Green
Party of California
General Assembly
September 9th-10th, 2006
South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County
Proposal
for GPCA General Assembly, September 9th-10th, 2006
Subject: Creating a new Elderly Platform Plank in the Social Justice and Livable Communities Section
Sponsor (Name
of Working Group or Standing Committee): Platform
Working Group
Presenter (Name, address, phone number, email): Susan
Sayre, (949) 786-0347, s.sayre@cox.net; Shane Que Hee,
(310) 208-1624, squehee@ucla.edu.
Proposal: Approved by Consensus as amended below
(Passed September 9, 2006)
The Elderly
The Elderly (age 65 or older) are becoming more important as life expectancy
increases. The Green Party of
California believes that the Elderly must be treated with respect and dignity
and with full civil rights. The special needs of disabled Elderly
are also covered in the platform plank on the Rights of the Physically or
Mentally Challenged and Mentally Ill.
Physical and financial abuse and neglect of the Elderly are growing problems in the community and in Licensed Care Facilities. The Elderly are vulnerable to abuse by their own families, caregivers, licensed care facilities, court-appointed conservators, and by people selling insurance and investment opportunities.
Many seniors do not have access to affordable health care and prescription medication. Many belong to Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) who fail to provide equal access to medical care and to durable medical equipment. Medicare D, the Medicare prescription drug program, fails to provide the Elderly with guaranteed access to their prescription medication. The Green Party believes universal health care is the ultimate solution to this problem.
PROPOSAL:
•
The Green Party supports policies that maintain full civil rights for
the
Elderly who have unimpaired mental capability, irrespective of
physical
condition:
- Allow the Elderly with adequate eyesight and physical coordination to
drive motor vehicles.
- Provide financial assistance for indigent Elderly to give them adequate income to
provide for their basic needs.
- Require two medical declarations establishing lack of capacity by appropriate
medical specialists (e.g psychiatrists, neurologists, neuro-psychiatrists, gero-
psychiatrists) to activate Durable Powers of Attorney and Successor Trustee
powers.
- Allow mentally competent Elderly people the right to ask their physician for
assistance with ending their lives in the event of a terminal medical condition by
passing into California law the 1997 (revised in 1999) Oregon Death with Dignity
Act articles 127,800 to 127,897 (upheld in 2005 by the U.S. Supreme Court).
• The Green Party supports policies that provide for the
health and safety of the
Elderly:
- Require caregiver agencies to be licensed and to set minimum performance
standards for staff.
- Provide public access to reports of violations of State Health and Safety
Regulations of licensed care facilities (board and care, assisted living and nursing
home facilities) by their respective licensing agencies. The 1999 California law
relative to nursing homes to do this must be enforced, and expanded in scope.
- Require notification of health and safety violations to residents of cited licensed
care facilities and to the persons responsible for overseeing the residents' care
(family members, conservators, probate court investigators, those holding powers
under Durable Powers of Attorney)
- Regulate Private Professional Conservators of the Elderly by establishing a State
Conservatorship Licensing Agency with regulations setting forth minimum
performance standards and malpractice and disciplinary procedures.
- Improve Court Supervision of all Conservatorships
- All Conservators (Public Guardian, Private Professional and members of the
public serving as conservators) must be under court supervision to ensure the
safety and well-being of the conservatee.
- Probate Court Investigators must investigate appropriateness of
Temporary Conservatorships as well as the appropriateness of the General
Conservatorships.
- Probate Court Investigators must conduct visits on at least on an annual basis to
investigate the continued necessity for the conservatorship, the management of
the conservatee's physical and medical care (for conservatorships of the person)
and the management of the conservatee's estate (for conservatorships of the
estate).
- Probate Court Investigators must investigate Citizen Initiated Complaints
in a timely manner.
- Hold all conservators, licensed care facilities, caregiver agencies, home health and
hospice agencies financially responsible for demonstrable abuse or incompetence
relative to their conservatees.
- Protect staff whistle-blowers who report incompetent care and/or abusive
treatment of elderly persons.
- Establish Domestic Violence programs, shelters, and services that are specifically
designed for elderly men and women that can accommodate both the physically
and mentally fit and the physically and/or cognitively impaired.
- Provide the elderly with access to affordable medical care, prescription
medications, and durable medical equipment until Universal Health Care for all
persons is enacted.
- Require Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) that accept Medicare
Assignment to provide access to services that are, at a minimum, equal to those
provided for under
the Medicare Regulations.
- Set up a system of substantial fines and penalties for
failure to provide equal
access to services and durable medical equipment.
- Provide the elderly with access to affordable medical care, prescription
medications, and durable medical equipment until Universal Health Care for all
persons is enacted. Require Medicare D prescription drug program to provide full
coverage for prescription drugs until such time as Universal Health Care is
established.
- Eliminate Medicare D gaps in prescription drug coverage.
- Require Medicare D prescription drug programs to retain prescription
medications in their formularies for a period equal to the length of the
enrollment period of elderly patients unless the medication is decertified by the
FDA.
- Require a notice of intent to remove a prescription drug from the program
formulary a minimum of 60 days prior to termination of the established
enrollment period.
- Make accommodation for infirm Elderly when they are in public e.g.
specialized accommodation on Public Transport for those using wheelchairs,
walkers, or other assistive devices; longer walk signals at pedestrian crossings,
more stop signs at intersections, appropriate construction and maintenance of
sidewalks and their entries, and more understanding and patience by officers of
the law and the general public.
• Protect Elderly investors:
- Require strict regulation of sales to the Elderly of insurance and investment
options that have delayed maturity dates of more than 2 years such as annuities
and bonds.
- Establish a 40 day ' cooling off' period allowing the purchaser to cancel the
sales contract without penalty.
- Require that sales to persons who have been diagnosed with cognitive
impairment prior to the date of sale can be voided with full refund and without
penalty.