IHSS:

Riverside UDW Members Protest IHSS Cuts in Front of State Building

Published; The California Report
January 31, 2012 • Bobbi Albano

San Bernardino In-Home Health Care Workers Fired Up

“They are always implementing cuts [and] their target is always the most vulnerable,” says Ramiro Cordoba, regarding the Governor’s proposed cuts to health and human services. These cuts could be devastating for in-home health care workers like Cordoba who make between $8 and $11.50 per hour. “If the hours are cut for the client, then there are cuts in our pay.” Cordoba is an organizer for the UDW Homecare Providers Union in Riverside.

On January 10, members of the UDW protested against these cuts in front of the State building in downtown San Bernardino. “We were out there to find ways to have more revenue,” Cordoba continued. 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

Stop “Dangerous” Budget Cuts Threatening Disabled Patients, Disabled San DIiego Man Implores: RALLY SET FOR FRIDAY

San Diego East County Magazine
By Miriam Raftery

Photo credit East County Magazine

January 25, 2012 (San Diego) – Raul Carranza has Muscular Dystrophy. He cannot walk, move his arms, eat or even breathe on his own. He requires round-the-clock nursing care—care denied after Medi-Cal slashed his nursing hours due to state budget cuts.

“Last year I moved away to UCLA by myself and lived away from my family for a whole semester,” he said. “Unfortunately I had to come back home to San Diego at the end of December.” That’s because the state cut his nursing hours, leaving him unable to survive on his own.

Now Carranza is asking for help to draw attention to how budget cuts are hurting disabled Californians. “Please join us so we can stop these cuts and save not only my life,” he says, “but thousands of others.”

Over the course of the last three years the state of California has approved approximately $15 billion in cuts to health care and social services, hurting those who cannot afford to care for themselves. These cuts have created hardships for California’s seniors, low-income families, children and people with disabilities and have cost the state thousands of jobs because of cuts from In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) and Medi-Cal.

The tragic consequences of these cuts will likely be that many patien Read the rest of this entry »

Senate Budget Committee to Hold Informational Budget Hearings on Medi-Cal Managed Care Proposals and Calworks

CDCAN DISABILITY RIGHTS REPORT 
#011-2012 - JANUARY 19, 2012 – THURSDAY

State Budget Crisis:
February 23rd Hearing Will Focus on Long Term Care and Medi-Cal Managed Care Proposals Including Impact on In-Home Supportive Services and the Multipurpose Senior Servces Program – Time for Public Comment

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN)  [Last updated 01/19/2012 03:50 PM] -  As part of the long legislative budget process, the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee will hold three informational hearings in February and March, including a February 23rd hearing focusing on the Governor’s controversial proposals that include shifting persons with disabilities and seniors eligible for both Medicare and Medi-Cal into Medi-Cal managed care plans.  That hearing will also hear the impact of the Governor’s proposal to make In-Home Supportive Services a Medi-Cal managed care benefit for those persons begining next January, and also the impact on the Multi-Purpose Senior Services (MSSP) programs.  Senate budget staff said there will be time for public comment. 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 »

Brown Budget Released: Developmental Services, and CalWORKS Face Huge Cuts

California Progress Report  January 05 2012

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly versionSend to friendSend to friendBy Marty Omoto
California Disability Community Action Network
 
Governor Brown released his proposed 2012-2013 State Budget that calls for, as he previously announced in November, $157 million in new state general fund spending reductions to developmental services in the current budget year to be achieved in large part due to higher than expected savings from previously approved cuts and other changes, and another $200 million in new cuts in state general fund spending during the 2012-2013 State  budget year that begins July 1, 2012.

The cuts in the 2012-2013 State Budget year could – depending on where the reductions are made – swell to $400 million if federal matching funds are included.   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 »

MORE PAIN AHEAD: GOVERNOR’S PROPOSED 2012-2013 BUDGET CALLS FOR FURTHER CUTS IN IHSS

Even as UDW and other IHSS stakeholders fight through the courts to prevent a 20 percent across the board cut in IHSS already mandated in the current state budget, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed 2012-2013 budget recommends even more cuts to the program.

Among his recommendations, the governor is reintroducing a cut he proposed last year to eliminate domestic and related services for all IHSS consumers who live with someone else (even if those they are living with are NOT their providers).  This will affect approximately 300,000 IHSS consumers who would lose an average of 17 hours on top of the 23 hours that would be cut with the 20% and an earlier 3.6% cut.

UDW quickly criticized the governor’s proposals, claiming that “just like his predecessor, Gov. Brown continues to try to use the IHSS program as a ‘piggy bank’ for budget cuts.  IHSS cuts were wrong in 2008; they are just as wrong in 2012.” Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Santa Barbara: “Santa Maria can’t afford more cuts”

Santa Maria Sun Commentary

BY YESENIA DECASAUS

We need legislators to focus on increasing state revenue instead of cutting vital social programs to compensate for the budget shortfall

Yesenia Decasuas. "We must restore programs that enable seniors and people who have disabilities to live independently."

For six years, I have represented thousands of homecare workers. I am a Santa Maria resident and the Central California Coordinator for UDW: local 3930 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents about 900 homecare workers in Santa Maria who serve elderly and disabled clients through the In-Home Support Services Program.
 

My own father, a seriously disabled war veteran, would have been unavoidably institutionalized had my family not been able to hire homecare workers, who tirelessly helped my mother while my brother and I were in school. Every day, I encounter similar situations: frail and disabled people who would have no choice but being moved to a nursing facility if in-home care were not available, many of whom have no family at all to help them, who are completely dependent upon the program for their meals and laundry. Those who do have family to help them realize their loved ones would be forced to quit jobs or else commit them to nursing homes if the program were absent. Read the rest of this entry »

Join our Statewide UDW Teleconference

WHAT: 
Join a UDW Homecare Provider teleconference and receive the latest information about IHSS, the state budget, and the 20% trigger cuts. It will allow you to ask live questions and participate in polling questions along with other members from throughout California.

WHEN:
January 12, 2012
Time – 5:00pm

HOW:
You will receive an automated phone call at the number we have listed for you in your membership records. All you have to do is press 1 on your keypad and you will be able to join UDW members from all across the state on the call.

THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THIS CALL!

If you would like to take this call at a phone number different from what we have listed for you, please call the UDW office right away and let us know.
The number is:  1-800-621-5016

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

Trigger Cuts Not the Only Worry for Disabled

California Healthline, December 14 2011
by David Gorn

Yesterday’s announcement of $1 billion in trigger cuts for California’s budget includes two provisions that hit the developmentally disabled community.

One of those provisions, to scale back In-Home Supportive Services by 20%, is already in court. A federal judge last week issued a temporary restraining order to halt implementation of that cut, pending a hearing scheduled for tomorrow.

The other big budget reduction for the disabled — a $100 million cut to the Department of Developmental Services — is going to be much more difficult to fight in court, according to Tony Anderson, executive director of The Arc of California, which advocates for the developmentally disabled.  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 »

December 15th Federal Court Hearing Date on IHSS 20% Reduction Postponed – Temporary Restraining Order Blocking Cut From Implementation Remains in Force Until New Hearing Date


CDCAN Report #200-2011 – DECEMBER 12, 2011 – MONDAY

California Budget Crisis:
Federal District Court Judge Expected To Announce New Hearing By Wednesday  - Department of Social Services Issues  December 7th Instructions to Counties to Comply With Court Order Stopping the Cut  

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN)  [Last updated 12/12/2011 02:00 PM] -  The 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 postponed.  The temporary restraining order (TRO) that was issued December 1st by US District Court Judge Claudia Wilken that required the Brown Administration to halt all actions to implement the 20% across-the-board cut will remain in force until the new court hearing date.   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

Santa Barbara Tuesday Dec. 13th; UDW Town Hall Meeting and Panel Discussion on Potential Cuts to IHSS

In-Home Support Services to Hold Public Forum

Santa Barbara Independent,  Saturday December 10 2011
By Jake Blair

State Program Faces Crippling Cuts

This Tuesday, December 13, the United Domestic Workers of America will hold a town hall meeting in response to the possibility of budget cuts to many state programs. Of the programs on the metaphorical chopping block, the one raising the most concern is In-Home Support Services (IHSS).

“Trigger” cuts — which will slash the IHSS budget by 20 percent — come on the heels of a mandatory 3.6 percent reduction in hours implemented in February 2011 for the care providers who are paid an average of $10.10 an hour statewide (and $10 in Santa Barbara). These two factors essentially equate to roughly a 24 percent reduction in income for the IHSS care providers in spite of a negotiation earlier between the County of Santa Barbara and UDW this June that prevented their wages being reduced by $1/hr. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »