This year, Area Agencies on Aging across the state joined together with their communities to champion healthy aging! This year, Older Michiganians Day took place on Wednesday, May 13. This day is in the middle of Senior Action Week, a week designed to call attention to issues that are important to older adults and provide ways to take action. This year, Area Agencies on Aging across the state are joined together with their communities to champion healthy aging!
Michigan is one of the fastest-aging states in the nation. Pending decisions about long-term care, caregiving supports, home- and community-based services, health care access, housing, transportation, and consumer protections will have lasting impacts on individuals, families, and communities statewide. This is why Senior Action Week and Older Michiganians Day are so important.
Older Michiganians Day and Senior Action Week are about ensuring that the people most affected by aging policy are helping shape it. Older adults, caregivers, and people with disabilities bring expertise grounded in lived experience. Their voices are essential to building policies that work, not just on paper, but in real life.
This year, CareWell Services, the AAA Association of Michigan (4AM), aging network partners, and advocates for seniors across the state came together to hone in on a platform pointing to specific policy concerns that ties back to the advocacy focus areas for the year. These areas include:
Modernize and Enhance Access to MI Choice. Most older adults (88%) want to age in their homes and communities, and MI Choice makes that possible. MI Choice is also 62% less expensive than a Medicaid nursing facility. MI Choice supports individuals by providing an extensive array of person-centered, in-home services and supports, including assistance with activities of daily living, nursing services, home-delivered meals, home modifications, respite care, transportation, adult day care, and more. As the state plans for the future of the Medicaid program, MI Choice must be modernized and expanded to continue to serve residents. You can take action with us by urging the legislature to modernize and enhance MI Choice by continuing to support and grow MI Choice accessibility statewide.
Rebalance State Medicaid Expenditures to Support Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). Michigan ranks near the bottom in the proportion of taxpayer dollars spent by states to provide long-term care through home and community-based services (HCBS) versus institutional care. Supporting access to MI Choice would bring Michigan more in line with most states in allocating at least half of Long Term Support Services funding to HCBS. You can take action with us by urging the legislature to bring equity between HCBS and institutional care by rebalancing Medicaid LTSS funding to at least the national average of 53%.
Increase Access to Non-Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services. In Michigan, there are currently 6,635 seniors on waiting lists for essential non-Medicaid in-home services provided through Michigan’s Bureau of Aging, Community Living, and Supports (ACLS Bureau) in Aging Services. These funded services include home-delivered meals, in-home personal care, homemaking, and respite care. These services delay or prevent the need for more costly long-term care intervention, and individuals who remain on waiting lists are found to be 5 times more likely to be forced into an institutional setting prematurely. You can take action with us by supporting the Silver Key Coalition’s request for an $8 million increase for Aging in-home services in the MDHHS FY27 budget.
Support Unpaid Family and Informal Caregivers. Unpaid family and informal caregivers provide essential care to older adults and loved ones. It is estimated that 1.73 million Michiganians provide an estimated 1.1 billion hours of voluntary care worth approximately $19.6 billion per year. With the continuing direct care workforce shortage, support for unpaid caregivers is even more important to assist older adults in their homes. Without continued family and friend-provided help, the cost to Michigan’s health and Long-Term Services and Supports systems will skyrocket. You can take action with us by urging the legislature to support a permanent $5 million to expand AAA caregiver support programs, providing respite, education, and resources to sustain the unpaid workforce that underpins Michigan’s long-term care system.
Even though Senior Action Week is over, you can help advocate for these issues that are important for seniors in Michigan. You can still write start by writing to your elected officials about these important issues. There are several who represent southwest Michigan. You can find a form letter and more information about Senior Action Week and Older Michiganians Day 2026 in our Advocacy Center.