Dear Editor:
It is the dream of most New Jersey seniors to spend their golden years in good health and in the comfort and security of their own home. For many, however, the rising costs of health care and home ownership are turning this dream into a nightmare.
Seniors throughout this state should not be forced to compromise on their quality of living and independence. New Jersey seniors should be empowered to stay engaged and in control of their own health and homes and now is the time for the State to offer seniors the kind of assistance they need to help themselves.
Record levels of economic growth over the past year afford New Jersey the opportunity to return the state’s prosperity to the people, particularly to a senior population that is growing older and living longer.
That is why I am proposing a two-pronged effort to offer relief to New Jersey seniors. This legislative effort is designed to have a direct impact on the expenses that most seniors find burdensome, including property taxes and prescription drugs. Under a $400 million property tax relief program I will be introducing in the New Jersey Senate this fall, seniors would begin to see direct property tax relief as early as next year.
Specifically, the four-point plan calls for a 50-percent increase in the maximum homestead rebate for seniors and the disabled, an annual cost-of-living provision in the Homestead Rebate Program, a quadrupling of the municipal aid block grant program and a doubling of the New Jersey Saver Program. Taken together, this plan is the most significant tax relief program in one year in state history without raising other taxes.
For the approximately 400,000 senior citizens and disabled residents who currently receive maximum homestead rebates of $500, this program provides welcome, it not overdue, news. The current $500 maximum was established more than a decade ago and we recognize that the program, as it is right now, has not kept pace for those on fixed incomes. This program not only increases Homestead Rebate checks from the current maximum of $500 to a maximum of $750 a year from now, but it also calls for all Homestead Rebate checks to be indexed to the rate of inflation beginning in 2002.
This initiative will not drawn down the state surplus nor will it raise the state’s debt, but it will provide relief for seniors who want to stay in their own homes.
The second program I will be proposing this fall is the state’s first-ever discount prescription plan for middle-income senior citizens and disabled persons. The program, to be known as the Senior Gold Prescription Discount Program, would provide coverage, based on income, to senior and disabled residents who are not eligible for PAAD or any other state-funded prescription program. It is truly intended to provide a safety net for seniors who are falling between the cracks, some 100,000 people of moderate income who may be without a prescription plan.
Senior Gold participants will be able to go to the pharmacy of their choice and the total cost of the prescription will be a $15 co-pay plus 50 percent of the remaining cost of the drug. In addition, Senior Gold will provide 100 percent of the cost of prescriptions after a single person has incurred $2,000 in prescription bills and a couple, $3,000.
We know there are seniors in our state who are choosing between the medicine they must take or the bills they need to pay. Providing direct property tax relief and offering prescription coverage for middle-income seniors are two ways we can help New Jersey seniors make decisions that are in the best interest of their health, welfare and future.
State Senate Pres.
Donald DiFrancesco