homecare:

Cuts to Medicaid Programs Avoided Due to ADA Compliance Issues

Published by PHI.org  January 26, 2012

Separate court proceedings in California and Louisiana last week upheld the right of elders and people with disabilities to receive care in their homes under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In California, federal judge Claudia Wilken issued a preliminary injunction on Jan. 19 blocking the state from enacting a 20 percent cut to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, which provides care to nearly 450,000 elders and people with disabilities who have Medicaid.

The cuts were initially scheduled to take place on Jan. 1, but were temporarily halted by Wilken last December due to concerns that they violated the ADA. Wilken reiterated those concerns in her latest injunction.

If ever enacted, the IHSS budget cut would cause 372,000 IHSS consumers to see reductions in home care services, possibly forcing them into nursing homes or other institutions — a violation of the ADA. In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled that the ADA gives seniors and people with disabilities the right to live at home if their care needs can be reasonably met there.  Read More

The Battle Against IHSS Budget Cuts

San Diego Entertainer Magazine
Jacquelyne Yawn, January 25, 2012

Most of the California residents have felt the harsh impact of budget cuts in one way or another in the past few years.

According to the Homecare Provider’s Union, last week federal district court judge Claudia Wilken, in Oakland, “issued a court order that will continue blocking the Brown Administration and the federal government from taking any steps to implement the 20% across-the-board reduction in service hours for hundreds of thousands of children and adults with disabilities – including people with developmental disabilities [such as autism] – and seniors who receive In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).”

There is already resistance against the new budget cuts. During the Oster v. Lightbourne lawsuit case last Thursday, on January 19th, Wilken placed a preliminary injunction on the State of California to stop it from going forward with their 20% IHSS budget cuts. According to the Sacramento Bee, “The reduction would have slashed one-fifth of service hours for In-Home Supportive Services recipients to save the state $100 million over the next six months.”  Read More

News & Media Coverage of January 19th IHSS Hearing

Activists protesting cuts outside of Oakland court, Thursday, Jan 19, 2012

TV COVERAGE

Critical Mention.com 
(Click the link to view all three stories)

Today in the Bay 
KNTV (NBC) San Francisco, CA DMA: 6 
Jan 20 2012 6:07AM PST

Ten O’Clock News 
KTVU (Fox)San Francisco, CA DMA: 6 
Jan 19 2012 10:35PM PST

NBC Bay Area News at 5 
KNTV (NBC)San Francisco, CA DMA: 6 
Jan 19 2012 5:05PM PST Read the rest of this entry »

Financial Flexibility Could Be Key to Helping Seniors

California Healthline,  January 19, 2012 
by David Gorn, California Healthline Sacramento Bureau

San Mateo County has one of the highest numbers of seniors per capita in California. To Susan Ehrlich, CEO of San Mateo County Medical Center, that was a challenge that became an opportunity.

The medical facility’s Senior Care Center focuses on integrated care for seniors.

“There is no clinic, public or private, that does what we do,” Ehrlich said. “There are just a zillion things that are critical for this population, and we take care of all of it.”

About two-thirds of the Senior Care Center’s patients are eligible for benefits under Medicare and Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. That’s precisely the population California health care officials are targeting with a demonstration pilot effort to begin the transition of about 1.1 million dual-eligible Californians into managed care. The goal is to improve care and save money. Read the rest of this entry »

The Truth About Budget Cuts

From Families USA.  The Voice for Healthcare Consumers
January 18, 2012

In November, you helped win an important victory. Members of the super committee wanted to make drastic cuts to Medicare and Medicaid so that they could protect tax giveaways for corporations and the super rich. But, together with hundreds of thousands of advocates across the country, you helped stop them.

Unfortunately, we don’t have much time to celebrate. New plans are already being proposed that would undo last summer’s budget agreement. That means Medicare and Medicaid could be put back on the chopping block—all so the super rich don’t have to pay their fair share. Read the rest of this entry »

In-Home Supportive Services helps Tulare County’s elderly, disabled stay in homes and faces more cuts

Visalia Times-Delta  January 13, 2012

Photo credit, Visalia Times-DeltaRick Jones is partially paralyzed, unable to walk and relies on in-home care to avoid institutionalization. Jones is living in an apartment and hopes to stay. Ron Holman

Rick Jones is partially paralyzed, unable to walk and relies on in-home care to avoid institutionalization. Jones is living in an apartment and hopes to stay. Ron Holman

At the age of 42, Rick Jones suffered a paralyzing brain hematoma. In the time since he was released from the hospital in 2003, the now 56-year-old Visalian has relied on state-funded in-home care services.

Brain damage limits his mobility and his hearing has degenerated as a result. Although he has been implanted with a nerve stimulation device, his chronic symptoms often manifest as seizures.
But the former swimming pool subcontractor manages to live on his own with assistance from a state-paid caregiver who provides basic housekeeping.  Read More

Placer County: Locals react to proposal to cut In-Home Supportive Services

Funds may no longer be provided for meal preparation and errands
Auburn Journal  By Sara Seyydin Journal Staff Writer

Some locals say they may feel the sting of a proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown to eliminate $163 million in funding to in-home supportive services in his latest budget proposal.

Locals in the program say that without that funding it would be difficult to care for a patient or relative. County officials say the changes may not even come to fruition, while local non-profits say they have seen an increased demand for services when in-home supportive services have been cut in the past.

The cut would eliminate funding for domestic and related in-home supportive services for those with a shared-living arrangement. Domestic and related tasks include housecleaning, meal preparation and clean-up, shopping for food, laundry and errands, as defined in Brown’s budget plan.

One family’s story…Read More

You name it, they do it: Homecare providers in their own words

Published by Work in Progress
The Official Blog of the U.S. Department of Labor

Homecare providers, caregivers, personal assistants – the millions of workers who provide in-home care in this country go by many names, but they all share a commitment to serving others. Unfortunately, many of these workers share something else in common: low wages. Although they provide a valuable service to many Americans, assisting their clients with daily tasks and enabling them to maintain their independence, many homecare providers do not receive minimum wage or overtime protections guaranteed by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Many of these workers have medical training. Many regularly work more than 40 hours every week. Many are the sole breadwinners for their families. But, because the FLSA includes an exemption for “companions” – an exemption originally intended to cover “elderly sitting” similar to casual babysitting – these employees are not always fairly compensated for their work. Read the rest of this entry »

Governor Proposes Cuts to IHSS Program

California Senior Legal Hotline
January 9, 2012 | Manny Randhawa

According to a recent San Jose Mercury News article, California Governor Jerry Brown announced Thursday his proposal to eliminate In-Home Supportive Services funds for benefit recipients who live with someone else.

If adopted by the state legislature, this proposal would save the state $164 million, but would come at the cost of a severe deterioration of the quality of life for seniors and disabled individuals currently receiving assistance from the program, according to critics of the plan.

Such a move would affect 60 percent of IHSS recipients, as most live with other family members who provide them care.

Seniors, Disabled Worry About Cuts to In-Home Care

By JUDY LIN Associated Press, 01/07/2012

 

LOOMIS, Calif.—Born with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disease that prevents muscle development, Anthony Muli has never walked and his doctors never expected him to live past age 2.Now, at 24, he’s a sports fanatic and a whiz on the computer. His room inside his grandmother’s house in the Northern California town of Loomis, east of Sacramento, is decorated with San Francisco 49ers and Sacramento Kings memorabilia.

He enjoys as much of life as he can with the help of his 72-year-old grandmother and caretaker, Jo Ellen Zerr, who does everything from cleaning his tracheotomy tube to driving him to his medical appointments.

The level of care is made possible in large part because of California’s In-Home Supportive Services program, which helps about 435,000 California seniors and people with disabilities. The program pays caretakers, many of them family members, hourly wages and benefits between $8 and $14.78 to help people get dressed, cook and bathe. For her work, Kerr, a retired clerk, receives about $2,800 a month before taxes to do a job she would do for free. Read the rest of this entry »

A California Budget for the 99%

Distributed by emasil, January 6, 2012
HHS Network of California

As you may have heard, Governor Brown released his 2012-2013 CA Budget ahead of schedule yesterday.  The budget included severe cuts to Health and Human Services in CA – nearly $2.5 billion total.

We are appalled that Governor Brown’s solution to California’s budget crisis is $2.5 billion in cuts to essential health and human services. Since 2008, California’s health and human services have suffered an astounding $15 billion in cuts, and this budget only continues the gutting of the social safety net that so many California families depend on.

How the $2.5 Billion  in Cuts Breaks Down: Read the rest of this entry »

UDW Preliminary Overview; FY 2012-2013 Governor’s Budget

Overview

Governor Jerry Brown submitted his budget to the state legislature on January 5, 2012. The Governor’s budget forecasts a combined deficit of $9.2 billion ($4.1 billion in the current fiscal year and $5.1 billion in FY 12-13). Though this is a significant improvement over the budget deficit in January 2011 (estimated at $25.4 billion), addressing this shortfall promises to be just as difficult.

Notably, as a result of roughly $16 billion in spending cuts enacted in the last year, California’s structural – or ongoing – deficit is now estimated to be less than $5 billion in each of the next three years. The State is slowly recovering from the Great Recession; however this recovery is plagued by external factors such as the European debt crisis and political instability on the Federal level. Read the rest of this entry »

Homecare Workers Deserve Basic Rights

Published by The Progressive
By Starita Smith, January 4, 2012

Home care workers should get standard labor protections.

President Obama is proposing an adjustment to laws governing working conditions for approximately 2 million workers whose job is helping elderly and disabled people with such basic tasks as eating, caring for their wounds and doing physical therapy. Under the Obama proposal, these workers would have to be paid at least a minimum wage and overtime, bringing them under the aegis of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Some Republicans are opposed to the measure, complaining that it will be expensive (government programs pay for much of home care) and may hurt the people it is intended to help.

Home care workers provide necessary services that allow their patients to live at home. With the portion of the population represented by elderly people growing rapidly, the services of these workers is a valuable alternative to institutionalization. They interact with the patients sometimes in very intimate situations and treat them with compassion and patience.  Read More

California’s $1B Automatic Budget Cuts at a Glance

Mercury News
By The Associated Press  Posted: 01/01/2012
Gov. Jerry Brown announced in December that California’s tax revenue will fall short of his earlier projections, triggering automatic budget cuts to schools, colleges and social services. The governor said revenue is projected to fall $2.2 billion short of that figure for the current fiscal year, prompting about $1 billion in cuts that will take effect starting Jan 1.Brown warns that additional trigger cuts will be part of his budget proposed for the fiscal year starting July 1 if voters reject his plans for tax hikes. Here is a look at the midyear cuts: Read the rest of this entry »

Riverside UDW Members & Activists Rally Against Trigger Cuts to State Budget

Brown administration announces midyear cuts  
Press Enterprise

“…Charisse Jackson, 50, of Moreno Valley, speaking over the horn blasts of passing motorists, was among the 80 or so people who gathered on the southwest corner of Magnolia Avenue and 14th Street in Riverside on Tuesday night to demonstrate their disfavor with the impending cuts. Jackson said she was there because she expects the cuts to impact the care her adult developmentally disabled daughter receives.

‘The proposed cuts put them (the developmentally disabled) in imminent harm,’ she said, adding that many of them may have to be institutionalized, which will cost the state more than if it provided the present level of services…”  Read More

Home Care Workers Deserve a Fair Wage

Published by: Care 2 Make a Difference
by Kristina Chew  December 17, 2011


Photo Credit:  myfuture.com

If you don’t have someone near and dear to you who currently relies on the assistance of a home care worker, chances are you will someday. Indeed, at some point, you yourself may depend on a worker to help you with basic needs and to remember to take medications. Until this past Thursday, nearly 2 million home care workers have been excluded from federal overtime and minimum wage protections due to a “loophole” placing them, as Think Progress puts it, “in the same ‘companion’ category as babysitters.” As of last week, President Obama and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said that the U.S. Department of Labor will proceed with amending the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Read More

White House Proposes Wage Protections for Home Care Workers

See related article with history on this issue; Home Care Workers Deserve a Fair Wage 

by Jon Melegrito  |  December 15, 2011

President Obama announces proposed changes to the FLSA
President Obama announces proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that will guarantee wage protections for home care workers. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
It’s a new day for home care workers.

For 37 years, they have been exempted from minimum wage and overtime protections, unfairly subjecting them to low wages and poor benefits.

Today, the Obama administration proposed new rules that will guarantee these protections. At a White House event, the President announced that these workers – who provide back-breaking personal care assistance to many older adults and individuals with disabilities – will receive coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Currently, they are ineligible under federal regulations because they are classified into the same “companion” category as babysitters. Read the rest of this entry »

A National Victory for Home Care Providers!

Three UDW members; Olive Lyons from Riverside (2nd on the right from President Obama), Michelle Wise from San Diego (back row, far right), and Elva Munoz (front row, far right) from Santa Barbara attended a White House ceremony as President Obama announced proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that will affect home healthcare workers nationwide. New rules proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor would provide minimum wage protections for nearly two million workers who provide in-home care services for the elderly and infirmed.

Four years ago, President Obama spent the day with Pauline Beck, a home health care worker. He followed her throughout her day — as she got up at 5:00 in the morning to care for an 86-year-old amputee. He saw first-hand the demands of her work.

Take a minute to watch this video and learn the story of Pauline Beck, and how she brought the circumstance of homecare workers to the attention of the President.  Read More

Budget cuts will hurt schools, in-home care in SLO County

The Tribune,  SanLuisObispo.com
By Cynthia Lambert   Dec. 14, 2011

Community college and university students in San Luis Obispo County will likely see the cost of classes increase, residents will have reduced access to in-home care, and local school districts may have to make more cuts because of a loss of transportation funding as a result of deeper state budget cuts.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced this week a plan to impose $980 million in midyear cuts to a dozen programs starting in January.  Read More

Federal District Court Hearing on IHSS 20% Cut Set for January 19th

CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
Report #2042011 – DECEMBER 13, 2011 - TUESDAY NIGHT

California Budget Crisis:
FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT HEARING ON IHSS 20% CUT SET FOR JANUARY 19TH – TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER BLOCKING THAT CUT WILL REMAIN IN FORCE UNTIL THAT HEARING DATE 

20% IHSS Reduction Part of the $1 Billion in State Budget “Trigger Cuts” Authorized Today By Governor Brown – January 19th Hearing Also Will Consider ”Class Certification” of Lawsuit

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN)  [Last updated 12/13/2011 07:41 PM] -  The original December 15th federal district court hearing on the lawsuit (David Oster, et al v. Will Lightbourne and Toby Douglas) that – at least temporarily – has stopped implementation of a 20% across-the-board reduction in service hours for possibly hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities, mental health needs and seniors in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program has been rescheduled for January 19th (Thursday). That hearing date is subject to change (as is any court hearing date). Read the rest of this entry »

Automatic Reductions Will Trigger More Pain for Seniors, People with Disabilities

IHSS COALITION — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mike Roth, 916.444.7170
December 13, 2011        

Sacramento –  Seniors, people with disabilities, and the people who provide the in-home care they count on expressed deep concerns over today’s announcement that automatic budget reductions – including a 20 percent across-the-board cut to In-Home Supportive Services – will go forward due to shortfalls in anticipated revenue.

Earlier this month, a United States District Court judge granted a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the implementation of the reduction in IHSS hours.  That decision stays in effect at least until a hearing can be held on this issue, likely within the next four to six weeks.  Still, advocates for seniors and people with disabilities were clear about the negative consequences of the cuts. Read the rest of this entry »

Riverside; UDW Townhall in Coachella Covered in The Desert Sun

Cuts to homecare examined

Blake Herzog, The Desert Sun Saturday December 10, 2011

Coachella — A town hall forum was held Friday here for patients and caregivers facing deep cuts to a state program that helps low-income seniors and disabled residents remain in their homes.

United Domestic Workers of America, a union that represents home health care workers, held a panel discussion that included a representative from state Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez’s office for people who work for or are served by In Home Supportive Services, which pays workers to help people do their grocery shopping, bathe, go to the bathroom, get to doctor’s appointments and perform other daily tasks. The immediate future is unclear.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken issued a temporary restraining order Dec. 2 on the state before it could send notices out to IHSS providers notifying them of a 20 percent cut in hours beginning New Year’s Day. Another hearing is set for Thursday…Read More

Elderly, disabled face less time with in-home caregivers But judge could block 20% cut to statewide services indefinitely

Sign-on San Diego
Story by Christopher Cadelago, Sunday December 11, 2011

Michael Lacey of San Diego, left. is a caregiver for his uncle John Lucas and would be paid for fewer hours of service if state budget cuts take effect.

Photo Credit: Sign-on San Diego

More than 372,000 elderly and disabled people bracing for a 20 percent cut in their in-home care are hoping that a judge will block that prospect from playing out across California.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation requiring the $100 million reduction in In-Home Supportive Services beginning Jan. 1 if state revenues do not meet projections, which now appears certain. A federal judge has delayed those plans until at least Feb. 1, and advocates of the program have filed a request for an injunction that would stop the cuts indefinitely.

About 24,100 people in San Diego County rely on in-home caregivers to cook, clean, shop and complete other tasks such as providing rides to medical appointments. Recipients and their advocates maintain the cuts, on top of a reduction earlier this year, would force impossible choices such as whether to get dressed or have their colostomy bag changed.

“Understandably, they are very concerned about additional and deeper cuts to the critical services that allow them to safely remain in their homes,” said Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California, a nonprofit organization representing all 58 counties. “As counties receive calls and continue to conduct home visits, social workers are trying to allay their concerns given the significant unknowns.”  Read More

Riverside Chapter Holding Vigil Against Cuts December 13th

Vigil: Nestande, Emmerson, and Cook Pulled the Trigger on our Communities’ Education and Health & Human Services 

(Front Riverside Community Hospital: Magnolia Avenue & 14th Street) Read the rest of this entry »

Brown Administration Submits “Community First Choice Option” State Plan Amendment to Federal Government – Would Significantly Increase Federal Money for IHSS

CDCAN DISABILITY RIGHTS REPORT 
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
#196-2011 – DECEMBER 6, 2011 – TUESDAY  

California Budget Crisis:

Advocates Praise Department of Social Services for Moving Swiftly On Proposal Before Final Federal Regulations Have Been Issued – 2011-2012 State Budget Assumes State Will Win Approval of Proposal and Draw Down $128 Million In Increased Federal Dollars In Current Budget Year – No Impact to State Budget Trigger Cuts

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN)  [Last updated 12/06/2011 01:00 PM] -  The Brown Administration, in an effort to move swiftly to capture significantly more federal matching Medicaid dollars for the In-Home Supportive Services program, submitted on December 1st a “State Plan Amendment” (or “SPA”) covering a five year phased in process under a new Medicaid community-based services program called the “Community First Choice Option”.  Read the rest of this entry »