Published in Blackstone Valley Call & Times on October 6, 2026
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Helena Buonanno Foulkes and independent candidate Ken Block squared off Friday, Oct. 2, at a gubernatorial candidate forum focused on issues affecting older Rhode Islanders, people with disabilities, family caregivers and those receiving behavioral health services.
Opening the forum, Carol Anne Costa, SACRI’s Executive Director, noted that Republican candidate Aaron Guckian, who had committed to attend, failed to show up after notifying organizers at 3 p.m. that same day. “We’ve adjusted the program, and we will move forward in a focused and streamlined way so that these candidates who have taken the time to be with this audience get the forum they deserve,” she said.
Introducing the Candidates
Foulkes, 62, a Providence resident, emphasized her 25 years at CVS, ultimately becoming president of CVS Pharmacy, where she worked on employment initiatives for people with disabilities and special needs. She said she doesn’t need to be “the smartest person in the room,” but wants to leverage community expertise. She highlighted her relationships with other governors, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, as sources of policy ideas. Her policy priorities include housing affordability and healthcare access, and she called for creating a “whole-of-government” approach to senior services.
Block, 60, a Barrington software engineer who founded Simpatico Software Systems, political reformer and author, is an independent candidate who describes himself as an “operational manager” with experience helping large multinational companies reimagine their business operations, contracting and delivery of complicated computer systems. He emphasizes a data-driven approach to problem-solving and decision-making and has firsthand experience with healthcare and aging issues as a caregiver for his mother, who had early-onset Alzheimer’s, and helping his in-laws with aging-in-place challenges.
Block, like Foulkes, has actively sought information from advocacy groups on aging and disability issues throughout his campaign. He focuses heavily on government efficiency, transparency and fixing “friction points” in state operations.
The forum, held at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston, was sponsored by the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island (SACRI), AccessPoint Rhode Island and the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island.
Unlike many gubernatorial forums held throughout the Ocean State that focus heavily on taxes, housing, education and the economy, SACRI’s forum allowed the candidates to address issues that often receive less attention during political campaigns: aging in the community, long-term services and supports, nursing home care, Medicaid, family caregiving, behavioral health and services for persons with disabilities.
Spanning more than an hour, the two candidates fielded questions on strengthening the state’s Office of Healthy Aging, creating a multi-sector plan on aging, establishing a state advocate’s office and expanding long-term care. They also discussed unpaid family caregivers, workforce shortages, accessible housing, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, economic security for older adults and transparency in human services.
Where They Stand
During opening remarks, Foulkes emphasized that seniors are an “untapped resource” of wisdom and expertise. She proposed creating a “senior corps”-style effort and intergenerational mentoring programs. Block shared personal caregiving experiences involving his parents and now his in-laws in their 80s, stressing the importance of advocacy organizations in helping families find needed resources and support.
At that point, the two candidates addressed a multitude of topics during the forum. Here is a sampling.
The SACRI forum highlighted that Rhode Island’s 2009 law setting a 50% goal for Medicaid home and community-based services remains unmet, with general home and community services reaching only 20.1%. The state ranks 44th nationally in community support spending for older adults at $28 per adult age 60 and older, compared with the $53 U.S. average and $222 in Massachusetts.
Regarding long-term care, Block called for cost-effective alternatives to nursing homes for residents with lower care needs, including housing options. He also recognized the possibility of severe budget pressures, including potential Medicaid cuts.
Foulkes highlighted the staffing crisis, fueled by low wages and lack of health insurance for many home-care workers. She also raised concerns about the impact of federal immigration policies on the pool of workers available to provide care.
The candidates were asked about a long-term care workforce crisis that includes 512 nursing assistant openings and only 132 trained applicants; Medicaid reimbursement rates; support for unpaid family caregivers who provide an estimated $2.8 billion in annual care; and the need for accessible housing throughout Rhode Island, with only 85 of 2,194 units under development being handicapped accessible.
Block supported elevating the state’s Office of Healthy Aging (OHA) to a cabinet-level position to ensure seniors have a direct voice to the governor. His rationale: A substantial portion of the Ocean State’s population has interests that align directly with OHA.
Foulkes advocates for a “whole-of-government approach” to providing senior services, with a potential cabinet-level position for aging, looking to Maryland as a model.
Foulkes emphasized the need for creating a master plan on aging with accountability and deadlines. Block also pledged to either issue an executive order or support legislation to develop the state’s aging policies, programs and services.
The candidates split on how to provide sustainable funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Rhode Island’s 988 system has handled nearly 75,000 calls since its launch while maintaining a 98% answer rate.
Block explained his opposition to using a telephone fee to fund the program, citing the regressive burden such fees place on low-income residents. He has no opposition to the program itself. Foulkes supported a small monthly telephone fee, similar to 911 funding, to provide a dedicated funding source for the state’s 988 response system.
Both candidates emphasized government inefficiency and data-access problems. Block described himself as “an operational manager” who specializes in “understanding where an organization doesn’t work well” and called Rhode Island government “a target rich environment.”
He expressed frustration with “Rhode Island state government’s ability to provide data” and promised “dashboards and other things that will ultimately really let us understand much better than we can now where we’re spending the money.”
Foulkes similarly stated, “we need way more transparency everywhere in the state” and endorsed the Inspector General concept to track how government funds are spent.
Direct-care workforce challenges appeared across multiple questions. Foulkes identified “the gap in terms of the number of community healthcare workers” and how “low paid” the work is, noting that “most of them that I speak to don’t even have healthcare insurance themselves.”
Foulkes connected federal immigration policy to the state’s capacity to provide care, raising concerns about home-care providers and healthcare workers who are immigrants. Block pointed again to the nursing assistant shortage during the lightning round.
Foulkes proposed creating a state website to assist families in navigating the long-term care continuum, acknowledging “it’s really hard right now” to find appropriate services. She also called for helping Rhode Islanders at risk of losing Medicaid coverage, proposing a “Medicaid navigator system” using faith-based communities and senior centers to help people complete eligibility paperwork.
Both candidates warned about the severe stress on Rhode Island’s healthcare system. Block noted that Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital were “on life support,” stressing their importance to the state’s healthcare system. Foulkes pointed to Rhode Island’s more than $156 million first-year federal Rural Health Transformation Program award as an opportunity to strengthen healthcare delivery.
Foulkes and Block also supported creating a dementia services coordinator position at the Department of Health. They supported continuing the overdose task force’s progress and having dedicated substance-use and mental-health policy staff in the governor’s office.
Finally, in lightning-round responses, both candidates supported continuing Medicaid reimbursement rate efforts for direct-care staff; using 30% of state housing bond funds for accessible housing for older adults and people with disabilities; creating an Office of the Elder Advocate; and developing a multi-sector plan on aging.
While Foulkes supports eliminating the Medicare Savings Program asset limit and providing an annual cost-of-living adjustment to the state’s SSI supplemental payment, Block gave no answer because he did not have a cost estimate.
Here’s the Bottom Line
With federal funding uncertainty, the state’s ongoing structural budget deficit and fiscal limitations, will Foulkes and Block be able to make good on their policy commitments?
Block repeatedly declined to make specific funding promises on a number of policies, stating, “I don’t know what’s coming at us” and “my answer to you, with all sincere respect, is I just don’t know.”
Foulkes also acknowledged Block’s concerns about reduced federal funding and the fiscal limitations facing the next governor. “I need to understand at the end of the day what all of this costs and make sure that I’m not making promises to you that I can’t keep,” she said.
For older Rhode Islanders, people with disabilities and behavioral health issues, family caregivers and the organizations that serve them, that may ultimately be the most important question coming out of SACRI’s forum: not just what the candidates promise to do, but whether the next governor will have the resources and political will to do it.
Stay tuned.
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RI Gubernatorial Forum to ask, “what’s your Senior Agenda”
Published in RINewsToday on August 1, 2022
The Senior Agenda Coalition of RI (SACRI) has joined 17 organizations to bring you Rhode Island’s 2022 Gubernatorial Forum where candidates will talk about senior issues. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, August 3, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. at the East Providence High School’s new 900-seat capacity auditorium. Seating is limited to 450 people, leaving space for social distancing. Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. At press time, 350 seniors and aging advocates have registered to attend in person or virtually.
“Senior issues must be viewed as a public policy priority because Rhode Island’s older population is growing dramatically,” says Bernard J. Beaudreau, SACRI’s Exec. Director, and one of the event’s organizers. According to Beaudreau, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the state’s total population of 65 years and older has grown by 20% from 152,183 in 2010 to 182,486 in 2020, adding 30,303 people in this age group. Rhode Island’s statewide planning projections also indicate that people sixty-five and older will grow to over 247,000 by 2030, an increase of 65,000 seniors over the 2020 census.
Gubernatorial candidates to delineate positions on key Senior Issues
“During the 90-minute forum, the gubernatorial candidates will share their positions on seven questions, hammered out by event cosponsors, as to how they would address a variety of policy issues impacting older Rhode Islanders,” says Beaudreau. “Attendees will learn how candidates would rebuild and sustain a viable workforce for nursing homes and homecare providers. They will also be asked about their plans for Medicaid rebalancing and expansion to improve home and community-based care opportunities while ensuring the financial viability of nursing homes,” he says.
Beaudreau says the forum also gives the gubernatorial candidates an opportunity to detail their strategies on how resources can be increased to significantly support healthy aging in the community. They will be asked by the moderator what type of assistance will be given to low-income seniors, and will they support a yearly cost-of-living adjustment to the state SSI payment and increase eligibility for the Medicare Savings Programs for seniors and people with disabilities to at least 185% FPL.
The attendees will also learn how the candidates, if elected governor, will ensure that an adequate amount of the $250 million in funding for affordable housing is allocated for seniors and how they will work to ensure equal access to high quality healthcare and information about available health care resources.
Finally, the gubernatorial candidates will be asked to make a pledge to address the needs of Rhode Island’s older population and provide the leadership and resources necessary to create and implement a Rhode Island Strategic Plan on Aging.
Recognizing the political clout of Seniors
“SACRI’s upcoming Gubernatorial Candidates’ Forum is important as older adults historically have high turnout in elections and the Forum provides an opportunity to hear the candidates’ views on issues important to seniors,” says Maureen Maigret, Chair of the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council’s Aging in Community Subcommittee. “The Forum should cause candidates to take a serious look at the state’s demographics, to note how the older population is growing, and to reflect on how government can best support older adults’ desire to remain healthy and living in the community and provide quality facility care when needed,” says Maigret.
“The Forum allows us to set forth policy priorities and hold whoever is elected accountable for addressing them. An example of this is when former Governor Raimondo was elected. She had been presented with priorities for restoring budget cuts to senior services such as Meals on Wheels and some of the cuts were restored in her budgets,” Maigret noted.
SACRI’s Beaudreau says that the senior vote will influence the outcome of the upcoming primary and mid-term. “Rhode Island seniors 60 years of age and older represent 34% of all registered voters and accounted for 42% of the vote in the 2020 general election. Rhode Island seniors have higher voter participation rates than the rest of the population,” says Beaudreau, this being 77% compared to 57% for voters under 60 years of age. “We have a powerful voice to be exercised to impact public policy,” he says.
Political pundit Wendy J. Schiller sees seniors as a crucial voting bloc in American politics. “On average, 72% of voters over the age of 65 turn out to vote in presidential elections, as compared to about 48.6% of voters under the age of 30. Seniors are consistent and typically well-informed voters on issues concerning Social Security and Medicare,” says Schiller, Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science and Director of the Taubman Center on American Politics and Policy, Brown University.
According to Schiller, in the past 3 elections, “seniors have split about 55-56% for the Republicans, and 45-46% for Democrats. Seniors have been viewed as more conservative (Sun City AZ, the Villages FL) but the data do not really bear that out as you can see. There is a tilt, but not a full lean toward the GOP; this midterm season might be different though. If the 22 midterm elections were held tomorrow, you might expect to see even a bigger swing toward GOP candidates than usual because of inflation alone. Inflation is just one area where there is a gap in issue concerns between older and younger voters. Older voters worry a great deal about inflation eating into their savings and pensions that are not adjusted for inflation while younger voters may be as concerned with climate change and abortion rights as much or even more than they are worried about inflation,” she says.
Schiller says that seniors are like all other voters in that they are highly influenced by their political party affiliation, even in cases where the party proposes policies that run against their interests. “The GOP has proposed cutting Medicare ever since it was created, most recently under President Trump, but they are not careful to say that such cuts would not affect current recipients or even people aged 55 or over and the majority of seniors voted for Donald Trump in 2020. Democrats ran into some trouble with seniors when Bernie Sanders and others proposed Medicare for All because seniors thought it would dilute their own services through Medicare, and/or raise their premiums,” adds Schiller.
Adds well-known Rhode Island Political Strategist, Rob Horowitz, “As a group, seniors vote more regularly than any other age group. In the 2020 presidential election, for example, more than 3-in-4 people eligible voters between the ages of 65 to 74 voted as compared to about 2-in-4 eligible voters between the ages of 18 to 24. Since Rhode Island has an older population, seniors are a key group in pretty much every state and local election. Winning campaigns in Rhode Island and throughout the nation devote time and advertising dollars to reaching seniors.”
According to Bob Weiner, former chief of staff director of the House Select Committee on Aging under Florida Congressman Claude Pepper and former spokesman for both the Clinton and Bush White Houses, no one can forget the clout of older voters because they are the most motivated demographic group to vote. “They can’t be broken out by political parties as people expect,” observes Weiner, noting that it is a very close 50-50 split vote. “Older voters vote Democratic and Republican; the Democrats must do more to capture the senior vote. It’s close. In 2020, while Joe Biden won the popular vote by 7 million, Donald Trump won the senior vote 52% to 47%. It’s not a matter of party. Seniors’ quality of life is not political,” he says.
“But on the issues, they will tear apart a candidate who doesn’t support Social Security, Medicare and the rights of seniors to have continued employment and privileges in society,” Weiner notes.
“So, anybody who thinks they can get away with some horrible position, such as cutting back Social Security or Medicare in five years or utilizing the myth that Social Security is in deficit crisis, they can’t because it has a 2 trillion surplus resulting from Claude Pepper negotiations to keep the program fully solvent through 2034,” Weiner says, noting that it only needs a “little repair” to keep it going.
“Anybody who thinks that they are going to use Social Security and seniors to fund other federal government operations is badly mistaken,” says Weiner. “When President Bush wanted to privatize Medicare and Social Security and made a campaign out of that he actually helped lose congressional seats in an off-year election,” said Weiner, warning political candidates to think twice when thinking about balancing the federal budget on the backs of the nation’s elderly.
“Voting Gives You Power”
“In Rhode Island and across the country, the data clearly show that voters aged 50+ will be the deciders in the 2022 elections,” said AARP Rhode Island State Director Catherine Taylor. “We are working with dozens of advocacy volunteers who are fighting for voters 50+ to make their voices heard on the issues that matter – especially in Rhode Island where we are in the midst of a housing crisis, nursing homes are in jeopardy, the cost of long-term care is skyrocketing and where people want leaders who are committed to making local communities more livable.
“At the federal level, older voters want to know candidates’ positions on protecting and strengthening the Social Security benefits Americans have paid into and earned through years of hard work, protecting and improving Medicare benefits, lowering prescription drug prices, and supporting family caregivers who risk their careers and financial futures to care for parents, spouses, and other loved ones,” Taylor said.
“Voting gives you the power to decide what our future looks like,” she continued “But you have to be in the know to vote. AARP Rhode Island has collected the most up-to-date election information, including key dates and deadlines, to make sure that the voices of voters 50+ are heard. We are doing everything we can to make sure older Rhode Islanders are prepared to vote and know the safe and secure voting options included in the new, AARP Rhode Island-backed Let RI Vote Act. In mid-August, we will offer a Video Voter Guide posted along with all the latest election information at aarp.org/RIvotes,” Taylor said.
Co-sponsoring this event is a broad coalition of 18 service providers and advocates:
A Community Together, Alzheimer’s Association of RI, Carelink, Community Partners Network of RI, Economic Progress Institute, Leading Age RI, NAACP Providence Branch, Ocean State Center for Independent Living, PACE, Progreso Latino, RI Assisted Living Association, RI Elder Info, RI Health Care Association, RI Organizing Project, RI Senior Centers Directors Association, SEIU Healthcare 1199, Senior Agenda Coalition of RI and Village Common of RI.
in the high school’s new 900-seat capacity auditorium.
To read AARP web blog articles discussing the impact of senior voters at the polls, go to:
www.aarp.org/politics-society/government-elections/info-2022/older-voters-midterm-issues.html
https://press.aarp.org/2022-4-6-Women-Voters-Age-50-Over-Will-Decide-Balance-Power-Next-Election
