Election Results Impact on Senior Living

Republicans claimed control of the US House of Representatives picking up at least 60 seats as of November 3 and narrowed the Democrats majority in the US Senate gaining six of ten seats needed to take over the majority. Republicans won Senate seats in Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. Democrats won the States of California, West Virginia and Nevada which will narrow their majority to two or three seats and prevent their ability to pass legislation without consensus. Two Senate seats are yet to be decided in Washington where Patty Murray has a slight lead over Dino Rossi, and in Alaska where write-in candidate and incumbent Lisa Murkowski leads over both the Democratic and Republican candidates.

With dozens of moderates defeated by conservative members pledging to slash the budget and repeal health care reform, on balance, the Democratic Party will be more liberal and the Republican Party will be more conservative. The bifurcated result of the mid-term election will likely further divide government and cause gridlock on issues splitting the nation such as health care, taxes, and the deficit.

For health care, Republican leadership in the US House of Representatives have pledged to put health care reform repeal on the agenda and to pursue hearings and oversight investigations to hinder the provisions in the recently passed overhaul when the Congress begins in January. Further House and Senate Republicans are expected to try to withhold needed federal funding as part of the annual appropriations process to implement scheduled reforms such as the state run health care exchanges. Finally, a landslide in governorships across the country flipped from Democrat to Republican in key states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New Mexico and Florida. This likely will result in many governor-elects working to slow the health care reform law’s implementation in their states.

Changing Chairmen
In the House of Representatives, committees do much of the work before legislation goes to the House floor for a vote. With Republicans taking control of the House, current speculation is that Rep. John Kline (R-MN)Link Icon will assume chairmanship of the Education and Labor committee. According to the Washington Post, he has been a vocal opponent against the so called Employee Free Choice Act (“card check”) and advocates for a smaller role for the federal government.

Additionally, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.)Link Icon is expected to assume the Ways and Means chairmanship. He is an advocate for lower taxes and was staunchly against the health care reform legislation. According to the Washington Post, there is potential he could lead a bloc of House members to vote for defunding of the health care reform overhaul enacted earlier this year. (From ALFA)

2010 AAHSA Annual Meeting Opens in Los Angeles

AAHSA's 2010 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles opened on Sunday with more than 5,000 members coming together under the theme "Who Decides?" U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a video message opening the conference and commending AAHSA for its commitment to helping the administration provide older adults with the services they need in a place they call home.

This year's conference features the return of a brand new AAHSA Idea House, the AAHSA/Morrison Senior Garden Challenge and four great general session presenters: Michael Sandel, Edward James Olmos, Paula Zahn and the Zimmers. On site registration is available in the south lobby of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Can't come to conference? You can still keep up with the Annual Meeting by checking out our photos on Flickr and following attendees' tweets on Twitter. Contact: Lauren Shaham, (202) 508-1219.

Editor's Note:
For a full recap of the AAHSA conference stay tuned.
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