Since 1972, Justice in Aging (JIA) has been working to ensure that all older adults age with dignity, safety, and stability using the power of law. Their legal team partners with on-the-ground advocates and pro bono law firms to identify systemic issues, file cases, and win landmark litigation that has returned billions in benefits to older adults nationwide.
As the only national organization focused on fighting elder poverty through litigation on behalf of low-income adults, JIA has become the “go-to experts” for policymakers on the benefit programs low-income older adults rely on. JIA is a trusted resource for both direct service advocates and policymakers. Each year, they train tens of thousands of professionals and produce critical resources—such as webinars, fact sheets, and policy briefs—to guide equitable decision-making.
With continued federal funding of Medicaid and Medicare currently in question, the beneficiaries of JIA’s decades of work are at an increased risk–and the work is more important than ever.
Amber Christ, Managing Director in Health Advocacy of JIA, confirms that “more than 13 million seniors and people with disabilities rely on Medicaid nationally, including 2.3 million in California, and 64,500 in San Francisco County alone.” JIA is thus doubling down to support coverage and benefits from millions of elders, including those with disabilities, and their caregivers.
These cuts will impact older adults in myriad ways. Ms. Christ notes that “states facing budget shortfalls will be forced to cut optional benefits or eligibility categories such as Home-and-Community-Based Services (HCBS), dental, vision, and hearing, eliminate the Aged & Disabled and Medicare Savings Program, and cut provider payment rates, which worsens the direct care workforce shortage,” not to mention possible hospital and provider closures.
“There is no way to ‘carve out’ or ‘shield’ older adults and people with disabilities from harm,” says Ms. Christ. “A cut to Medicaid is a cut to Medicare.”
Efforts of this magnitude have always been a challenge, but the ante has been raised with the current administration’s proposed budget cuts. The expertise of JIA’s team of attorneys can help focus where the fight needs to be moving forward.
“By using legal tools to strengthen the social safety net and remove barriers to essential services, JIA helps shape a more just future for all of us as we age,” says Vanessa Barrington, JIA’s Communications Director. “In the next decade, our mission is to keep ensuring that low-income older adults are able to see a doctor, receive long-term care where they most want to live (usually their homes), have enough money to pay their basic needs, and do not bear the brunt of program cuts that are now being suggested and written into law.”
JIA’s mission, in part, is to advocate for low-income older adults and do all they can to make sure they are not forgotten or left behind. In response to the administration’s proposed bill, Kevin Prindiville, Executive Director of JIA, commented in a public statement that made its way to Senator Cory Booker’s desk, “that voting to enact these cuts would be voting to abandon older Americans.” Continuing, “in voting for this bill, lawmakers endorsed taking away Medicaid from millions of Americans including older adults, all to bankroll tax cuts for the wealthy.
As the population ages, the stakes grow higher in terms of providing adequate and comprehensive care. Part of JIA’s continuing efforts involves pushing for reforms in Medi-Cal and Medicare, that would make Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) available and affordable for all, including home and community-based services (HCBS), so older adults can remain in their homes. To paraphrase Ms. Barrington, JIA’s work is a daily exercise in fighting systemic discrimination rooted in ageism, racism, ableism, and xenophobia. And while JIA’s work is centered on elders, the implications span generations.
“Gen Z and Millennials should care because they’re already doing the work—caring for parents and grandparents, navigating broken systems. They can amplify their impact by sharing their stories and pushing for the reforms we all need,” says Ms. Barrington.
Justice in Aging’s work on LTSS is especially urgent in California, where the need for long-term care services is growing while access remains fragmented. Most older adults prefer to age in their homes, but a complex web of public programs and limited coverage options often forces them into institutional care—or leaves them without support altogether.
JIA’s LTSS work centers on expanding access to home and community-based services and ensuring affordability through Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California). Since Medicare offers little long-term care coverage, many older adults must deplete their life savings to qualify for Medi-Cal.
JIA’s Executive Director, Kevin Prindiville, says that their network of advocates, social workers, legal experts, and policy experts are all “seeing the same thing,” that is, “a rising need in our communities to provide and receive care at home, and lack of a system to effectively meet that need.”
JIA addresses the needs of elders while also keeping society’s collective well-being at the forefront of their objectives.
“We all want a system that is better funded and supported by local, state, and federal governments, that makes care at home affordable, that provides people with real choice, that is easy to navigate, that supports paid and unpaid caregivers, and that provides us all the peace of mind of knowing that when we or someone we love needs care we will get what we need and deserve,” says Mr. Prindiville.
These efforts are grounded in the belief that LTSS—particularly HCBS—are essential to allowing people to live independently and with dignity, as a human right. And these efforts should engage the masses, the younger members of our society, too. Why? JIA knows that this is because the majority of adults will need some form of social support at some point in their lives.
“It’s inevitable,” Ms. Barrington says. “Many members of these generations are involved in this work without realizing it because they are providing care for and advocating for their parents and grandparents. They have first-hand knowledge about how inadequate the system is to meet our collective needs.”
The organization’s Strategic Initiative to Advance Equity in Aging, launched in 2021, provides a framework to guide advocacy efforts, with the goal of dismantling the structural barriers that prevent many older adults from accessing the care they need.
Looking ahead, the urgency of JIA’s mission is further underscored by the political landscape. In a recent joint letter with the Center for Medicare Advocacy and the Medicare Rights Center, JIA urged the U.S. Senate to reject proposed federal budget cuts that would significantly weaken Medicaid and Medicare. JIA knows that the cuts would disproportionately affect all low-income seniors, but especially women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants, and people with limited English proficiency.
These proposals include imposing stricter work requirements and block grants for Medicaid—changes that could reduce coverage for millions. For older adults, particularly those with low incomes, the cuts would threaten access to critical LTSS and health services.
Justice in Aging emphasizes that access to health care and LTSS is not a luxury, but a human right—and one that must be protected from harmful policy shifts.
From JIA’s perspective, this work is not about charity. It’s about justice.
“We are all aging,” Ms. Barrington notes. “Building the systems that today’s older adults need will ensure those supports are there for future generations.”
While JIA’s mission remains clear, their immediate fight is happening now. Ms. Barrington says “As we fight back against cruel and harmful cuts, we will continue to put forth our vision of the future in which we decide as a society to invest in and strengthen programs that support the well-being of older adults instead of seeing those programs as a line item to be cut to pay for tax cuts for the rich.”
It could be her mantra: When we fight for older adults, we’re ultimately fighting for ourselves.
Visit the JIA’s Resources here.
Story by Sahara Marina Borja