more homelike environment and resident privacy and dignity,” he says.

“RI nursing homes have been chronically underfunded since the implementation of the reimbursement methodology over thirteen (13) years ago,” charges John E. Gage, President & CEO of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, representing 62 nursing home providers. “Cuts to the annual inflation index, failure to re-base rates every three years since, and skyrocketing costs since the beginning of the pandemic have put RI nursing facilities at significant financial risk,” he says.

“The FY ’25 Budget passed the Rhode Island General Assembly includes funding for the first-ever rebase of Medicaid Rates since the inception of the Priced Based Reimbursement System back in 2013,” says Gage, noting that this increase represents a 14.5% increase with an estimated increase in revenue of $66 million beginning October 1, 2024, based on actual expenses from the most recent Medicaid Cost Reports from 2022. 

Additionally, Gage says that the budget as passed includes $10 million in State Fiscal Recovery Fund Grants to stabilize RI’s nursing facilities from July 1, 2024, through the implementation of the new rates on October 1. 

Pension changes initiated 

“Our primary task during this past General Assembly session has been to strongly support Bill H-8193, introduced by Rep. Pat Serpa, which would see the return of the COLA which was so ruthlessly slashed away in 2011. It applied to all current and future retirees, including teachers, state workers, and some municipal employees, says Sandra Paquette, representing Advocates for COLA Restoration and Pension Reform, a non-profit representing 4,700 retirees.

However, the actual pension provision in this year’s budget provides for the restoring of a compounded COLA to those who retired prior to July 1, 2012, notes Paquette. “Initially, this was a disappointment to our organization, as we had hoped for much needed relief for all who have been so detrimentally affected by Rhode Island Retirement Security Act — creating a financial crisis in the lives of so many lifetime workers. But further thought and consideration caused us to realize that the pension benefits in this year’s budget represent a huge step in a 13 year’s duration of no progress whatsoever in alleviating the injustice, she adds.

“And we are delighted that after so many years, older persons in the state retirement system who retired prior to 2012 will finally see a COLA,” says Maigret, “This is especially important for those who do not receive Social Security benefits.”

Editor’s Note: Added comments

Union thoughts…

Jesse Martin, Executive Vice President of SEIU 1199 NE and President of Rhode Island SEIU State Council said, “For months, union members of Rhode Island SEIU State Council have been working to raise awareness of issues that matter most to working Rhode Island families and, as a result, made great strides in healthcare, wages, funding, retirement, career training and more to the benefit of all. This year’s budget contains emergency funding to keep Linn Health open until August, provides funding to paraprofessional healthcare workers to help them advance in their careers, streamlines the hiring process at DHS and DCYF in order to attract new qualified candidates and finally enables domestic workers to earn the minimum wage. We thank all our elected leaders who offered their steadfast support and prioritized the needs of working Rhode Islanders.” 

The Rhode Island SEIU State Council, which is representative of all four SEIU affiliate locals, represents a variety of workers across the state, including healthcare, Department of Children and Families, Janitorial, Family Child Care, Department of Labor and Training, Security, Workforce Development and more. Nationwide, the Service Employees International Union represents over two million members.

Kathleen Gerard, Advocates for Better Care in Rhode Island, added, “”We were very glad to see the passage of the full Medicaid reimbursement increases recommended by the OHIC this session, and will continue to advocate for measures that ensure that our public funds are put towards the public good of improved wages for direct care staff and improved care for residents.” 

New report re-examines workplace policies and caregiving

Published in RINewsToday on June 10, 2024

As a newly released AARP and S&P Global report notes, working while being a caregiver is complicated.  While the researchers say that since the previously issued report in 2020, US employers have stepped up to the plate to offer access to caregiving benefits.  However, much more must be done. 

Since the 2020 AARP and S&P Global’s last report, employers have become attuned to the needs of working parents over the past decade and especially during the pandemic, and are now moving from awareness to action in providing support for employees with adult caregiving responsibilities.

Taking a look at caregiver employees

The report’s authors say this study “explores the workplace experiences of caregivers and how they use employer provided benefits and policies to remain successful at work while providing care at home. It reveals not only the challenges of balancing work and caregiving, but also how the right workplace policies can ease the burdens.”

According to the new analysis conducted last December by AARP and S&P Global, the unpredictable nature of caregiving for an adult is one of the biggest stressors the caregiver employee faces.  Sixty seven percent of family caregivers have a very difficult time balancing work with their caregiver responsibilities.  

Half of the working caregiver respondents reported having to make work scheduling changes, (including going in early, leaving late, or just taking time off because of caregiving responsibilities), the findings indicated.

The findings indicate that workers are even reducing hours at work.  Twenty seven percent of working caregivers have shifted from full-time to part-time work or have even reduced hours, while 16% have turned down a promotion.

Meanwhile the findings indicated that 16% have stopped working entirely for a period of time — and 13% have changed employers — in order to meet their caregiving responsibilities.

With the nation’s number of adults ages 65-plus projected to surpass the population of children by 2030, the report warns that US employers must continue to offer policies and benefits that are friendly and supportive of adult caregivers to keep them in the workforce.

In order to get a handle on the needs of working caregivers and understand the importance of employer benefits for balancing work and family care obligations, in 2023 AARP and S&P Global surveyed 1,200 self-identified caregivers who worked full-time or part-time at large US companies (employing more than 1,000 employees) and who provide at least six hours of care each week to an adult.

It’s complicated – being a working caregiver 

There were other key highlights from the Working while caregiving: It’s complicated report.  

Eighty percent of the survey caregiver respondents believe that companies were more understanding of childcare issues – rather than adult caregiving responsibilities.  The researchers say that this is particularly the case among caregivers who have an under-18 child at home and they have recent experience of both caregiving situations. Those caregivers without children reported less satisfaction with company support than caregivers with children (69% versus 89%, respectively).

For those working remotely, the survey’s findings indicate that they were more likely to feel penalized or discriminated against at work because of caregiving responsibilities when compared to in-office or hybrid workers (49% versus a combined average of 29%). The researchers say that this might reflect employer challenges in assessing and engaging with remote employees’ work-life needs.

Finally, the study found that among working caregivers providing more than 21 hours of care a week, 37% say they are experiencing significantly increased difficulty due to inflation. And for those providing fewer than 10 hours of care, 25% say inflation has made providing care significantly more difficult.

According to AARP, previous AARP research shows that of the nearly 48 million family caregivers in the US, 61% are juggling both work and caregiving responsibilities, including assistance with daily living activities, medical or nursing tasks, coordinating services and supports, transportation, shopping, and serving as an advocate for their care recipient. Most family caregivers provide at least 20 hours of care each week, equal to an unpaid part-time job.

The new report’s findings found that access to a flexible work schedule at the time of caregiving increased from 32% in 2020 to 45% in 2023. Additionally, the availability of caregiving policies or benefits increased in every category except unpaid leave. 

“As the backbone of America’s long-term care system, providing $600 billion every year in unpaid labor, family caregivers need and deserve greater support from their own employers,” said Susan Reinhard, Senior Vice President and Director of AARP Public Policy Institute, in a May 16th statement announcing the release of the 21 page report’s findings.  “As our population ages, it’s critical that employers support family caregivers in the workforce with the policies, such as paid leave, that can ease their everyday burdens,” she said.

“Despite the progress observed since 2020, the latest data shows the majority of employees with adult caregiving responsibilities continue to face barriers at balancing work and caregiving obligations and need greater support from employers through enhanced benefits and policies to stay engaged in the workforce,” noted Alexandra Dimitrijevic, Co-chair of S&P Global Research Council. “Employers can help by paying forward-looking attention to employee needs and the demographics shift of the workforce in the coming years,” she added.

Best Practices to support working caregivers

The report’s authors say that employers can do more to support working caregivers and detail best practices that companies can take to support their employees. 

They call on companies to consider offering and support flexible schedules and flexible work locations either hybrid/remote. Employer-supported access to support groups, career coaching and financial advising resources could be offered.  Paid leave specifically for caregivers and/or flexible leave can be used to help with caregiving duties, they suggest.

Yes, information is power.  Companies could host free sessions to highlight how caregiving employees can optimize employer benefits and policies, as a way to address the lack of awareness in using benefits.  Senior leaders could be asked to share their stories as to how they have used the company’s caregiver-supportive benefits and policies, signaling to both people managers and their teams that they are encouraged to use them.

The report’s authors urge companies to train people managers on caregiver-inclusive managerial practices and ensure that they are aware of caregiver-supportive benefits and policies. They must make it clear that it is safe to use them all without incurring career risk.

Finally, companies can start or support an Employee Resource Group (ERG) for parents and caregivers or create a caregiving initiative across all ERGs. 

To view the full 2024 report:

https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/featured/special-editorial/working-while-caregiving.

To view the 2020 report:

Click to access somethingsgottagive_spgiaarp.pdf

For details on caregiving: 

Click to access full-report-caregiving-in-the-united-states.doi.10.26419-2Fppi.00103.001.pdf

Someone’s trash is a military family’s treasure: Ours

Published in RINewsToday on June 3, 2024

Everyone is aware that the internet can have its negative impact on cybersurfers.  Just log in and you’ll see a widespread distribution of fake news, cyber-bullying, on-line threats, cyber-theft, revenge and child porn.  Its use can even lead to internet addiction.

But the internet can also be a valuable tool for sharing information, researching issues, even locating long-lost friends and family members.  As I recently found out, the net was used to return my father’s olive green foot locker – issued during World War II – to me.

This foot locker was found on a street curb in Detroit, Michigan, ultimately to find its way back to this writer residing in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.  Seven hundred miles separate these two cities.  And it’s been over 80 years since my father packed his personal items, extra uniforms, and toiletries into it. 

Introductions…

At 11:30 p.m. on April 24, 2024,  I received a Facebook chat message from a person I have never met. “Mr. Weiss, I found an old army trunk in Detroit with the name, Lt. Frank M. Weiss, stenciled on the front side of the olive green trunk,” stated Michael, a Detroit resident, excitedly sharing a photo of the foot locker resting in the back of his pickup truck.    

Michael would later tell me that he was driving around his neighborhood “looking for scrap” that he would sell, and watched a person drag the old military footlocker to the curb. The former owner’s name was “Lt. Frank M. Weiss,” and it was prominently painted on its front. This caught Michael’s attention.  He later told me that he learned that this trunk had been stored in a garage in his neighborhood – for almost 60 years.

This foot locker might be a great piece of décor for somebody’s apartment, he remembers thinking before stopping to pick it up off the curb.  It would be easy to sell, too, he thought.

Michael went home and showed it to his girlfriend, Cetaura, suggesting that it  might sell quickly at a local flea market to bring extra cash into their household. “It would be a great decorative piece for someone to buy,” he said, thinking someone might turn it into a coffee table.

“Out of curiosity my girlfriend searched the internet,” Michael told me, “seeking more details about the life of Lt. Frank M. Weiss.”  Was he an American hero, they wondered?

Cetaura quickly found an article that I had previously written about World War II vets dying (“In coming years, generations of older veterans will be leaving us”).  The article was dedicated to Second Lt. Frank M. Weiss, my father.  So, the net search gave Cetaura and Michael a lead.  There might be a family connection between therem they speculated, contacting me through Facebook to confirm.

And amazingly, yes, there was.

Confirming Proof of Ownership

I told Michael that my parents lived in Detroit, Michigan, during World War II.  They were married in that city in 1942.  With my grandfather, Samuel Weller, being a prominent defense attorney, almost every Detroit judge attended their wedding. 

My father was drafted into the military service and would serve in military bases around the country (including the 1033rd Technical School Squadron, Kearus, Utah, the 357thTechnical School Squadron at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, 3705th AAF Base Unit, Lowry Field, Denver, Colorado, and the Army Air Forces Technical Training Command, Miami Beach, Florida).  He entered the U.S. Army Air Force at the rank of private and left the military as a Second Lt.

Michael said he would give me the footlocker and I paid to have it shipped to my residence in Rhode Island.  While I waited for this footlocker to arrive, I  was attempting to verify that it really had belonged to my father.  Of course, I wanted to be 100 percent sure that it was his.

The Detroit Public Library confirmed that after the war my parents moved from Detroit to Saginaw in 1946, and then relocated to Grand Rapids in the 1950s.  They would ultimately move to Dallas, Texas in 1951. But it seems that his military footlocker remained in Detroit, never reaching his new home in North Dallas.  

I wondered, could the foot locker have belonged to another “Lt. Frank M. Weiss?”   A research librarian confirmed that they could identify only one Frank M. Weiss in Detroit in the 1940s.  The others with Frank Weiss’s identified had different middle initials.  But could I consider this as total proof?

After the footlocker arrived, I closely examined  a faded mailing label on its top.  By enlarging the label with Photoshop, my graphic designer was able to identify my father’s Detroit mailing address, 16841 Wildemere Avenue,  (which matched the address in his military records) on the label.  Now I was convinced that this trunk was owned by my father.   

Because of the kindness of Michael and Cetaura, I was able to thank them for their tireless efforts to locate the family of Second Lt. Frank M. Weiss. My father’s military footlocker has finally come home.  It was empty but today it contains the folded American Flag we received at his funeral, his scrapbook of faded pictures of his comrades and assigned bases from his long-ago days in the military and memorabilia, all safely in his footlocker.  Now it is truly a treasure chest.

Special thanks to the librarians at the DPL’s special collections for their assistance in verifying the ownership of the military footlocker.