Shekarchi to seniors: ’All of us at the State House are listening’

WARWICK — Surging rents, high insurance copays, and never-ending wait lists for home care — growing older in Rhode Island is no easy feat.

That’s why the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island is renewing its call to state leaders to pass a budget that will “keep seniors strong” — the running theme as the group presented its annual priorities to General Assembly leadership Wednesday morning.

“It means keeping us secure, keeping us healthy, keeping us connected, and keeping us safe,” Maureen Maigret, a policy consultant on aging for the coalition, told the crowd of nearly 300 people at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick.

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio was slated to speak at the forum, but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict. Ruggerio’s spot was instead filled by Senate Majority Whip Valarie Lawson, an East Providence Democrat.

“We in the Senate share your priority in making Rhode Island a place where residents can age in comfort and security,” Lawson said.

To address the issues pressing Rhode Island’s older population, the coalition has four demands for state lawmakers:

• Expand eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program
• Increase the starting salary of home care workers
• Appropriate an additional $660,000 in the state budget for local senior centers
• Create more affordable housing for older Rhode Islanders

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi called each of the proposals “good asks,” but declined to give his full endorsement, saying the state has a lot of big-ticket requests to consider as it drafts the final fiscal year 2025 budget. That includes figuring out how to fund the replacement of the Washington Bridge, the governor’s proposal to allocate $10 million in unspent COVID-relief funds plug a deficit at the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, creating a $3,000 trust for each baby born into a family on public health insurance.

“The State House is a beautiful building,” he said. “And as beautiful as the building is, and I assure you if you’ve ever been there, there is no printing press in the basement. We don’t make money, we have to live within our means and it’s not easy to do that.”

Still, the House speaker pledged that state lawmakers will thoroughly review the coalition’s proposals.

“The Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island is a tremendous advocate for seniors — and all of us at the State House are listening,” Shekarchi said.

Expand eligibility

The biggest priority emerging from the forum was to expand eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program, which pays for Part B premiums and can cover copay for people with lower income. 

“Medicare has significant gaps and many of our low-income Medicare enrollees are struggling to pay for health care costs,” Maigret said.

Legislation filed by Sen. Sandra Cano, a Pawtucket Democrat, aims to increase the income cap of $20,331 needed to qualify for the Medicare Saving Program to $28,012. Maigret said that change would open up the program for 17,000 seniors and can save them up to $2,100 a year — money that could be used to pay for living expenses and better allow them to age in place.

“A boon for our Rhode Island economy,” Maigret said.

Cano’s bill was heard by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on March 12 and was held for further study — as is standard procedure for a bill.

Companion legislation is sponsored in the House by Rep. Karen Alzate, a Pawtucket Democrat. Her bill was referred to the House Finance Committee for a hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

More for senior centers

Maigret also called on state leaders to expand its annual allocation for local senior centers.

Gov. Dan McKee’s recommended fiscal year 2025 budget proposes increasing funding from $1.2 million to $1.4 million for senior centers. Maigret, meanwhile, wants to see the state invest $660,000 more, saying the General Assembly could easily allocate what the coalition is asking for.

“Considering we have over $14 billion budgeted, that’s nothing,” she told Rhode Island Current. 

Paula McAloon, who has been a member of Pawtucket’s Leon A. Mathieu Senior Center for the past 14 years, spoke passionately about what centers can provide.

“Stretching, mindfulness, aerobics, cooking demonstrations, walking programs, gardening, the list goes on and on,” she said. 

Center staff can also provide technical assistance, which McAloon said she needed a week before Wednesday’s forum. She said she had insurance forms she needed to send out — something staff helped her accomplish in 15 minutes.

“I sat there in amazement,” she said. “It would have taken me a week.”

Affordable homes needed

Maigret also spoke of the need for more affordable housing to be constructed across the state, saying that many seniors can’t keep up with surging rents.

“If you can get a one-bedroom apartment somewhere in Rhode Island for $1,200 a month, you’re lucky,” she said. “Think about what that means to someone whose income is $27,000 — that’s 50% of their income.”

Maigret acknowledged that state leaders have worked to address the issue over the past few years, but more needs to be done. She, along with the rest of the Senior Agenda Coalition, recommend using a portion of the state’s proposed $100 million housing bond toward housing for older adults, along with expanding property tax relief.

Maigret also wants state leaders to promote accessibility features in new developments.

“If we’re going to invest millions of dollars into housing, we want to make sure some of that is accessible,” she told Rhode Island Current. “If they have those features when they’re built, then seniors won’t have to retrofit.”

Not surprisingly, Shekarchi had a lot to say about the steps the General Assembly is taking to create more housing stock across the state. The House speaker highlighted some of the initiatives in his 15-bill legislative package aimed at tackling Rhode Island’s housing crisis unveiled earlier this month.

Among those bills is one sponsored by Democrat Rep. June Speakman of Warren that intends to streamline the process of building accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as in-law apartments. Speakman’s bill was passed by the House 55-9 last month.

The Senate has its own version of the ADU bill sponsored by Victoria Gu, a Westerly Democrat. Gu’s bill also prohibits ADUs from being sold separately from the main house and allows a maximum size of either 900-square feet or 60% of the floor area of the principal dwelling.

But the biggest way new developments can be built, Shekarchi said, is if there isn’t any local opposition.

“Unless there’s some real personal objection, let them build the house,” he said.

Seated in the audience was Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos (who chairs the 33-member Long Term Care Coordinating Council) and several state Democratic lawmakers. From the Senate: Lou Raptakis of Coventry, Linda Ujifusa of Portsmouth  and Bridget Valverde of North Kingstown. House members who stopped by included Democratic Reps. Jennifer Boylan of Barrington, Lauren Carson of Newport, Robert Craven of North Kingstown, Terri Cortvriend of Portsmouth, Julie Casimiro of North Kingstown.