Conference on the Well-Being of Asian American Senior Citizens – Keynote

Jay Hershenson: Let’s give a special round of applause to our conference Chair, former Chair of the Asian American Studies department at City College, the great Betty Lee Sung. I remember when Betty made the rounds to the university, and the city, for many, years, looking to create of something, in higher education. Those were the early days, and not only is she still here, she is surrounded by dedicated colleagues. I also remember when Betty found Dr. Thomas Tam, a long standing colleague, and I know the history of his great work with the Chinatown Health Clinic and the great work that he has done at the City University. Plus, we are very fortunate because he became the first ever Asian American member of the CUNY Board of Trustee, appointed by former Mayor Ed Koch.

 

When he left the board, and university, he left a legacy, the Asian American Higher Education Council, where he and many of my friends in this room today created, to bring together Asian American faculty and staff. Dr. Tam, who has proven over and over again, that he can counter all challenges, worked with the Chancellor and served people here at Baruch, then at Queens College, to create the Asian American /Asian Research Institute, which is now alive and well, functioning, and in terrific shape at the City University. We are very proud of the work that Dr. Thomas Tam and all of his colleagues. Let’s give them a round of applause.

 

I now have a very special honor of introducing a gentleman here who has a great demand all over the city. He is a pioneer. Someone who crossed a great barrier. He is the highest elected Asian official in the City of New York and the first ever Asian American member of the City Council to be elected. From the moment he was elected as he began to assume a leadership position. You see him perhaps on most occasions in his capacity as Chair of the Transportation Committee of the New York City council. He is a role model, accountable to the people of the city, that’s a very tough job. It’s a job that he has accomplished with great persistence, diligence and dedication. I don’t think there is another council member of the city who communicates as regularly about the issues, not only about transportation, but on about every topic.

 

Having grown up in Queens, I have seen his work with senior citizens, students,  and people of all personalities, types and ethnicities, which I think really brings to the City Council the highest ends of excellence. Please welcome, with special honor, John Liu.

 

John C. Liu: Thank you very much Vice Chancellor Hershenson, you’re very kind. I certainly want to praise today’s comments about the commitment, experience and wisdom of Prof. Sung and Dr. Tam. All the energy and toil that they had to have in to creating the Asian American /Asian Research Institute.

 

For the last 5 years, this institute has been going  strong and I hope that 40 or 50 years from now, it will be because of this institute that we will have been able to document many of the accomplishments as well long going struggles that Asians have experienced so, it is so very special that we’re having this event on the needs of Asian American seniors. I think it’s no surprise for any of us that seniors are the fastest growing segment of the population in New York City. People are getting older, and they’re living longer more independently. But at the same time, we have to start reflecting that in our long term planning and our policies.

 

We have to understand that our population is changing, and that means trying new things by making sure that we give people the right signal on whether or not to cross the street. In other cities, we have signals that tell people how much time is left, and that’s something that we need to bring to New York City. In fact, I’ll be working on an initiative with the Department of Transportation, so that we can set up these pilot programs. For many years, they’ve kept telling me that it’s more dangerous to have a countdown signal than to have a regular traffic light, because people often underestimate or overestimate themselves. But that’s not true for seniors. They need to know how much time they have left before the light changes on them. Seniors are not going to start dashing across the streets. They are going to make sure that they’re perfectly safe.

 

As so in terms of our policies, it may be a simple as the assumption is that it’s a teenager or a middle aged person that’s rushing to get from one place to another. That’s the main reason we have traffic signals and that’s why countdown signals may not work. That’s kind of assumption that hasn’t changed 30 or 40 years ago. And this assumption isn’t reflecting the fact that, a very high and disproportionate percentage of the pedestrians today, are senior citizens. We have to just adapt to this changing demographic by doing even simplest things, like getting better traffic signals. I have a feeling they covered a lot of this already because I have been working with Transportation Alternatives regarding many of these issues already, including making sure sidewalks are clear and returned to the use the usage of pedestrians. There are so many things going on in our sidewalks today, the people got the most complaints from were senior citizens. They’re not people who can easily step onto the street, maneuver around other people, and well as vendors and stores who put their things out on the sidewalk. Seniors need their space. Curb cuts are another issue and we now see, many more curb cuts in the city but sometimes they’re placed in a long location or they don’t go inside of the crosswalk. That’s something that I think we could improve. A number of transportation issues, include the accessorized system. Some of you may not agree but, I think that the accessorized system, which is our power transport system, have has getting better over the last few years, especially since they put in the new scheduling system. But there’s still a long way to go, with a lot of room for improvement. Many of our older residents in New York City are relying more and more on the accessorized system.

 

Finally, just even the basic like making sure our buses and subways are friendly to senior citizens. We’re embarking upon a new priority when we buy new buses. We always try to get buses that have a very low clearance,  so that there aren’t these very steep steps that you have to climb up. In fact, many of the buses that are being bought today, have no steps or maybe are just one step up. This makes it so much easier for our seniors to get around. Getting up those three steps are extremely difficult, and so, we have to in our transportation policy, understand that our population is changing. What’s good for the seniors today will be good for all of us in the future., When we’re seniors too. If you look at the communities in Lower Manhattan and other parts of Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, we have a tremendous need for more senior centers.
In Flushing, we have a very diverse Asian senior population, Chinese , Korean , and South Asian Americans. The needs of Asian senior citizens are not that different from other senior citizens, but there are some things that we need to accommodate for Asian senior including meals. Many of the South Asian seniors are on vegetarian diets. We have, I believe, only one senior citizen center in all of Queens that serves strictly vegetarian. That senior center is in Richmond Hill. In Flushing we have several senior centers. Some cater more towards Korean Americans while some cater more towards Chinese Americans. But as you know, the interesting things are that there are no strictly Korean senior or Chinese senior centers. There are lots of people who actually kind of trade off between the two of them. Sometimes people feel like having a Korean lunch, and they’ll go to 166th Street on Roosevelt Avenue. Sometimes people feel like having a Chinese lunch, and they’ll go to 41st Avenue and other places.

 

The real big mile stone is that we have to construct more senior residences. The number of senior residences now that are now available is so dismally low that in Flushing we had a building even before it was finished, there was a waiting list of 2,000 people. And that just shows you how scarce senior residences are.

 

So when we talk about land use policies and planning for constructions in the future, we need to accommodate development or encourage development toward certain directions, Senior housing is definitely something that needs to be talked about. I want to thank all those people who are participating in today’s conference on this very important issue, and certainly once again thank Asian American/Asian Research Institute for putting together this event.

 

Jay Hershenson: Thank you Councilman Liu, he’s done great things as a council member. Let’s give him another round of applause. Two very quick data points. According to the US census, the elderly 60+ population of the city fell 2% between 1990 and 2000. But the number of elderly Asians grew by more than 90% in this decade. That is a staggering piece of data. The other piece of data which is very interesting the present national debate about immigrants and immigration, show that  most elderly Asians in NYC are immigrants, 94% according to the census bureau compared to 37% of all elderly New Yorkers, more than half arrived in the United States in the past 20 years.

 

Some of the national issues that are now being debated on have an impact, particularly on the community that this conference focuses on today. I now have a very special honor of introducing an individual who I had a pleasure in meeting when she was commissioner of the New York Department of Employment. She was appointed by President George W. Bush in September 2006 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. She oversees the Office of Grants, Policies, Grants oversight and Review. Prior to that appointment, she served as Chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. We’re fortunate to have someone of her national stature presents who’ll always be a New Yorker in our hearts. Please welcome Betty B. Wu.

 

Betty B. Wu: Thank you Vice Chancellor Hershenson. First of all, let me begin by thanking Betty Lee Sung and Tom Tam for inviting me here today.

 

Betty and Tom had asked me to share with you today. Some of the initiatives and strategies that President Bush and the administration will need in order help all of us in the Asian network expand, and provide solutions for our concerns. The first is to ensure that APA (American Psychiatric Association) elders receive and enjoy the new benefits available through the President’s Medicare modernization initiative. The second is to ensure that Asian Pacific American elders receive the best and most modern community based sponsor care that is available through the Older American Act. Before we can implement any new strategy, we have to know where we are today. Especially the challenges we seek to overcome with these new initiative. An example is that we have well documented disparities in adult education within America. As Councilmen Liu addressed earlier, and also by Vice Chancellor Hershenson, Asian American Pacific Islander elders have a higher incidence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease or arthritis than the population at large. In fact, the Asian American Pacific elderly will nearly triple by the year 2010 to 1.8 million and nearly triple again by the year 2040 to 5.2 million. With this forecasted growth, it’s even more critical than ever before to focus on the changing health disparities.

 

We need to make sure that elder people are able to take advantage of the Medicare Modernization Act. Under the Act, focus shifts from expensive medical procedures to the prevention of conditions that cause hospitalization. The President is bringing Medicare into the 21st Century with a focus on prevention and wellbeing front and center. In addition to prescription drugs, Medicare comprehensive benefits include screening services for heart diseases, diabetes, weak bone and glaucoma, cancer of the colon, breast, cervix and prostate. The Medicare Modernization Act also authorizes the development of a voluntary chronic treatment program which we called the Medicare Health Support. The immediate goal in front of us is the enrollment of elderly individuals including our Asian pacific American elders.

 

Since January of this year, the President and his administration launched a board outreach campaign to educate seniors and single Americans about the new Medicare prescription drugs coverage program of more 42 million people that are eligible for Medicare. Today, More than 31 million people with Medicare, now have Part D related prescription drug coverage. That means 90% of all elderly are in the program. Nearly 6 million more eligible beneficiaries have alternative sources of coverage. There are 11 million seniors that continue their retiree coverage, now partially subsidized by Medicare benefits to make it more secure. About 6 million seniors with Medicare and Medicaid were also involved. For the 5.7 million remaining people, about 2 million qualify for low income subsidy. Even eligible beneficiaries who aren’t sure which plan is for them,  should enroll in the plan now to avoid late penalties and start saving money on their prescriptions.

 

At this time over 75% of Asian Americans seniors are enrolled in Medicare Part D. In New York State, almost 82% of Asian seniors are enrolled. In New York State, approximately, 85% have signed up. Everyone with Medicare is eligible, no matter their income, or how they pay for their drugs. On average, drug benefits provide over $1,100 worth of help. That is more than 50% of drug costs for a typical senior. There is also extra help available for people with limited means, which amounts to 95% or more of drug costs. For people who are looking free drug coverage through their former employer, Medicare is now providing subsidies to keep it secure. Also, if you’d like to give your Medicare coverage to a medical advantage health plan, one of the many health plans in Medicare, you can do that, or you can add drug coverage to your current benefit.

 

I want to now share with you the second strategy that we have called Choices for Independence. The center piece of the proposal is an authorization of the Older American Act. We want to empower at risk individuals to make important choices and build danger prevention into the community.

The key focus of the Choices for Independence Initiative is to provide consumer choices for seniors and the disabled. improve health access and quality of life, reduce healthcare cost and risk of institutionalization. This initiative will now give the families more control over the care they receive. These means are very affective among the minority elderly community, especially the Hispanic and Latino community. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services, presented the proposal to Congress for the authorization. If Congress funds the  program that we purposed, we’ll be able to begin providing states with an enhanced set of systems to change tools, along with new funding starting federal fiscal year 2007. Choices programs are the non-Medicaid side of the long-term care equation.

 

Part of the Modernization Act that is specifically relevant to long-term care, is this ability to reach older people while they’re still healthy, and long before they enroll for Medicaid. We believe that the Older American Act, and the national health network, can add significant value to our nation’s long-term health care agenda. This strategic use of the Older American Act can help to reduce fiscal pressure on of their Preset Medicaid budget. Under the choices programs, the ability to match grants and administer them through the Administration of Aging, which is an old operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It will be available to thought a three prong change strategy. Number one, how consumers can make informed choices about our options. The Administration of Aging will provide funding for activities that integrate aging and disability resource centers with public education campaign. The second, is to specifically obtain flexible service dollars to help moderate a low-income seniors who’re at risk of nursing home placement and aren’t eligible for Medicaid to remain at home.

 

As I’ve mentioned, the administration will implement choices for a competitive branch program. We’ll start in a limited number of states and closely evaluate its impact on the health of the oldest people, healthcare costs including Medicaid expenditures. The results from the demonstration states will be used to formulate a strategy for expanding the program to other states. The current 2007 budget request includes resources to begin implementation. In his State of the Union Address, President Bush purposed an agenda to make health care more affordable, transparent, portable and efficient.

 

With appropriate reform, our health care system can provide affordable care to all Americans, while continuing to be efficient. For years now since he’s taken office, the President has purposed healthcare reform, reducing healthcare costs, expanding culture coverage, and improving the quality of care. The President is also pushing the expansion electronic health records to help doctor improve efficiency and minimize preventable medical errors. In conjunction with all these proposals, my department, Sector 11, recently formed the American Health Information Community of Public and Private Collaboration. We’ll make recommendations on the calibrated development of Information Technology. The President has been active in introducing health care services for elder population as a priority. So far, we have funded more than 800 new or expanded centers and will fund approximately 400 more over the next two years.

 

Today, my department has awarded 105 new health center grants totaling more than 65 million dollars. These grants will help an estimated 632,000 Americans including seniors without health insurance to obtain competent health care services. My department will also be in New York to provide a wider range of social services through our Compassion Applicable Fund which has awarded 49 million dollars to over 350 organizations, 154 million dollars in grants to develop a community network program to reduce cancer deaths in the minority population. Since September 2005, my department has awarded 70 billion dollars in grants to various community organizations and education institutions New York State alone. Out of that 70 billion dollar, almost 900 million dollars was awards to New York City, and we still have 6 months to go, there’s still plenty of opportunities.

 

Finally, President Bush believes that active prevention is critical to achieving a better and longer life. We’ve just heard the new initiatives and altered strategies that our administration is implementing in order to help all of our seniors. Now we can create local partnerships to overcome barriers to help individuals enjoy a longer life, and help other older adults recognize the benefits in raising a healthy life style. We just saw a room full of vibrant and healthy seniors who’re 80 and older dancing for us, and I wish when I reach their age I can be that energetic. My colleagues at HHS and other leaders in this administration will stand with you, and together, we can make an even bigger impact on the health and well-being of Asian Americans. Thank you very much.