Advocates urge funding for long‑term care ombudsman and service navigators, citing rising complaints and homelessness risk

Mairead Painter, the state long‑term care ombudsman, urged the committee to fund Senate Bill 1176, saying "Ombudsmen are critical in safeguarding the rights, safety and well‑being of long term care residents" and that Connecticut remains underrecommended staffing levels for the program.

Painter testified the program is stretched: she said regional ombudsman would improve response times and case management, and noted the ombudsman program is "under the recommended 1 ombudsman for every 2,000 long term care beds." Painter described having to pull team members from their regular regions to manage nursing home closures and related relocations, which delays responses elsewhere.

Multiple witnesses from the Area Agencies on Aging and advocates described high demand for service navigators, which assist older adults and caregivers with benefits enrollment, housing, and health‑care coordination. Michael Warner, lead aging policy analyst for the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity, and Lisonbee Dvorak, director of Senior Resources (an Area Agency on Aging), urged support for funding navigators and for $20,000 in software to improve intake.

Area agency testimony included examples of substantial client savings and the navigation workload: Rachel Boxwell of UConn Health described a case in which a service navigator helped an 86‑year‑old save roughly $1,488 a month through Medicare and SNAP enrollments, enabling him to retire; Lisonbee Dvorak and others said service navigators routinely assist at least 30 people per month and that current staff and remaining ARPA funds limit outreach.

Advocates asked the committee to make navigator funding sustainable. Marie Allen and other agency leaders said the agencies currently operate with two state‑funded navigators per Area Agency on Aging (ten statewide), one of which is supported by ARPA and will end; they requested increasing to four navigators per agency (20 statewide). Marie Painter said the total cost to fund 4 navigators per agency statewide was approximately $2,000,000.

Witnesses connected navigator services to potential state savings by preventing premature nursing home placements and reducing hospitalizations. Spring Raymond of the Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging and Maureen McIntyre of AgingCT highlighted rising counts of older people experiencing homelessness and the agencies’ role in preventing evictions and connecting residents to services.

Lawmakers asked for metrics and fiscal notes to quantify avoided nursing home and hospital costs. The committee heard requests for sustainable funding for the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program and navigators and for clearer plans to replace expiring ARPA support.

Ending: Committee members asked agencies to provide additional cost and outcome data so the legislature can evaluate sustainable funding options for ombudsmen and service navigators.