[S]equestration is a big word for automatic, ham-handed federal budget cuts. President Obama, the Senate and the House, figured last year that the best way to ensure some sort of a reduction in government spending was to pass a sequester law. No one thought that the law would be implemented because it is so onerous. That being said on March 1st the government cut about $85 billion in across-the-board spending for a wide variety of goods and services that many of us consider essential.
The result has been a devastating series of mindless, across-the-board and inflexible reductions in essential services that impact the elderly the hardest. The media focuses on how the cuts effect programs like the elimination of White House tours, but the sad truth is that seniors, in particular, are being made to suffer for the sake of political brinksmanship.
Social Security and Medicaid will not be directly affected by the sequester itself but experts point out that Medicare will face a 2% reduction in Medicare payments to providers which could result in doctors turning down Medicare patients.
Many experts have also pointed out that denying funding to senior programs doesn’t save any money, in the long run senior savings are actually losses. The Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO), a coalition of senior-focused non-profits, says: “Any ‘savings’ from the sequester would pale in comparison to the added costs resulting from premature nursing home placement for seniors who can no longer stay in their homes and communities because of reduced federal funding.”
Care managers are concerned about the effect of cuts in the popular “Meals-on-Wheels” program, which the LCAO (Leadership Council of Aging Organizations ) estimates will result in 17 million fewer meals being delivered seniors and shut-ins. This is about more than just food. Often the Meals-on-Wheels worker is the only person who sees a senior citizen on a regular basis, making them an important part of the person’s safety net. Those workers are trained to take action when they notice anything amiss.
Seniors are also facing the possibility of losing rides to medical appointments, grocery shopping, and other important everyday needs. The LACO estimates that there will be 1.9 million fewer such rides if sequester cuts go into effect.
Here are a few more estimates that the LCAO has arrived at to illustrate the possible effects of the sequester:
- 1.5 million fewer people receiving personal care services such as in-home help with bathing and dressing.
- 290,000 senior households losing their heat due to a $285 million cut in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
- 6,400 fewer low-income older adults hired and paid because of cuts to the Senior Community Service Employment Program.
Seniors aren’t the only ones who will suffer. Such cuts would also place greater financial strains on family caregivers and drive higher medical costs due to elders’ poorer nutrition and health, increased falls, and other avoidable crises. There will be indirect economic harms from the sequester as well: fewer meals served means smaller purchases from local farmers, grocers and food vendors, fewer in-home service hours restricts the senior’s life and the worker’s pay, and stranded-at-home seniors spend fewer dollars in their community.
If you’re still working, you can only hope that yours won’t be one of the jobs that will be lost. The massive job losses associated with the sequester may not hit many seniors directly. However, consumer confidence will be shaken and this could mean prices on everyday items will inevitably go up.
The bottom line is, we all should have safety nets built into our budgets. If these past few years have taught us anything, it is that we all need to be planning so that no matter what the economy is doing, we can stay afloat.