The Missouri Association of Area Agencies on Aging (MA4) is expressing concern over the elimination of funding for home-delivered meals for seniors from the Missouri Senate’s version of the budget.
On April 11, the Senate Appropriations Committee eliminated the funding of the Home-Delivered Meals Program – a cut that will result in a loss of approximately 250,000 meals for Missouri seniors. In March, the Missouri House had approved the addition of approximately $1.5 million in home-delivered meals program funding in their version of the budget.
“We advocated for this increase because we were still trying to recoup losses from cuts to our core funding in 2010,” MA4 Executive Director Catherine Edwards said. “The legislature had promised at the time that it would restore those funds fully the next year. Instead, it has taken us three years to get two-thirds of that back. The House’s recommended budget would restore the final $500,000 of that cut from 2010. The $1 million in addition to this in the House budget and recommended by the governor recognized that program costs have risen just to cover the same number of people. This includes the inflationary rise in raw food and delivery costs over the years.
“We are alarmed by the Senate committee’s action and ask them to reconsider their recommendation. Federal cuts under sequestration are a ‘done deal.’ If the Senate cuts remain in effect, the program will be seriously compromised and Missouri seniors will pay the price.”
MA4 has consistently maintained that long-term, improper nutrition can lead to increased costs for long-term care and increased Medicaid outlays. If only 90 seniors enter a nursing home because of the loss of home delivered meal service, Missouri would spend more in MoHealthNet matching dollars for nursing home care than the funding currently proposed to be cut from the Home-Delivered Meal Program.
Houston Senior Center Director Bernadine Hohlt said it’s still unclear what the final affect of the funding cut would be, but it doesn’t bode well for the center.
“We’re still kind of in the wait-and-see mode,” Hohlt said. “But it could mean anything from shorter hours for the center to, menu changes, to furlough days for employees. We’re doing everything we can to stay within our current budget, but we’re not real certain what it will mean.
“It’s pretty stressful.”
The Houston Senior Center regularly prepares and distributes home-delivered meals for as many as 100 people, and also prepares meals for the Licking Senior Center that are delivered to about the same number of people. Some of those meals, bused weekly to residents in the Roby and Plato areas, along with frozen foods for use throughout the week. About 950 total meals were prepared and delivered in March for seniors being served out of the Houston center.
Hohlt said the program was “frozen” near the end of February, such that seniors already enrolled could still be served, but no new ones could be added unless their meals were covered by Medicaid.
“I get calls all the time about people who need to be put on the program, but I can’t do anything for them,” Hohlt said. “It’s kind of sad, because you just have to turn them away.”
Hohlt said many people not affiliated with the home-delivered meals program don’t appreciate its importance.
“You really don’t even hear about it much – just bits and pieces here and there that the media picks up,” she said. “No one really realizes they need it until their parents or grandparents get put in the hospital and they end up saying ‘we need some help here.’ Then they’ll go to look for it, and the help isn’t there.”
The home-delivered meals program is designed to deliver a nutritionally balanced meal to homebound individuals that represents one-third of a typical adult’s recommended daily allowance of nutrients. Participants must be 60 years of age or older, and physically or mentally unable to leave their homes. Priority is given to people who have no immediate family members available to assist in meal preparation or delivery, individuals in greatest economic and social need, and people who are in the protective services program of the Missouri Division of Senior and Disability Services.
A high percentage of the meals are delivered by local volunteer drivers. State funding for the program is combined with federal funds, client contributions and other private and public donations to expand the reach of the program.
During 2012, the 10 Area Agencies on Aging delivered approximately five million meals to Missouri seniors in their homes.
About MA4
The Missouri Association of Area Agencies on Aging (MA4) was founded in 1973 to serve as a statewide advocate and resource for older Missourians. MA4 is comprised of the state’s 10 Area Agencies on Aging that were created under the 1973 amendments to the Older American’s Act of 1965. For 40 years, these local agencies have been providing vital services, programs and information to millions of Missourians and their caregivers, including legal services, home-delivered meals, disease prevention and health promotion, transportation, public benefits counseling, senior centers and in-home services. The 10 Area Agencies on Aging provide a coordinated network of care in implementing statewide initiatives that are designed to help older Missourians maintain their independence and give them a voice in articulating their concerns and changing needs.
As the official statewide association of these agencies, MA4 is dedicated to carrying out its mission of service, information and advocacy to improve the lives of older Missourians and to plan for the changes that will take place as the aging population grows in number and importance in the next decade.