Wilson Seeks to Boost Funds for Senior Citizens

Gov. Pete Wilson plans to ask the Legislature next week to increase services for the elderly, particularly those programs aimed at helping senior citizens avoid nursing homes in their twilight years, key administration officials say.

If the $12 million in additional funds for the 1998-99 budget is approved, , California would lead the nation in the range of services considered vital in keeping the elderly poor in their own homes, the officials said.

Almost $3 million of the total would come from federal grants.

The administration’s strategy is to expand in-home services--cutting state costs by keeping the poor out of expensive nursing homes, officials said.

The governor, in his last year in office, is also asking that the administration that succeeds him approve an additional $8 million--which, together with the current proposal, would almost double the $30 million such programs received last year.

A senior administration official said he believes Wilson “is the first governor who is doing something other than simply making incremental increases” in special assistance to the needy who are aging.

And although it is not a solution for all senior citizens’ needs, some advocates say that if the proposal is adopted, California could be the leader in promoting independent living for the elderly.

Although the proposal must survive a long legislative process, state Sen. Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) said he found the proposal encouraging and added that he hoped to do even more.

Currently, the state is operating a series of pilot programs--largely volunteer-driven and locally run--that are intended to meet homebound seniors citizen’ needs.

They offer meals, transportation to medical appointments, assistance finding new housing, day-care for the elderly who are frail, insurance and legal advice, assignment of case workers and special help for Alzheimer’s patients, among other benefits.

The programs assist 64,000 senior citizens now and, if funded as Wilson proposes, would reach 14,000 more in the first year, administration officials said.

Senior citizens would start seeing delivery of services in areas that do not now receive them by February 1999.

With about 500,000 senior Californians qualifying for state assistance, Wilson’s plan to serve 78,000 represents “no panacea,” a senior administration official said.

But the new funding would replace the spotty, pilot program with a platform to expand the services into almost every county, the official said.

With California’s economy on the upswing, “It is time to start the [senior citizens’ program] investment and the governor wants to start the investment,” the official said.

The state population of those 65 and over is increasing at the rate of 170,000 a year, Wilson aides said. Fifteen percent of them are expected to need government assistance.

Wilson is to lay out his agenda for the year in a State of the State speech to the Legislature on Wednesday and release his proposed budget on Friday.

The Legislature is not expected to act on the budget until late June or July. Officials said it will take an additional seven months to start the new seniors program.

In principle, the package is likely to find acceptance by the Democratic-controlled Assembly and state Senate, although its modest funding levels are certain to be debated.

“It’s an encouraging, though small, step in the right direction,” said Lockyer. “We hope we can do significantly more in this area in the coming year.”

Daniel Perry, an advocate for the elderly, said that Wilson was on the right track.

Surveys taken by Perry’s group, the Washington-based Alliance for Aging Research, show that senior citizens overwhelmingly say that “what they fear most, far more than losing looks or jobs or even dying, is that they will lose their independence--they fear that institution at the end of the line.”

Few states, said Perry, “have broken out of the traditional Medicaid and nursing home cycle” in caring for the elderly poor.

With Wilson’s proposal enacted, he said, California “could very well be the leader” nationally in creating independent living for the elderly in need of state aid.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Aiding Seniors

Under a proposal by Gov. Pete Wilson, more senior citizens would be targeted for state aid, among them:

* 9,300 would be assigned a caseworker, an increase of 3,300.

* 3,500 Alzheimer’s patients would receive day-care help, an increase of 1,000.

* 9,000 elderly who are frail would receive day-care help, up by 1,400.

* 2,500 could become foster grandparents or connect with a senior companion, an increase of 1,900.