Freezes funding for personal care and domestic services to more than 378,000 low-income Californians with disabilities, the elderly, and blind–Delays a planned cost of living increase for SSI/SSP recipients.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today ignored the voices of Californians who are elderly and have disabilities, their home care workers and advocates and proposed a devastating state funding freeze, which will lock in low wages for home care workers and make it harder for the people who need long term services to find and keep good workers. . The freeze would cap state sharing in In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) home care worker wages and benefits and shift even more financial responsibility to counties. The Governor’s proposal would triple county costs to maintain the program and put a chill on collective bargaining for the workers, which takes place at the county level.
Using the analogy of the three-legged stool, there are three legs to funding for IHSS program: state, federal and county revenues. The Governor’s proposal would break off one of the legs of that three-legged stool, causing instability to the entire program.
The Governor’s spending proposal also takes away cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to those extremely low-income Californians who receive cash assistance under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and State Supplementary Payment (SSP) programs. SSI/SSP recipients currently live off monthly stipends of $850 for individuals and $1,494 for couples.
IHSS provides home care for more than 378,000 low-income people with disabilities, the elderly, and blind, and saves taxpayers millions of dollars by eliminating the need for costly long-term care institutions.
“Governor Schwarzenegger has failed to protect the needy, blind, disabled and aged in our communities, and has shown a total disregard for what should be a top priority of California lawmakers,” said Herb Meyer, an IHSS consumer and Chair of the Marin Public Authority Governing Board. “To deny those in need in the name of fiscal restraint is the height of hypocrisy, and shameful for any leader, but especially desperate for a Governor who claims to want to help Californians find the health care they deserve.”
“For the third straight year the Governor has failed to provide the basic cost of living for blind, aged and disabled persons. But this time is the worst, since he promised to provide it and then reneged on his promise. Can we trust his word on anything?” said Michael Herald, a legislative advocate with the Western Center on Law and Poverty.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office analysis suggests that the Governor’s funding freeze would produce long-term problems, making it difficult to retain quality home care workers. Approximately 35 percent of IHSS workers receive health insurance through their employer under collective bargaining agreements between their County Public Authority and their union. This number would drop if lawmakers approve Schwarzenegger’s state funding freeze.
“This Governor has failed to see that freezing state funding for home care workers’ wages and benefits means fewer people with access to health insurance,” said Bernadette Lynch, President of the California Association of Public Authorities. “It’s a complete and total contradiction to his proposal to provide universal access to health care for all Californians.”
“Why is Governor Schwarzenegger still trying to balance the budget by freezing home care providers’ wages and benefits? How can he make the claim he is trying to be fiscally responsible when he is threatening to destabilize a program that saves the state millions, if not billions, of dollars compared to nursing home costs. If the Governor was truly trying to be fiscally responsible he would shift his focus away from these types of cuts and focus on ways to capture available federal funding to ensure the stability and success of the IHSS program,” said Jovan Agee Political and Legislative Director of United Domestic Workers of America/AFSCME.
Home care workers are hired by consumers themselves—people with disabilities, the elderly and the blind—to help attend to their personal care needs, such as feeding, bathing, dressing, house cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping assistance.
“When you attack home care workers, you attack the people they assist every day. The lives of these Californians, who struggle to survive in this high-cost state on minimal incomes, should always be a top priority for California lawmakers overseeing state spending,” said Tyrone Freeman, Chair of the California Homecare Council and President of SEIU United Long-Term Care Workers’ Union.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office has estimated that annual spending on each IHSS recipient is $9,924. When the state pays for a person in a nursing home, that costs about $55,000 a year. The IHSS program is a cost-effective part of California’s long-term care system, enabling thousands of Californians – including seniors and persons with disabilities – to stay out of nursing homes other institutions.
“It is difficult to believe that the Governor should have such a complete lack on understanding about how difficult it will be for IHSS workers as a result of frozen wages and lack of healthcare benefits,” said Joan Lee with the Gray Panthers California. “If he could live for just one week in their shoes, he would see things differently and revise his proposals.”
Activists are also very concerned about the Supplemental Security Income / State Supplementary Payment, the SSI/SSP program, which is the sole source of money for living expenses for 1.3 million disabled persons and seniors. The revised budget proposal would suspend the state portion of the SSI/SSP Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), $184.7 million, but would pass though the COLA from the SSI (federal) portion.
“We have lobbied the Governor continuously about his cuts and funding freezes, and he continues to ignore our pleas,” said John Wilkins, an IHSS consumer and SSI/SSP recipient in Fresno County. “He of all people should know that California is a generous and prosperous state that has no excuse not to provide modest care to those in need. Does he really think that poor elderly Californians don’t need their skimpy Cost of Living Allowance and the State needs it more? ”
“We are disgusted that a Governor who prides himself as a caring man would block modest cost-of-living adjustments for the elderly, disabled and blind,” said Bill Young, an IHSS consumer in Sacramento County. “Why does he think it’s okay for the state to walk away from its obligation to help pay decent wages and health benefits to workers who provide care to the disabled, elderly, and blind in their own homes – while he is recommending yet another year of rate increases for nursing homes?. The state should be building up, not tearing down, its IHSS program. The US Supreme Court told the states in 1999 that they have to provide services to people in their communities and that’s just what IHSS does. We will continue to do everything in our power to work with the Legislature to repair what the Governor aims to dismantle.”
“Legislative leaders who represent California have objected to the Governor’s antics and took action in April to reject the freeze on state funding for IHSS wages and benefits. He seems to have reverted to his persona as a playground bully, which is the only way to explain why he’s pushing for these cuts,” said Bill Powers, Vice President of California Alliance for Retired Americans. “Our public tax dollars are best used helping those who need some modest help to stay in their own homes and communities. And yet our Governor has opted to hurt those least able to fight him. It’s simply disgraceful.”
“The Governor’s plan to cut In-Home Supportive Services is short-sighted, expensive, and undermines all attempts to build a sustainable California Olmstead Plan,” said Teresa Favuzzi, Executive Director of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers, referring to the landmark Supreme Court interpretation of the “Americans with Disabilities Act,” which decided that people with disabilities have a right to receive care in the most integrated setting appropriate and that unnecessary institutionalization is in violation of federal law.
Ryan Rauzon is the representative of a coalition on behalf of the disabled, elderly, and the blind. He has served as Deputy Press Secretary for Assembly Speakers Herb Wesson and Robert H. Hertzberg.
