Federal health officials announced in late March that they would dissolve the Administration for Community Living, the agency that coordinates and funds programs for older Americans living outside nursing homes, and the change is already rippling through Maine’s Aroostook County.
On March 27, the Department of Health and Human Services put out a release on what it called its “Transformation to Make America Healthy Again” plan, which proposed folding the Administration for Community Living, or ACL, back into other parts of the federal health structure.
The Aroostook Agency on Aging draws a significant share of its money through the ACL, so its leaders are watching closely. Executive director Joy Barresi Saucier said the agency has some cushion because its services are paid from several different funding streams, but that a number of them could still take a hit.
“Things like, basic information and assistance, or caregiver support, or our nutrition programs like home delivered meals,” she said.
She put the stakes bluntly: roughly 38% of agencies on aging nationwide are within two weeks of trouble paying their bills if the money slows, and her own agency sits in that same position.
The Aroostook agency has met with USAging, the national association of agencies on aging. Even so, Saucier said there is still real uncertainty about what the federal changes will ultimately mean for the organization and the people it serves.
Sources
- DHHS dissolves the Administration for Community Living, Aroostook Agency on Aging’s main funding source
- Contact Congress About Threats to Your Ability to Deliver OAA Services! – Aging Ahead
