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Resource center and county aging office outline outreach for New York’s 1.15 Medicaid waiver
Summary
A social navigator from the Resource Center described the 1.15 Medicaid waiver, which tests nonmedical services through May 2027, and county Office for the Aging officials said they are contracting with Winniak to help screen and refer eligible Medicaid recipients for services such as food boxes, rental assistance and minor home repairs.
At the Nov. 19 Chautauqua County Legislature meeting, a representative introduced as Veil Gonzalez Colon, a social navigator with the Resource Center, described New York’s 1.15 Medicaid waiver and local outreach efforts.
Gonzalez Colon said the waiver is a testing program through May 2027 that can provide nonmedical services beyond standard Medicaid benefits, including weekly fresh-food boxes for qualifying families (up to six months in one description), utility and rental assistance, security-deposit help, furniture (including beds for children), and limited housing repairs for lead or mold remediation when funding is available. She said the Resource Center and partners are conducting community outreach (mailers, flyers, clinic screening days) and that Medicaid had sent a text blast to local recipients with the program website.
Dana Corwin, director of the Chautauqua County Office for the Aging, said the office is contracting with Winniak (Western New York Integrated Collaborative Care), described in the meeting as a social-care hub and convener. Corwin said co-branded materials and direct outreach to older adults and other eligible populations are in progress and that partner organizations—Resource Center, Evergreen, Catholic Charities and local pediatric providers—are supporting screenings and navigation.
Legislators asked how seniors and homeless individuals are being reached; Gonzalez Colon and Corwin described screenings at clinics, outreach at a local hotel that serves people working with DSS, and targeted visits to shelters and housing programs. Officials said some program components are constrained by current funding but that the waiver’s screening and referral tools are being used to identify eligible individuals.
Corwin said the Office for the Aging and partners will continue outreach and that any resident with Medicaid can start with the waiver’s website screening or connect to local partners for navigation assistance.
