September 25
Issue of the Week: Missouri Seniors Should be Safe
Summary
Strong communities take care of every generation.
What I love about our district is how family-focused it is. Grandparents are at our schools, parks, ballfields and community events right alongside their children and grandchildren.
That is why the cuts to senior services in Jefferson City bother me so much. The state budget cut millions from programs serving older Missourians, including Area Agencies on Aging, home and community-based services, and senior and disability services.
These aren't harmless numbers on a spreadsheet.
Cut transportation, meals or in-home assistance and someone has to fill that gap. Maybe it's a daughter missing work to care for Mom. Maybe it's a neighbor bringing over meals. And for a senior without family nearby, maybe nobody comes at all.
Missouri Seniors Should Be Safe
Jefferson City has become very good at making cuts disappear behind budget language. We've seen it with public schools, and we see it with senior services: fund less than the need and then point to the amount you did fund for a good pat-on-the-back.
Our seniors don't live in a budget formula. They live in our neighborhoods.
They deserve better than accounting tricks.
The dangers of undercutting funding for the needs of seniors includes (not an exhaustive list):
• Care gets more expensive for the state and local agencies when seniors can't get help until they reach an emergency.
• Service providers are stretched thinner, further impacting services to seniors as well as other programs.
• Families carry more of the burden, costing them time, income and sometimes their own financial security.
• More bureaucracy means less help, as more money goes toward administration instead of directly serving seniors.
While there is lots of information on the cuts to senior services online, you can find some basic information here: https://www.ma4web.org/information/aging-in-missouri-mo-budget-report/
Key 33 Details – Show Me 33
Our district has a growing aging population. While this affects all of us, not funding services for those who are aging and disabled will be particularly devastating in the more rural parts of the district who count on those services for their safety. When they are not funded properly and according to basic formulas, the entire local economy suffers, as does the community and the families in it.
It doesn’t have to be this way! Tax cuts to the absolute richest amongst us have not brought down costs or created opportunities for all of us. They have not brought an influx of employers to Missouri. Instead, they have provided relatively small safe-havens for the very richest amongst us while creating devastating, life threatening cuts to the most vulnerable and the hard-working families in our communities.
A tax cut isn't much of a bargain if it comes at the expense of the community around us. Our own prosperity is tied to the strength of the community we share.
A Better Path Forward & Conclusion
From Lone Jack to Blue Springs, Greenwood to Lake Lotawana, and across Lee's Summit, I meet families with several generations living within a few miles of one another (shout out to John Knox Village)!
Kids, parents and grandparents are all part of the same community.
So when we talk about senior services, we aren't talking about somebody else. We're talking about our parents, our grandparents, our neighbors and, eventually, ourselves.
It is wild to me that the party who claims to care about family values throws the grandparents under the bus. This isn’t who we are in the Show Me State. These are not our values.
We can make different choices.
I will fight for the services that help seniors remain safe and independent, and for the families who help care for them. Taking care of the people who spent a lifetime taking care of us shouldn't be controversial.
It’s the best way to build a better future for our district and all of Missouri.