Since the mid-1980s, Big Macs have gone from $1.60 to $5.69. The price of gas has gone from $1.12 to…significantly more than that. But the Personal Needs Allowance—the monthly sum of money that nursing home residents with Medicaid are allowed to retain from their income for their own use—has remained the same: $50 a month. And that’s even though it could legally be as high as $200.
This is an absurdly low amount, when considering the cost of things in 2024. There are many singular articles of clothing that cost more than $50. Getting Christmas gifts for your family might cost more than $50. Indulging in even the barest of things beyond what one is provided in a nursing home (which, by itself, is often inadequate) can cost over $50. $50 is simply not enough.
And, worse yet, in places where prices of goods are high, such as in New York City, your dollar doesn’t go as far as it would in many other parts of the United States—thus creating a triple whammy of a high cost of living, inflation, and a lack of increase in the Personal Needs Allowance to adjust for inflation or cost of living.
There is a solution to this: the New York State Budget can allow for this allowance to go to $200 a month. And that is what advocates, including those of us at Gray Panthers, are asking. Contact your State Assembly Member, State Senator, and Governor Hochul to tell them that the next New York State budget should include an increase in the Personal Needs Allowance!
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