AUSTIN – When state lawmakers convene next month for the 2017 legislative session, AARP Texas will pursue an agenda that includes strengthening nursing home quality, easing stress for family caregivers, helping millions of Texans save for retirement, and protecting seniors from financial exploitation.
AARP’s non-partisan Texas legislative priorities also include a focus on eliminating surprise medical bills, and advocating for the age 50+ community to ensure that insurance costs are reasonable, coverage is reliable, and utility services are affordable and dependable.
The 85th Texas Legislature starts Jan. 10 and will address a host of major budget and policy considerations that are sure to have significant impact on older Texans. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a membership of nearly 38 million, including 2.3 million Texans age 50 and older.
AARP Texas Director Bob Jackson and Advocacy Manager Rob Schneider will lead a team of policy experts who know their way around the Capitol. Among them are: Amanda Fredriksen, Tim Morstad, Joe Sánchez, and Blake Hutson. In addition, any number of AARP volunteers like Charlene James, the AARP Texas president, will often be present during the 140-day session.
“Texas lawmakers will have enormous opportunities in 2017 to make meaningful and enduring improvements to the lives of older Texans,” said Jackson. “AARP will be a strong voice for consumers and older Texans as we work with legislators and Governor Greg Abbott on a host of issues that matter most to Texans.”
Here’s an overview of some of the issues that we’re discussing with legislators:
Nursing Home Quality and Safety: Texans deserve high-quality care for their loved ones. Unfortunately, the quality of care in Texas nursing homes — where roughly 93,000 people currently reside — is below par and the potential for harm to nursing home residents is too great.
AARP supports a number of reforms that would hold the state’s 1,200+ nursing homes accountable for harming residents, enforce and escalate penalties for repeat offenses, and help Texas regain control of nursing home regulation.
Family Caregivers:
- CARE Act. More than 3 million Texans are caring for a parent, spouse or other loved one as an unpaid caregiver. AARP Texas urges lawmakers to enact the Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act. The proposal would ensure that caregivers know what to do to safely look after a loved one as they transition home after a hospital stay.
- Respite Programs. AARP Texas supports funding for programs that give caregivers a break to visit the doctor themselves, go to the store or attend a child’s school program. It’s an important and cost-effective way to help caregivers look after their own physical and emotional health.
- Home- and Community-based care services. These services enable seniors and those with disabilities to get the care they need without being forced into a costly nursing home. Funding home and community care services and paying a fair wage to the attendants who provide this care helps older Texans age in place, staying in their own homes longer.
Retirement Security: To encourage individual responsibility in saving, AARP Texas supports a legislative “work and save” proposal that would create a website to connect employers and workers with low-cost savings plans that allow voluntary payroll deduction and let workers take their savings to their next job. Action is needed because today more than 5 million Texans don’t have access to a workplace savings plan.
Elder Financial Exploitation: Texas lawmakers can reduce this growing type of elder abuse in the state by creating more community coordination centers to help exploitation victims, strengthening adult protective services laws, and training and empowering financial professionals to identify and stop potential exploitation before it happens.
Surprise Medical Bills: AARP Texas seeks to protect people from surprise medical bills because the unexpected costs can drive even insured families into financial hardship. The Legislature can work to keep consumers out of medical billing disputes between insurers and doctors, and it can allow patients of neighborhood emergency clinics the right to challenge surprise medical bills.
