NORTHFIELD — Given alarming proposed federal budget cuts, the Northfield Council on Aging called on Rep. Paul Mark for answers and advice.
Mark spoke before about 20 residents at the Senior Center Thursday morning, discussing the increasing costs of health care and how federal cuts could result in $1 to $2 billion shaved off Massachusetts’ approximately $40 billion budget.
Forty percent of Massachusetts’ budget funds MassHealth services, Mark explained, costs which Mark said the administration is trying to curb.
“People are trying to think of innovative ways to reign in costs, but it hasn’t worked yet,” he said.
Some attendees also expressed concern over a proposed tax on drivers based on the number of miles they traveled, an idea which Governor Charlie Baker opposed last July.
“As a rural representative, I think it’s a horrible idea,” Mark said. “But I don’t think it has any traction.”
Cuts to the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Environmental Protection Agency had Northfield resident Joanne McGee concerned, but Mark said funding hasn’t raised as much as he would like to see.
“It does have devastating effects,” he said. “What we’re seeing so far isn’t very promising.”
When asked by Northfield resident Ted Thornton what advice he’d have for rural seniors, living on limited resources and far from health care services, Mark advised them to stay engaged in politics.
“The good news is seniors vote more often than any other generation,” he said. “You have political clout.”
Mark invited attendees to reach out to him, and spoke of how he often brings letters and emails before other representatives when arguing for a cause.
“It gets to the point where we start calling you to say ‘Budget is coming up, what do you think?’” he said.
Mark and his District Affairs Director Jessie Cooley regularly have office hours on Mondays in Greenfield from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays in Charlemont from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and Thursdays in Northfield from 1 to 4 p.m. Most office hours are held at respective Town Halls, except for the third Thursday of each month in Northfield, which is held at Dickinson Memorial Library, and in Greenfield. Greenfield office hours are held at the Greenfield Community College downtown campus.
You can reach Shelby Ashline at: sashline@recorder.com
413-772-0261 ext. 257