Fasano Talks About Older Americans' Concerns

Sen. Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey) — alongside representatives from the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas — spoke on Medicaid reform, assisted living facilities and veterans' rights at the Dunedin Masonic Lodge on Wednesday.

About 100 senior citizens gathered to hear what the state leader had to say and share their thoughts at a town hall meeting for older Americans.

The state's Medicaid budget will reach about $21 billion this year, up from $5 billion from when Fasano was elected into office in 1994.

“We are spending more on Medicaid than we are on our entire educational system, K through 12,” he said. “We can no longer allow our Medicaid program to dominate our state budget and force us to neglect our critical areas of need.”

Fasano, who has represented the 11th District since 2003, said reasons for the skyrocketing budget include an increase in the population. People have moved to the area and require the same services they received in their previous home states.

Both he and the senior citizens in attendance also expressed concern about multibillion-dollar health maintenance organizations that force the elderly into their doors.

“All they care about is the bottom line, the dollar and their stockholders, and that concerned me greatly,” Fasano said.

Any solution, however, may have to wait “many years” and hinges on whether or not the federal government grants Medicaid waivers, Fasano said.

“It’s far cheaper to keep somebody in their homes" than to put them in an assisted living facility, said Dorothy Truesdell of Dunedin. She lives independently, not in an assisted living facility. “They have to change the way they do things. They don’t care. This is a terrible thing for me to say, but I think there’s a mandate out to get rid of the old people, and they’re doing a good job of it.”

Fasano urged local provider service networks, nonprofit hospitals and organizations such as the Area Agency on Aging and Neighborly Care Network, the Clearwater-based senior health and wellness group that hosted the hearing, to step up and fill the void.

Fasano also made a point to mention a key piece of legislation for elderly U.S. war veterans that passed this year. The Veterans Property Tax Discount (State Bill 592) now makes discounts available to veterans who became disabled because of a combat injury and those who were not Florida residents when they joined the military.

“Our seniors are our treasures here,” Fasano said.