On this week’s “Florida NewsMakers” program, Florida Department of Elder Affairs Secretary Charles T. Corley sits down with Sachs Media Group’s Trimmel Gomes to discuss issues facing Florida’s 4.5 million seniors.

Thanks to a steady influx of baby boomers and recent retirees, demographers expect Florida will soon only trail California and Texas as the most populous state in the nation. “Elders have always been a critical part of [Florida] not just in numbers but what they contribute to our state,” Secretary Corley tells Gomes. “Not only do they contribute to the economy through the services that they employ, through the purchases that they make, seniors are homeowners at a rate far higher than any other segment of the population.” But one of the biggest issues facing Florida’s seniors is federal budget cuts due to sequestration. “$5.6 million in the federal funds for services that we receive for home-based, community-based services for seniors were lost. That equates to almost 600,000 home-delivered meals to homebound seniors.” Corley addresses those issues and more on “Florida NewsMakers.”

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