Issue Position: JB's Plan to Protect Illinois Seniors

Issue Position

Seniors deserve to live healthy, independent lives. No senior who wants to remain in their home should be forced to live in a nursing home, and seniors who cannot live independently deserve safe short- and long-term rehabilitative facilities. Respecting seniors means ensuring they have access to quality, affordable care in the environment of their choice along with a strong web of community-based services that provide them the tools they need to live independently. JB will fight to make sure Illinois gives seniors the tools they need to continue living and thriving in their communities.

JB will work to protect seniors across Illinois:

Strengthen the Community Care Program to help seniors remain in their homes by moving our state toward a universal long-term care program, improving wages and benefits for caregivers, offering improved training opportunities, and improving conditions for family caregivers so they can both care for their loved ones and provide for their families.

Improve agency oversight and accountability of short and long-term rehabilitation facilities to ensure the safety of residents who cannot live independently.

Require nursing homes to abide by staffing and safety requirements that make sure seniors receive quality care.

Ensure that seniors living independently in their homes benefit from coordinated healthcare delivery to prevent unnecessary and expensive hospitalizations.

Work with federal policy makers to protect Medicare and oppose efforts that make prescription drugs and patient co-pays less affordable.

Enact a new public health insurance option that would allow every Illinois resident the chance to acquire low-cost health insurance.

Capture all available Medicaid waiver federal dollars to better meet the needs of seniors.

Ensure seniors have access to affordable housing and utilities, financial literacy programs, adult education and life-long learning, and job training.

Support stronger consumer protections for seniors and ensure enforcement of existing Illinois laws and regulations that protect the financial resources of senior citizens.

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