New York’s Master Plan for Aging with Greg Olsen

Harry interviews Greg Olsen, longtime director of the New York State Office for Aging, about preparing for a surge in older adults as baby boomers reach 85. Olsen explains the Office for Aging’s role as the community-based, non-medical long-term care system created under the Older Americans Act, providing services such as meals, transportation, personal care, home modifications, benefits help, and case management to help people remain independent and avoid costly institutional care; Governor Hochul has invested $238 million in these services. He describes New York’s Master Plan for Aging as a cross-agency, public-driven process to combat ageism, support healthy aging, and strengthen supports for those needing assistance, citing extensive stakeholder engagement and examples like caregiver supports, food-as-medicine, an office for older workers, expanded NORCs, hospice access efforts, benefits coordination, and fraud prevention. Olsen urges federal policymakers not to cut Medicaid and other supports, and advises families to plan early, understand who pays for care, seek help before crises, and focus on prevention to reduce dementia risk.   Topics 00:52 Meet Greg Olsen 02:00 What the Office Does 03:34 Accessing Services 04:10 Why It Feels Hidden 04:52 Why a Master Plan 05:58 Older Adults Economic Value 06:56 How the MPA Was Built 09:25 Goals and Focus Areas 11:32 Prevention and Culture Shift 13:19 Medicare vs Medicaid Reality 14:23 Costs and What to Change 15:21 Housing and Community Design 18:47 Managing 100 Proposals 20:44 MPA Wins and Examples 24:06 Advice for Other States 27:07 Federal Policy Ask 30:37 Advice for Families 32:18 Closing Thanks