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Rising health care costs and the downturn in the economy have meant disaster for California’s seniors, resulting in huge budget cuts to health care programs that serve our vulnerable population.
A Southern California health plan that state Controller John Chiang said “fleeced the state” out of an estimated $300 million stands to gain hundreds of members who are losing services as a result of state budget cuts.
Year after year, we have come to this building to battle for our lives and for IHSS.
More than 100 homecare workers and their supporters marched from the Red Lion Hotel to the Humboldt County Courthouse on Tuesday to bring attention to program cuts and their desire to raise wages for in-home care workers.
The In-Home Supportive Services program suffered a 3.6 percent cut to its 2011-2012 budget and may be facing other cuts as well as a reorganization that would place it under state control.
The group of care workers, recipients and community members chanted, sang and waved signs as they moved down Fourth Street, eliciting honks of support from passing traffic. The group demonstrated in front of the courthouse for several hours and about a dozen demonstrators spoke during the public comment portion of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Steve Williams, a homecare worker of three years and a member of the In-Home Supportive Services workers bargaining team, said that he and other workers are paid minimum wage, with no chance of earning a raise, and receive no benefits. The low wages, combined with the lack of a career ladder, create high turnover, he said.”I think we deserve a raise,” Williams said. “We’re not asking for pie in the sky.” Read more..
But that extension is set to expire at the end of this month, and House Republican leaders are expected to push for drastic cuts in benefits and create new barriers for millions of unemployed workers’ and their families. 
