Letter to the Editor Submission

I was in the past an Army officer, a Hospital Social Worker and a Registered Nurse for over 30 years. I live in Fulton and am now retired and disturbed by how the recent changes in legislation will affect others in Oswego County.

Let’s look at some of the latest legislation passed by Congress and put some faces to the people who this could affect in the county.

SNAP – There seems to be a lot of rhetoric revolving around the failure to get the government funded, and about the SNAP lack of funding after November 1st. Instead of rhetoric let’s look at who exactly is affected locally in Oswego County.  (All data is from open sources and available to anyone who wants to look)

SNAP benefits effect about 9200 people in Oswego County (Approximately 8% of the total population – 118,000) That’s about 2500 households.

People want to make outrageous claims that these benefits are made for short term use, and only people “who don’t want to work” receive them.

Let’s look at who is actually affected by the lack of these benefits.

• The per capita income in Oswego County is about $35,000.
  • Median Household income is about $70,000.
• Approximately 3,200 people are on SSDI in Oswego County. (2.7%)
  • Their average monthly check is about $1,600.00.
  • 543 are under 18 years old.
  • 461 are over 65 years old.
• Approximately 23,500 people are on Social Security (20%)
  • Their average monthly check is about $2,120.00.
• 15% of the population of Oswego County lives below the poverty line.
• Food insecurity in Oswego County involves about 17,000 people. (14.5%)
• The Homeless population in Oswego County is about 300 people.

Medicaid Cuts –

• There are approximately 33,000 people on Medicaid in Oswego County. That’s about 28% of the population.
• Total Medicaid spending in NY State is approximately $98 billion.
• Long Term Care (Nursing Homes) accounts for about 18% of that. That’s $17.64 billion.
• Medicaid covers about 64% of Nursing Home Residents.
• Oswego County has about 425 people in nursing homes within the county. Statistically that means about 290 of them are utilizing Medicaid for their care.
• How many are in in nursing homes in other counties that have families in Oswego County?
• In NY State one year of Nursing Home care can cost about $159,000. Even if Medicare pays part of it, at least half would be paid by Medicaid. That would be about $80,000.

I have not heard much about this from the County Legislature, and I have some questions I will ask at the next Meeting.

Because of this legislation –

• How many more people in Oswego County will be added to the Food Insecurity population?
• How many more people will be added to the Homeless Population?
• How many of those at least 290 families can afford to pay for their family members’ care if they lose all or part of the Medicaid reimbursement?
• What will happen to those facilities, staff and vendors if they lose that money?
• What are we doing to educate the people in this county on what will happen when these cuts take effect?
• Lastly did you as Legislators then and do you now support these cuts that were pushed through congress by the Republicans?

The legislation consists of a Majority of Republicans, and they don’t seem to want to let the public know how they feel about this recent legislation or how it will affect the people they represent. They meet behind closed doors with our Congresswoman, who will not meet with her constituents. They meet with senior members of the Republican party for a fundraiser but won’t speak to the public about any of this legislation, and how it affects their constituents.

Partisan politics is one thing, but smug partisan politics is not a good, look for the Legislators that are supposed to be representing ALL of the people in their district.

I urge the members of the Oswego County Legislature to speak to their constituents and educate them about what the implications of these cuts mean to them and find solutions within the county to minimize the effects to the best of their ability. I also encourage them to educate their constituents that if “Obamacare” is eliminated it means the “Affordable Care Act” plans they have go away too. I have been reading that when people figure out those are the same thing; they are a lot less interested in losing their insurance or having their rates skyrocket.

This should be about people not political affiliation. Thank you.

Jim Cannon, RN

Fulton NY

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