Home care providers and care recipients rally to support reform bill SB 1503, a smarter alternative to cuts

SACRAMENTO, CA – The day after Governor Brown released his May budget revision, home care providers and care recipients rallied at the State Capitol to declare that home care cuts are off the table in the coming budget year. The effort was part of the “Let’s Get Healthy at Home” campaign to advance a smarter, more compassionate alternative to the $225 million in budget cuts proposed for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), SB 1503.

“Home care providers and care recipients have been fighting to stabilize and strengthen the home care that keeps seniors and people with disabilities healthy and independent,” said Loretta Jackson, a home care provider from Sacramento. “But we can’t build a stronger system on top of a crumbling foundation, and that’s why we demand that lawmakers reject every penny in additional cuts to IHSS.”

IHSS enables more than 400,000 low-income seniors and disabled Californians to live safely and independently at home at a fraction of the cost of nursing home placement. Yet the cost effective program has been proposed for deep cuts year after year.

This year is no exception. The governor’s budget proposal would reduce by 7% the hours of assistance each home care recipient receives. For those who live with a relative or roommate, it would slash many services altogether, even if the person they share housing with is incapable or unwilling to help them with basic needs like laundry, cooking, and grocery shopping.

These proposed cuts would put vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities in danger. What’s more, they represent a “pound-foolish” approach to balancing the budget because the cuts would be compounded with the additional loss of more than $200 million in federal matching funds and more than $100 million in county dollars.

That’s why home care workers have joined seniors, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg to advance a smarter alternative, reform bill SB 1503.

Instead of cutting services the home care services vulnerable Californians need now, SB 1503 creates savings in this year’s budget and achieves even better long-term savings by transforming IHSS.

SB 1503 would move to a system of coordinated care in which the health care system and the home care system work together, with incentives to improve the health of seniors and people with disabilities while maintaining consumer choice to live at home whenever possible.

Under this model, home care providers would be a part of the care team responsible for improving the consumers’ health. This plan will achieve real savings in the coming years when home care providers receive the training needed to observe and report symptoms of chronic conditions, greatly reducing the incidence of more expensive nursing home placements and hospitalizations.

What’s more, reinvesting savings generated by the reforms will enable California to strengthen home care to accommodate the estimated 800,000 Californians who will need IHSS as California’s population ages over the next decade. But this transformation won’t be successful if IHSS is cut any further.

“Seniors are here with a clear message for our leaders: more home care cuts are absolutely not an option,” said Bruce G. Johnson, a home care recipient from Stanislaus County. “It is unconscionable to even consider cutting the lifeline our seniors and people with disabilities are relying on when SB 1503 can save more money and improve our health!”

Sacramento, CA – Caregivers who provide the critical services that enable more than 400,000 Californians to live safely in their own homes praised an Assembly panel’s decision to stand up for seniors and people with disabilities by rejecting a proposed $207 million cut to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program today.

“Legislators did the right thing by standing with seniors, people with disabilities and their caregivers and rejecting these brutal IHSS cuts,” said Richard Jackson, a home care worker from Sacramento. “After listening to our voices and crunching the numbers, there’s no denying that home care is not only the most compassionate way to care for our loved ones, it’s far more cost effective than institutionalization.”

Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 on Health and Human Services, chaired by Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell, rejected the governor’s proposal to cut services for more than 250,000 seniors and people with disabilities that count on home care to maintain their independence and dignity. The cut to “domestic and related services” would have eliminated help home care consumers receive with activities that are crucial to their health and well-being such as bathing, feeding, laundry, and shopping. With the loss of corresponding federal and county funds factored in, the proposal would have resulted in a devastating $630 million cut to home care.

People with disabilities and their caregivers represented by SEIU, UDW and CUHW testified that cuts proposed for IHSS year after year point to the need for a policy solutions to strengthen and stabilize the state’s home care system and provide better care for California’s aging population.

“It’s dismaying that home care services that support the health and dignity of 400,000 elderly Californians and people with disabilities are put on the chopping block year after year,” said Lisa Davidson an in-home caregiver from Placer County. “Our health care and home care costs won’t be sustainable as our population ages and grapples with chronic disease unless we coordinate and strengthen these systems to support better health outcomes and protect consumers’ choice to stay healthy at home.”

A coalition of caregivers and seniors recently launched the “Let’s Get Healthy at Home” campaign focused on the need to preserve the principle of consumer-directed care, provide access to training and professional development for providers, and to ensure that care is coordinated to better manage chronic conditions and preventive health needs. The result will be a more efficient system that minimizes nursing home stays, emergency room visits and hospitalization.

Sacramento, CA – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California today announced the results of its town hall endorsement process in several Congressional, State Senate and Assembly races. In SEIU’s town hall process, members evaluate candidates’ policy positions, listen to them speak, interview them, and then make their decisions. The town halls are open to all members in each district.

Endorsements announced today were as follows:

State Assembly

• AD 8 Ken Cooley
• AD 14 Susan Bonilla
• AD 15 Nancy Skinner
• AD 16 Joan Buchanan
• AD 21 Adam Gray
• AD 22 Kevin Mullin
• AD 23 Richard Rojas
• AD 25 Bob Wieckowski

State Senate

• SD 3 Lois Wolk
• SD 31 Richard Roth
• SD 35 Rod Wright
• SD 39 Marty Block

Congress

• CD 11 George Miller
• CD 21 Blong Xiong
• CD 22 Otto Lee
• CD 26 Julia Brownley

Previous SEIU endorsements can be found here.

SEIU California is a coalition of over 700,000 janitors, social workers, security officers, home care workers, school and university employees, healthcare workers, and city, county and state employees represented by SEIU local unions throughout California. We come together to build a better California by fighting to pass policies and elect candidates that benefit working families and advance the issues we care about: affordable healthcare, good wages, retirement security for all, a healthy environment, good schools and universities, and stronger communities. We believe that by working together we can build a California where working families can thrive again.

“General Roth is the leader who shares our vision for an economy that works for middle-class families and a California that invests in our kids’ future,” said Char Kearney, a monitor tech at Riverside Community Hospital and member of United Healthcare Workers West (UHW).

“2012 is the year we shake things up in the State Senate by electing a two-thirds Democratic majority, and electing a working-families ally will make the Inland Empire the epicenter of change. We are energized and ready to do what it takes to elect General Richard Roth in the 31st District.”

Roth is a retired Air Force General, local attorney, small business owner, and a community leader with a long record of service to our country and our Inland Empire communities.

Previous SEIU endorsements can be found at www.seiuca.org.

SEIU local unions in California are made up of over 700,000 health care workers, janitors, social workers, nurses, security officers, in-home caregivers, school and university employees, court workers, and city, county and state employees.

“Today’s move by the Judicial Council to terminate deployment of the next phase of CCMS is a positive step in restoring access to justice as the top priority of our courts.

“Today’s action frees up $46 million this year alone, money which must be used to address the serious backlog of cases and delays the public is experiencing because the court bureaucracy put its pet project ahead of the public’s interest for too long.

“The Judicial Council’s decision came about because the workers who keep California’s courts running shined the light on the CCMS spending spree, and because legislators put the court bureaucracy on notice that the public’s access to justice must come first.

“Our work is not over. Even in the face of mounting scrutiny from the public and the legislature, today’s decision leaves an opening for more spending on the wasteful CCMS project.

“Court workers will continue speaking up for the public whose timely access to justice must be the top priority of our courts, and that means advancing solutions to restore accountability to the judicial bureaucracy and ensure that dollars allocated to our trial courts by the legislature cannot be siphoned off for more wasteful spending.”

Hundreds of workers who keep California’s trial courts running rallied in San Francisco today to demand that the public’s access to justice be restored as the top priority of California’s court system. They were joined by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, Supervisor John Avalos and San Francisco Labor Council Executive Director Tim Paulson.

SEIU local unions in California are made up of over 700,000 health care workers, janitors, social workers, nurses, security officers, in-home caregivers, school and university employees, court workers, and city, county and state employees.

Sacramento, CA – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California today announced the results of its town hall endorsement process in several Congressional, State Senate and Assembly races. In SEIU’s town hall process, members evaluate candidates’ policy positions, listen to them speak, interview them, and then make their decisions. The town halls are open to all members in each district.

Endorsements announced today were as follows:

State Assembly

• AD 4: Mariko Yamada
• AD 7: Roger Dickinson
• AD 17: Tom Ammiano
• AD 24: Rich Gordon
• AD 27: Nora Campos
• AD 28: Paul Fong
• AD 37: Das Williams
• AD 40: Russ Warner
• AD 45: Bob Blumenfield
• AD 47: Joe Baca Jr.
• AD 54: Holly Mitchell
• AD 55: Gregg Fritchle
• AD 61: Jose Medina
• AD 62: Steve Bradford
• AD 64: Isadore Hall
• AD 69: Julio Perez
• AD 70: Bonnie Lowenthal
• AD 79: Shirley Weber & Sid Voorakkara

State Senate

• SD 9: Loni Hancock
• SD 11: Mark Leno
• SD 27: Fran Pavley
• SD 35: Rod Wright

Congress

• CD 3: John Garamendi
• CD 13: Barbara Lee
• CD 17: Mike Honda
• CD 18: Anna Eshoo
• CD 20: Sam Farr
• CD 24: Lois Capps
• CD 31: Pete Aguilar
• CD 33: Henry Waxman
• CD 36: Dr. Raul Ruiz
• CD 39: Jay Chen
• CD 41: Mark Takano
• CD 46: Loretta Sanchez
• CD 51: Juan Vargas
• CD 52: Scott Peters & Lori Saldana

Previous SEIU endorsements can be found here. As more member-driven town halls take place in the coming weeks, SEIU California expects to announce additional endorsements.

SEIU California is a coalition of over 700,000 janitors, social workers, security officers, home care workers, school and university employees, healthcare workers, court workers, and city, county and state employees represented by SEIU local unions throughout California. We come together to build a better California by fighting to pass policies and elect candidates that benefit working families and advance the issues we care about: affordable healthcare, good wages, retirement security for all, a healthy environment, good schools and universities, and stronger communities. We believe that by working together we can build a California where working families can thrive again.

“It is refreshing to see California’s Legislature injecting some common sense into the debate over the CCMS with their decision to halt further funding on this misguided project.

“Today, the Legislature reasserted its constitutional authority – and responsibility — to hold the Administrative Office of the Courts accountable for taxpayer dollars.

“Court workers have taken the lead in shining the light on wasteful spending because every dollar directed to this misguided project is a dollar taken away from serving justice in our communities.

“As a court worker, I see the result of the Administrative Office of the Courts’ misguided priorities: backlogs in serving families looking for justice, doors of our courts closed to businesses seeking to resolve disputes.

“As the budget process continues, we are hopeful the Legislature continues to put make justice the highest priority for our courts.”

SEIU California is a coalition of over 700,000 janitors, social workers, security officers, home care workers, school and university employees, healthcare workers, and city, county and state employees represented by SEIU local unions throughout California. We come together to build a better California by fighting to pass policies and elect candidates that benefit working families and advance the issues we care about: affordable healthcare, good wages, retirement security for all, a healthy environment, good schools and universities, and stronger communities. We believe that by working together we can build a California where working families can thrive again.

Sacramento, CA – Hundreds of seniors, people with disabilities, and the care providers who are dedicated to helping them stay healthy at home were joined today by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg as they called for policy solutions to strengthen and stabilize the state’s home care system and provide better care for California’s aging population.

“We know our loved ones would rather be cared for in their own homes by providers who want to see them stay healthy. Yet our current in-home care system is set up in a way that puts it on the budget chopping block year after year – despite the long-term savings and job creation it provides to the state. Our families and the state deserve better,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg. “The first step to stabilizing the system is to integrate it into the long term care continuum.”

“We have worked hard to preserve In Home Supportive Services for the thousands of Californians with debilitating medical conditions who rely on the support from IHSS caregivers to ensure they can live independently, at lower cost to the tax payers,” said Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez. “Without the support provided by IHSS caregivers, these Californians would be forced into institutionalized care, at far greater cost to the taxpayers.”

Pérez and Steinberg will lead the legislative effort to strengthen California’s home care system, and expressed their desire to construct a robust, deliberative process that ensures involvement from all stakeholders.

“We agree with the need to integrate long term services and supports. It has been one of our top goals for years because we want a structure that creates strong financial incentives for supporting care in the home rather than care in an institution,” said Gary Passmore, Director of the Congress of California Seniors, which represents more than 200,000 seniors in our state. “We will work with all stakeholders and with the legislative leadership to get this right.”

Today’s rally focused on the need to preserve the principle of consumer-directed care, provide access to training and professional development for providers, and to ensure that care is coordinated to better manage chronic conditions and preventive health needs. The result will be a more efficient system that minimizes nursing home stays, emergency room visits and hospitalization.

“Home care workers take care of medication reminders, nutrition, and hygiene, preventing chronic conditions from getting worse,” said Bill Lehr, an in-home care provider from Fresno County. “The health care system and the home care system should work together so I can help my consumer stay healthy and avoid life-threatening, costly complications.”

Among the hundreds participating in today’s rally were home care consumers and members of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers, SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, SEIU Local 521, UDW Homecare Providers Union/AFSCME Local 3930, and California United Health Care Workers SEIU/AFSCME Local 4034. Combined, the coalition represents over 360,000 in-home care providers.