HealthCare and You: Part II SENIORS AND YOUNG ADULTS

Two groups that Council Member James is particularly focused on are the youth and senior communities, who are often outside of the work force and therefore may have a harder time securing proper and affordable health insurance. Please note that the information below is meant to be a continuation of the prior healthcare information posted.

Seniors:

-I’m sure many of you are aware of the Department for the Aging (DFTA) services RFP, which is an RFP that would centralize senior centers. The proposal calls for a 3% budget cut between FY08-09, a decrease in the number of senior center case managers (from 32 to 23); and the possible closings of some of the 323 senior centers in the City. Council Member James has joined many of her colleagues in calling for a delay of the RFP, and feels that modernization does not necessarily equal centralization, and that local centers are best equipped- when properly funded- to provide services for seniors. Furthermore, once these resources are absorbed, they may be lost to seniors in the future. Anyone desiring further information on this matter should contact our City Hall office at (212) 788-7081, or call 311 to contact DFTA.

-In the meantime, Council Member James, Speaker Quinn, and other members of the City Council encourage seniors to contact both the Mayor's office and their local Council Member. To do so, please print and fill-out the letters below (click images to enlarge):





-Seniors should call their local senior centers, and ask to be kept abreast of information on how they will be affected by projected budget cuts or an RFP. Additionally, if you aren't sure where your local senior services can be accessed, please click the list below to view a working list of senior centers and institutions which provide senior services in the 35th District:



Resources:

-DFTA offers a number of different programs promoting healthy living, HIV/AIDS-support, blood pressure maintenance, exercise, etc; and the Office of Citywide Health Insurance Access (OCHIA) can let you know what public health insurance programs you’re eligible for, and give you additional information for applying to those programs. Note that healthcare programs are State-based, not City-based.

Also, please view the following information from Council Member James' Seniors Information packet (click picture to enlarge):



FYI- Anyone interested in having the Senior Information packet mailed to them should contact the District or City Hall office.

DFTA- http://nyc.gov/html/dfta/html/home/home.shtml
OCHIA- http://www.nyc.gov/html/hia/html/home/home.shtml

Youth:

-Youth are also more likely to have sporadic, insufficient, or no health care. Young adults aged 19-29 are likely to not have health insurance. Living uninsured among young adults (18-24) rose from 23% in 1987 to 31% in 2004. (National Institute for Health Care Management, A Young People's Health Care: A National Imperative) Ironically, young people have the lowest health expenditures, but the are the most uninsured.

-Young people may feel that they are "invincible" because they are relatively healthy, and see insurance as being unnecessary or too expensive. (New York Magazine, The Young Invincibles) Many young people neglect to look into more affordable choices for health insurance, like their senior counterparts. Young adults who are interested in their public health care options should also contact OCHIA through calling 311.

-For students, you may be covered under your guardian's insurance if enrolled at a college or university, and your school (if accredited) should have a health insurance option as part of your enrollment package, meaning you may not have to pay these fees out-of-pocket.

-Please click the pictures below to view additional health insurance options for students: