Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

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Biden’s Care Infrastructure Passed House -Wins & Losses 4 Seniors???

November 23, 2021

 

Biden’s Care Infrastructure Passed The House

Biden’s 1 Trillion $ Care Infrastructure Passed the House through the brilliant work of speaker Nancy Pelosi which was a great boost for deadly climate change, Child Tax Credits,paid parental leave and so much more. For seniors, the good news is it covers 

  • New hearing benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, including coverage for a new hearing aid every five years.
  • A $35-per-month limit on the cost of insulin under Medicare and a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000
    $1.2 billion in new spending for critical
    programs and services under the Older Americans Act (OAA).
     
  • Dental & Vision Coverages Dropped But Sanders Tries to Save

    The Care Infrastructure Bill passed but it dropped expanding dental and vision benefits after centrists called for paring down the overall cost of the package, which originally was proposed for $3.5 trillion.

    The framework  of the Care Infrastructure Bill also doesn’t include legislation to give Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices, but senators say that it would eliminate a rule that gets rid of the safe harbor for Part D drug rebates.

    Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to work vision and dental back into the Care Infrastructure  bill and is outraged that both were dropped. 2-5 voters want dental and vision back in the bill

     

    • Across political parties, 
    • Across political parties, voters’ top priority for the bill is adding dental and vision benefits to Medicare, which was cut from the White House’s latest framework after intense pushback from dental groups and amid concerns about the price tag. Still, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) indicated he is trying to work Medicare coverage for dental and vision services back into the final bill
    • If You Are In Aging Call Your Congressman

    Care Infrastructure Bill may not pass it’s next big hurdle , the Senate if folks in health care and older constituents do not contact their congressman or woman and tell them to support this bill. Your Congresswoman or man controls the votes for the bill and you have to let them know you will only vote for them if they do. Common Cause has this easy way to find and contact your congressman  If you believe in Medicare and senior’s right to to not have their teeth rot, not hear their grandkids or be unable to read a book-  so please  email, pick up the phone now.

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FDA Proposal Would Allow Millions of Consumers to Buy Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids in Stores or Online

October 25, 2021

FDA to Allow Buying Hearing Aides over the Counter- But Free Hearing Benefits on Chopping Block in Care  Infrastructure Bill

 

A long-awaited Food and Drug Administration proposal would allow millions of consumers to buy over-the-counter hearing aids in stores or online without a prescription or medical exam.

More than four years after Congress ordered the agency to allow over-the-counter hearing aids, it took the first step Tuesday to broaden access to more accessible and affordable devices for millions of patients with mild to moderate hearing loss. The agency’s proposal would create a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids and supersede state-level regulations that require patients to go through physicians or audiologists to get prescriptions and fittings for them.

Infrastructure Trapped in Party Line Clash

President Biden’s Care Infrastruce bill is now trapped in a party-line clash where hearing benefits under Medicare will be ditched as the GOP is pulling away from the centrists that voted for it. Nineteen votes for the bill came from Republicans 2 months ago, as the Republican party is opposed to the Care infrastructure Bill 

Progressives Hold The Line for Care Infrastructures  for Seniors, Women Families

House Democratic Progressives held the line in a weeklong standoff with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who reversed course and canceled plans to vote on the infrastructure bill with the support of President Joe Biden. He told House Democrats the votes weren’t there to pass that bill without the larger social policy bill.

Biden Says Care Infrastructure Price Tag Must Come Down

President Biden told Democrats the initial $3.5 trillion price tag would have to be reduced, and that the talks ranged up to $2.3 trillion, a source familiar with the meeting said Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., floated a $1.5 trillion counteroffer that some decried as being too small.  Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., has declined to say what she’d back, frustrating her colleagues.

 

  • Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he aims to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats’ broader investment in the social safety net and climate policy by the end of October.
  • The House delayed a vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure proposal as progressives sought an agreement on the larger piece of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
  • Democrats are negotiating a compromise between centrists and progressives on a plan to invest in child care, paid leave, health care, education, and the fight against climate change.

 

If You Are a Woman or Work In Aging Call Your Congressman

Care Infrastructure may wait long if folks in health care and older constituents do not contact their congressman and tell them to support this bill. They control the votes for the bill, and you have to let them know you will only vote for them if they do. Common Cause has this easy way to find and contact your congressman. If you believe in Medicare and seniors’ right not to have their teeth rot, not hear their grandkids or be unable to read a book- do it now.

Sign up for my new free Webinar, How to Sign Up Concierge Clients When Adult Child Calls in Pain

 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, Aging Life Care Assocaition, aging life care manager, Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanfers, Biden Infrastructure Bill Passing, Biden's Caregiver Bill, Biden's Caregiver Bill Trouble, Biden's Caregiver Infastucure Paln, Biden's VA Infrastructure Bill, Black Entrepreneur, Black Entrepreneur RB, Black Entrepreneur RN, Black Geriatric Care Manager, Black RN, Black Travel RN, Blog, Care Infastructure, Care Infrastructure, Care Infrastructure cut out, caregiver, caregiver infrastructure, Caregiver Infrastructure bill, Caregiver living wage, Caregiver low salary, End of Life, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, hearing Medicare coverage, Infrastructure Bill, Joe Manchin, Medicaid caregiver, Medicaid Caregivers, Medicare, Medicare Expansion, Medicare For All, nurse advocate, nurse care manager Tagged With: aging life or geriatric care management, ALCA, Biden's Infrastructure Bill, Biden's infrastructure- Caregiver Bill, Blocked Care Infrastructure bill, Call Your Congressman, Care Economy, Care infrastructure, care management, care provider stress, Congress&Infrastructure Bill, geriatric care infrastructure, infrastructure Medicare jobs, Nancy Pelosi

How Care Managers Can Serve VA BENEFITS Veterans on Memorial Day-

May 25, 2021

Geriatric care managers can be a huge help to older veterans to get VA benefits. With nearly 10 million veterans in the U.S. who over the age of 65, older vets are usually good candidates for geriatric care management services both now and in the future.

Unfortunately, navigating the services, supports, and  VA benefits available to older veterans can be a challenge for geriatric care managers and clients alike. Services and supports for this population are available at the federal, state and local level addition to the service navigation complexity. The configuration of services received by veterans and their families is likely to consist of federal services provided by the Veterans Administration in addition to more localized services for older adults in general like those provided by senior centers, area agencies on aging, etc.

VA Benefits available to veterans and their families range from federal VA home improvement grants, burial benefits, medical care, respite, housing programs, pension, and even local benefits like business loans and discount programs.

 Like most clients served by geriatric care managers, this population will need both VA Benefits and  personalized assistance in meeting their care needs. For this reason, it is important to note that services and supports designed for older adults, in general, are also key resources for veterans.

While the VA is a great resource, don’t overlook the value and expertise  in VA Benefits offered by local organizations like local healthcare centers, senior centers, and Area Agencies on Aging, among others.

Find the many ways care managers can access hard to find VA services and  serve retired vets.

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Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition includes a new chapter that will help you help vets  Maximizing the Health and Well-Being of Older Veterans by Dr. Lenard Kaye, director of the Center for Aging at the University of Maine and Glenn Osbourne, director of the National Veterans Legal Aid Group . As an aging life or geriatric care manager, or senior advocate, learn how to to get elder veteran’s VA benefits they so deserve.

CONNECT WITH CATHY CRESS MSW

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Filed Under: Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Biden Infrastructure Bill Passing, Biden's VA Infrastructure Bill, Blog, elder care manager, geriatric care manager, nurse care manager, VA benefits and geriatric care management, VA Benefits PTSD, VA Caregivers, VA GRECC Program, VA Home Care, VA Hospitals crumbling, VA PTSD Tagged With: aging life care manager, aging parent care, aging professional, Biden's VA Infrastructure Plan, care manager, case manager, finding VA military services, geriatric social worker, Memorial Day, Memorial Day WWII Vets, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Qualifying for VA Benefits, VA, VA Accredited Attorneys, VA Claims Denied, VA home based benefits, VA Homemakers Health Aide

My DAD’s PTSD – Support Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Rebuilding VA Hospitals

May 24, 2021

 

Stalag-VII-A Moosburg Bavaria

My father was held in a prison camp during World War II. He was an officer and his camp only housed the higher ranks. He never spoke about the war. He was a World War II navigator shot down in Poland and transferred to Stalag-VII-A Moosburg Bavaria.  He returned home a broken man with PTSD, never took a bus, drove or flew on a plane again. His disability, like so many vets was untreated for 50 years. He worked as an advertising agent ala Mad Men and drank like Don Draper. Our family crumbled into a dysfunctional maelstrom, as most families do. Literally saved by the Palo Alto VA GRECC Program in his late 60’s, he lived a very good life with my family for his last 25 years.

He never sought VA  treatment for his severe PTSD for for 5 decades.

VA Hospital Changed My Dad’s Life After 50 years of Untreated PTSD

.When he came to live with me, after my brother and mother’s death, I got him enrolled in the VA and the incredible  GRECC  Program and he was treated at the  Menlo Park VA Hospital Menlo Park Division (MPD) campus where they  provide a  broad range of Veteran services, including a National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and San Jose VA Hospitals  for the rest of his life.

They turned his life around and made his last 2r years joyful ,mentally and physically health, plus allowed him to die at home through the  VA Homemaker and Home Health Aide Program

 The VA Hospitals  where he was treated do not need renovation but many many VA hospitals are falling apart.This led me to write an entire chapter in the 4th Edition of Handbook of Geriatric Care Management to help care managers to navigate through the VA.

Biden To Liberate $ to Rebuild aging VA Hospitals

President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan includes $18 billion to upgrade and replace aging Veterans Affairs hospitals, but the agency needs five times that much to bolster facilities and medical staff, a Democratic lawmaker said on Thursday.

Mark Takano, chairman of the House of Representatives Veterans’ Affairs Committee told reporters   , the VA’s 1,700 hospitals, clinics and medical facilities had a median age of 58 years, compared with just 11 years for private hospitals in the United States, he said, noting that 69% of VA hospitals were more than 50 years old.

Support Biden’s Infrastructure Plan to help caregivers and rebuild the VA

The infrastructure package, which must be approved by Congress, would also help the roughly 200,000 veterans who leave military service each year to transition to civilian jobs, and boost funding to help the estimated 2.5 million veteran-owned small businesses, officials said.

As so many geriatric care managers and Home care agencies serve aging Vets , take this memorial day to contact your congressman and senators to support Biden’s infrastructure plan , to help rebuild the crumbling VA hospitals,which is now going to The Senate after being passed in the House. The Senate republicans are not going to allow it into law. Support this plan with it caregiver infrastructure Plan, so that you have more resources to help your aging clients.

 Connect with Cathy Jo Cress MSW

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Filed Under: Aging, Biden Infrastructure Bill Passing, Biden's VA Infrastructure Bill, Blog, COVID-19 VA deaths, Dysfunctional aging family, Emergency Plan, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, Memorial Day, Memorial Day and Aging Veterans, National Veterans Legal Aid Group, VA benefits and geriatric care management, VA Benefits PTSD, VA Caregivers, VA GRECC Program, VA Home Care, VA Hospitals crumbling, VA PTSD, Veterans Administration, Written Geriatric Assessment Tagged With: aging life or geriatric care manager, aging parent care, aging parent crisis, Biden's VA Infrastructure Plan, COVID-19 VA Facilities, geriatric care manager, GRECC Program, Memorial Day, Memorial Day WWII Vets, National Center for PTSD, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, PTSD adult children, PTSD Family Caregivers, PTSD in Vets World War II, Stalag VII A Moosburg Bavatia, VA Homemakers Health Aide

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