The State of the (elderly) Commonwealth
No governor since Mitt Romney in 2006 has mentioned "elders' in their State of the Commonwealth speech. On Jan. 24, Gov. Charlie Baker made reference to a yet-to-be filed executive order that would focus on older adults---but the details of the order are not known. We applaud the governor for mentioning older adults in his speech, and we are prepared to work with him on his executive order. But there are major fears among the elderly that need to be addressed, in light of rhetoric coming out of Congress and the White House.
Middle Name: Chocolate?
By Janice Lindsay
Answer this question: In a parking lot, you stroll past a brand new Mercedes. Glancing in the passenger-side window, you see an...
Combating demographic deafness
By Al Norman
Over a period of seven years, I criticized former Governor Deval Patrick for rarely mentioning the elderly in his annual State of...
The president-elect and the future of Medicare, Medicaid
By Al Norman
In October of 2016, before Donald Trump became president-elect, The Atlantic magazine published an article called “Trump’s Graying Army.”
“Senior citizens are his...
Programs for the elderly should be ‘untouchable’
By Al Norman
When state budget projections turn south, money for the elderly and disabled should be protected from cuts.
Usually in the fall, state officials...
Couldn’t we just snooze through it all?
By Janice Lindsay
Woodchucks do it. Bats do it. Chipmunks and jumping mice do it. Bears do it.
I want to do it, too. I want...
Home care workers: poor caring for the poor
By Al Norman
The home care program in Massachusetts has been described as a service in which low-income older women are taken care of by...
The dental care gap
By Al Norman
A new policy brief released in mid-August by the state’s Health Policy Commission (HPC) underscores the importance of dental health—one of the...
Horror! It’s Mr. Peanut!
This year, Mr. Peanut, that smiling peanut-shaped humanoid decorating food packages that contain Planters Peanuts, turns 100 years old.
To you, he might be a...
Let’s end all sales tax holidays
Several years ago I bought a kitchen stove during the “sales tax holiday” in Massachusetts. Most years I ignore the “holiday” on sales tax. But the kitchen stove was a purchase I needed to make, so I waited for the tax free weekend. In my case, the retailer who sold me the stove did not benefit from the “holiday”---because I was going to buy it anyway, and all I did was time my purchase to avoid taxes. It was only the taxpayers who got the short end.
