By Judy Farrell, MPA, Program Director, Tri-County Long Term Care Ombudsman Program Imagine you’ve paid off your primary living expenses, and now you’re left with a mere $50 monthly to buy a gift card for your grandchild, a favorite snack, better-fitting clothes, or countless other necessities. Such is the case for tens of thousands of […]
New York families already face some of the steepest health care costs in the nation, with premiums and deductibles eating up bigger chunks of household budgets every year. New York’s Department of Financial Services has warned that Obamacare premiums are climbing in 2026. While insurers initially sought a 13.5% increase, state officials approved a 7.1% […]
Dear Editor, I am 60 years old, disabled, and dependent upon Medicaid and SNAP. Soon enough, I will be dependent upon Medicare. If I do not have medications and access to doctors, I am essentially non-functional. I am struggling to return to work, but without satisfactory resolution of my health problems, I will never be […]
By Kimball Shinkoskey In school, Americans were taught that the world works on the basis of education, science, law, honesty, goodwill, elections, free enterprise, corporate responsibility, government ethics, service-oriented political leadership. You get the picture. Except for brief periods of time, all that good stuff has never really materialized in the lives of most […]
To the Editor: Mike Lawler is helping Donald Trump tear apart the fabric of our democracy, and it’s us, Hudson Valley families, who are paying the price. If we don’t act now, we risk losing everything we hold dear. The future of our community, our families, and our democracy is on the line. We cannot […]
Helping our neighbors, friends and community has been a long tradition going way back in this country. The tradition started when people migrated to this country from other places all around the world, coming to these shores with pretty much nothing but the shirts on their backs. Ready to start a new life in a strange […]