The deadline for the Congressional “Super Committee” to come up with a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years is less than three weeks away! The 12-member committee must release its proposals by November 23 and the House and Senate must vote on them by December 23.
 
On the table are proposed budget cuts for many different programs, including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. All of them will hurt.

But did you know that cuts to Medicaid will have a devastating impact on the IHSS program and the people for whom we care?

Medicaid–which is called Medi-Cal in California–is the single most important public program for working families struggling with the high cost of long-term care. Nationally, Medicaid pays nearly two-thirds of the cost of all long-term-care services. In California, this includes the IHSS program.

Recent studies by Families USA  and the Asian/Pacific Islander American Health Forum illustrate how Medicaid provides access to millions of people of color, especially children, seniors, and people with serious illnesses who would have nowhere else to turn without this essential program.

That’s why we need you to contact your Members of Congress today! Ask them to tell the “Super Committee” that cutting funding for the Medicaid program could be disastrous for millions of Californians.

Get your representative’s contact information here.

Tweet the Super Committee members here.

Here are some key points you can make during your call:

• Medicaid is a fundamental safety net for millions of California’s working families.
• IHSS is a Medicaid program. It provides crucial in-home supportive services for nearly a half million elderly and disabled Californians. By keeping people safely at home, IHSS reduces the need for far-more-costly institutional care.
• Medicaid funds millions of direct-care jobs around the country, including IHSS jobs in California. It is a major contributor to our state’s economy.
• Cutting Medicaid is a job killer. It will also hurt our overall economy by forcing working Americans to quit their jobs or reduce their hours to care for loved ones with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
• California cannot make up for any federal cuts to Medicaid because we already have a multi-million dollar budget deficit.
• Cutting Medicaid only shifts the burden of deficit reduction to those who can least afford it – it is penny wise and pound foolish.

Once you have made contact with your Representative, please let us know. You can reply to this email or send a separate email to stevem@udwa.org

We are facing a serious threat to IHSS. That’s why we need to fight back NOW.

Thank you for your support of IHSS and UDW!