homecare:

UDW Orange County Chapter Provides Food for Families in Need

A UDW Food Bank, organized by the UDW Orange County Health & Welfare Council, is available for our Orange County members. Boxes of food were donated in March from the United Labor Agency run by Bill Fogerty. The food supplies include, soup, canned goods cereal, tomato juice, granola bars and much more for members in need.

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Joint Informational Hearing on Governor’s Proposal Impacting People With Disabilities & Seniors Dually Eligible for Medicare and Medi-Cal

CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
#035-2012 – MARCH 06, 2012 – TUESDAY
Advocacy Without Borders: One Community – Accountability With Action

California Budget Crisis:

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN) [Last updated 03/06/2012 01:49 PM] – The Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 on Health and Human Services and the Assembly Aging and Long Term Care Committee released this afternoon the hearing agenda and background information for the joint informational hearing scheduled for March 7, Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 PM, at the State Capitol in Room 4202 on the Brown Administration’s proposal to expand an existing demonstration project proposal to shift people with disabilities and seniors eligible for both Medicare and Medi-Cal from Medi-Cal “fee-for-service” to Medi-Cal managed care type plans from 4 counties to up to 10 counties in 2013 and statewide by 2015. The Brown Administration is calling the proposed expansion plan the “Care Coordination Initiative”. Read the rest of this entry »

Home care fraud unit gets Stanislaus County supervisors’ support

By Garth Stapley The Modesto Bee
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012

Weeding out people who cheat Stanislaus County’s home care program helps keep it healthy for those who need and deserve it, county supervisors said Tuesday.

They voted unanimously to spend more local money on a fraud unit rather than let it dissolve because state leaders are withdrawing financial support.

Mike Loza, regional coordinator for a union representing thousands of home care providers, said the money should be used to improve orientation instead of policing In-Home Supportive Services. Providers receive only two hours of training, hardly enough to grasp a “complicated, sophisticated program,” he said.

“We have never stood before you supporting fraud,” Loza said, although dozens of United Domestic Workers members previously protested what they called strong-arm tactics by fraud investigators.

The unit has saved more than $4 million in tax money since forming in 2009, said Christine Applegate, the county’s Community Services Agency director. Referring to her report, county Supervisor Jim DeMartini noted that investigators save $8.12 for every $3 spent in a combination of local, state and federal money. Read more

US Supreme Court Sends Back to Lower Federal Appeals Court 3 Medi-Cal Lawsuits for Further Review

CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
#027-2012 – FEBRUARY 22, 2012 – WEDNESDAY

California Budget Crisis – Breaking News:
High Court Ruling Means That Lawsuits Remain Alive and the Court Orders Blocking the 2008 and 2009 Medi-Cal Rate Reductions Will Remain In Place for Now – Ruling Has Impact on Several Other Medi-Cal and IHSS Cases Pending In the US 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN) [Last updated 02/22/2012 08:10 AM] – In a narrow 5 to 4 decision, the US Supreme Court today (February 22) sent back to the US 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals the three Medi-Cal cases for further review, keeping those lawsuits alive – and for now, the lower court orders from those cases that continue to block the State from implementing Medi-Cal provider reductions. Linked to those three Medi-Cal cases, which the US Supreme Court heard in oral arguments on October 3, 2012, are several other Medi-Cal related cases, including a 2009 lawsuit that blocked the State from rolling back State funding for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) worker wages. [CDCAN will issue a more detailed report later this morning on the US Supreme Court ruling] Read the rest of this entry »

Former UCLA Student Fights Budget Cuts to Disabled and Elderly

NBC Southern California, Friday February 17, 2012

Dr. Bruce Hensel talks to Raul Carranza, a young man with muscular dystrophy who had to drop out of school because he could no longer afford medical care. Carranza is fighting healthcare cuts proposed in the latest California State budget.

Governor Jerry Brown recently introduced a new state budget calling for deep cuts in many departments. Looking through the huge document, it’s easy to get lost in the fine print – the line items, the pie charts — and overlook the people who will actually be affected in a very real way.

Raul Carranza is one of these people. The 22 year old was born with muscular dystrophy and can’t move or breathe independently; but his mind is alert and he is determined to speak it.

“It’s how you deal with these obstacles that define you as a person,” he said in a recent YouTube video, speaking through a voice-enabled computer. Read more

A Proposed Federal Rule Would Give Dignity and Rights to Home Care Workers Across the Nation

For 37 years, homecare workers have been denied minimum wage and overtime protections under the US Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) because, historically, they’ve been understood to be just “companions” , with no more status under labor laws than casual teen age baby sitters.

Even as homecare work has become a multi-billion dollar industry; even as this work makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of elders and people with disabilities to remain in their communities; even as the high turnover of this low-wage workforce threatens the availability and stability of these crucial services; this deplorable situation has not changed. Read the rest of this entry »

IHSS Rally in Eureka

KIEM TV; NEWS CHANNEL 3
Submitted by KRecede on Tue, 02/14/2012 – 17:59

Hundreds marched up to the Humboldt County Courthouse asking the Board of Supervisors to “have a heart” and pay In Home Support Service Caregivers more than minimum wage.
News Channel 3′s Kay Recede has that report.

Care workers demonstrate for higher wages

Grant Scott-Goforth, The Times-Standardtimes-standard.com/
Posted: 02/15/2012 02:07:07 AM PST

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..

Brown Administration Releases Budget Related Language Proposing Expansion of Managed Care for Medicare Medi-Cal “Dual-Eligible”

CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
#020-2012 – FEBRUARY 07, 2012 – TUESDAY

California Budget Crisis:

Legislative Language Part of Governor’s 2012-2013 State Budget That Requires Legislative Approval In Coming Months – Would Expand Existing Effort To Implement 4 County Demonstration Project to 10 Counties

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN) [Last updated 02/07/2012 06:30 AM] – The Brown Administration yesterday released proposed budget related legislative language – called “budget trailer bill language” – that would provide authorization to expand an existing effort to move hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities and seniors eligible for Medicare and Medi-Cal into “coordinated care” or managed care plans in California. Brown’s proposal builds on an existing plan passed last year as part of the 2011-2012 State Budget, that already authorizes the Department of Health Care Services to move forward with submitting a demonstration project proposal to the federal government this spring for approval, that would beginning in January 2013, shift thousands of people who are eligible for both Medicare and Medi-Cal – known as “dual eligible” – into managed or coordinated care plans in at least four counties. Read the rest of this entry »

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 19^th, 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 »

Federal Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction That Continues To Stop State & Feds From Implementing 20% IHSS Cut

Thursday, January 19, 2012

UDW joins with protesters braving the rain outside of courtroom in Oakland

A federal district court judge in Oakland, as expected, 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 – and seniors who receive In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). The reduction would have also impact hundreds of thousands of IHSS workers. US District Court Judge Claudia Wilken issued the court order – called a “preliminary injunction” during the hearing held today in her court room in Oakland. The State will likely appeal the court order. 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-Delta 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

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 »