For Immediate Release:
September 15, 2026

Statement from NJ Long-Term Care Ombudsman Laurie F. Brewer
Re: The Personal Needs Allowance for Nursing Home Residents

I am grateful that legislators have taken the time to hear nursing home residents, and that they want to do something to help improve their lives. However, does not go far enough.

Residents who rely on the personal needs allowance, or PNA, need a meaningful raise now. Bill A5440, as introduced, keeps the PNA at $50 a month and begins annual cost-of-living increases next year. If inflation remains the same, residents will get an extra $2 a month. It's not nothing, but it's not what they really need.

Many of us wrongly assume that nursing homes give residents everything they need. But there is a long list of things that the nursing home does not provide. Clothes. Shoes, Phone service. Haircuts. Supplies for the residents' hobbies and interests. Residents often buy toiletries or personal care products to replace low-quality items provided by the nursing home. Others look forward to occasional takeout food to skip the nursing home fare.

Residents have to cover all of that on only $50 a month. They deserve more. The PNA is ultimately their money. Residents who receive the PNA are on Medicaid. If they have Social Security or pensions, it goes to the nursing home to help pay for their care. The $50 is all that the residents are allowed to keep.

New Jersey ranks among the most expensive states in which to live. Yet 35 states and the District of Columbia provide a higher PNA than we do.

Residents have been leading efforts to support Bill , which would increase the PNA to $140 and establish yearly cost-of-living adjustments. We support the residents' position and ask legislators to sign onto that bill, or to amend A5440 to include a significant increase in the base PNA.

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