Senators Dave McCormick (R-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) held a Senate Special Committee on Aging field hearing in Pittsburgh last Thursday on loneliness and social isolation among older Pennsylvanians. Witnesses came from the Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging, Penn State’s Center for Healthy Aging, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, and Meals on Wheels of Lancaster. They cited isolation’s estimated $6.7 billion annual cost to Medicare and its links to dementia and early death.
Their recommendations centered on four things: finishing Older Americans Act (OAA) reauthorization, which passed the Senate unanimously in July and awaits House action; increasing OAA nutrition funding; passing the SENIOR Act; and better connecting health care with social services. McCormick said he intends to work with Fetterman on legislative next steps. Argentum continues to urge House passage of OAA reauthorization and will work to ensure senior living communities, where daily social connection is built into the model, are part of that conversation.