Advocacy will continue for elderly at General Assembly as legislative session starts

ATLANTA — In the General Assembly session that starts Monday, advocates for the elderly will be lobbying for funding to help 7,000 older Georgians on waiting lists for services based out of their homes and communities.

Leading the fight will be the Georgia Council on Aging and the 900-plus member Coalition of Advocates for Georgia’s Elderly, or CO-AGE. Officials said the objective of both groups is to support elderly Georgians who want to remain in their communities.

Vicki Johnson, chair of the state aging council, said increased funding for home- and community-based services, or HCBS, is a wise investment of taxpayer money.

“Not only does it allow older Georgians to live at home as they desire, but it provides the care they need at a much lower cost,” Johnson said. “The cost to provide home- and community-based care is roughly one-tenth of the cost of nursing home care.”

Currently, 7,000 Georgians are waiting for HCBS help with tasks such as bathing and dressing, transportation to doctors and home-delivered meals. State aging officials said the service helped 33,875 to achieve greater independence in the fiscal year that began July 1, 2017 – up 9.9 percent from the previous year.

The council and CO-AGE say they hope Governor-elect Brian Kemp, who is to be sworn in on Monday, and lawmakers will support a $10 million infusion for the program. The council and CO-AGE have other priorities for the legislature, including a proposal to increase state funds for Georgia’s 21 aging and disability resource centers, or ADRCs, by $4 million annually.

The centers, located throughout the state, provide information and referral services to older Georgians about private and public help that is available. More than 95,000 Georgians received help through the centers in Fiscal Year 2017 from more than 26,000 community-based providers.

Additional funding approved in the legislative session is expected to add capacity by increasing the program’s staff, technology and marketing. CO-AGE has other priorities dealing with service issues — including expanded health care coverage for seniors, affordable housing for people who need help with daily living activities and tougher penalties and sanctions for personal care homes that do not comply with existing regulations.