PresMessage
I can’t believe it’s not over yet.
In early summer, it felt as if the pandemic was finally coming to an end. Looking forward to the post-COVID era, NAELA’s Executive Director had announced his upcoming retirement, the NAELA Board planned to meet in-person, we scheduled our Annual Conference for Scottsdale, Arizona (May 13-14, 2022), and NAELA’s Federal Advocacy Committee expected a major budget deal by the end of September.
As summer turns to fall, some of those things have come to fruition. The Board held its first in-person meeting since the start of the pandemic and the Annual Conference is still scheduled for Scottsdale along with a tax “boot camp” the day before. However, the Delta Variant has meant that COVID-19 concerns for our members have not gone away.
Even with a vaccine, COVID-19 remains a risk for many clients who are elderly or immunocompromised, which affects our ability to connect with them in person. The pandemic also continues to disrupt our ability to keep up with our work. Attorneys and support staff alike have to miss more work due to school shutdowns, family members getting sick, or quarantining after an exposure. In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 5 million Americans have permanently left the workforce as a result of the pandemic. So NAELA members could struggle to find needed support staff for years to come.
Public policy remains a constantly moving target, making it difficult to determine how to best advise our clients when planning. For example, in the President’s American Families Plan, a partial elimination of tax “stepped-up in basis” at death was proposed. Yet when the House released its version of the budget deal this September, it kept tax stepped-up in basis and instead reverted the estate tax exemption to 2010 levels (adjusted for inflation).
Likewise, the President’s American Jobs Plan called for $400 billion in new spending on Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). In September, the House Energy and Commerce Committee brought that number down to $190 billion. Now, in order to reach a final agreement, the total size of the $3.5 trillion package may need to come down by two-thirds, putting the funds to expand HCBS at risk of disappearing.
NAELA continues to benefit from the leadership of retiring Executive Director Pete Wacht while we search for a new executive director who will help NAELA move in new and exciting directions. Meanwhile, the Board and NAELA senior staff are working to ensure that there are several people with the institutional knowledge needed to keep NAELA running.
Ultimately, while COVID-19 may be ongoing, NAELA and its members have weathered uncertain times before. The community, education, and advocacy that exists within NAELA has provided valuable support for our struggles during the pandemic and its effects on our practice. So, while we may be thinking “I can’t believe it’s not over yet,” thank goodness for all that NAELA provides.