Take Action and Protect Your Services · Did You Know that… California is facing a nearly 30 Billion dollar shortfall in its budget & Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing cuts that will negatively impact people with disabilities? · Did you know that Proposed State Budget Cuts Will Affect YOU… v If you are on SSI/SSP? If you are on SSI you will get $40 less per month if you are an individual and $117 less per month if you are a couple. v If you are on Medi-Cal? Certain Medi-Cal services are considered optional services and will be cut. These include: dental, optometry, psychology, audiology and speech-language services, as well as podiatry, optical, incontinence creams, chiropractic and acupuncture services. v If you are on IHSS? If your disability is not considered significant by your IHSS Social Worker, you may lose IHSS domestic services, including meal preparation, cleaning the house and shopping. Even if you get to keep your all of your IHSS benefits, the current proposal will reduce wages for your IHSS worker to minimum wage and reduce their health care benefits. This will make it more difficult to find IHSS workers and to keep them. · Did you know that your actions right now can help you keep those services you need? v What Can YOU do? Contact the Governor and the Big Six (who are the leaders in the California State Assembly and Senate). Click on the name to get the links to their websites. You can write your own comments in the forms on the websites about how these cuts will negatively affect you. Governor Schwarzenegger Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata Senate President Pro Tem-Elect Darrell Steinberg Senate Minority Leader Dave Cogdill Assembly Speaker Karen Bass Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines v You may also contact your local legislators by clicking on their name Rick Keene- Assembly Member, California Assembly District 03 (Chico, Paradise, Truckee, Susanville, Oroville, Marysville, Grass Valley, Gridley, Nevada City, Wheatland, Portola, Quincy, Colfax, and Loyalton Counties) Dave Cox- Senator, California Senate District 01 (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Plumas and Sierra Counties, as well as portions of Nevada, Placer and Sacramento Counties) Sam Aanestad- Senator, California Senate District 04 (Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity and Yuba Counties) Doug LaMalfa-Assembly Member, California Assembly District 02 (Alturas, Anderson, Biggs, Colusa, Corning, Chico, Cottonwood, Dorris, Dunsmuir, Durham, Etna, Fort Jones, Gridley, Live Oak, Montague, Mount Shasta, Orland, Red Bluff, Redding, Shasta Lake, Tehama, Tulelake, Weed, Williams, Willows, Woodland, Yreka Counties) OR The following are letters on SSI/SSP, Medi-Cal and IHSS proposed budget cuts. You can use all or part of the letters provided and copy and paste those comments into the forms at the web sites. Please personalize the letter if you can. It is better if the letters are all at least a little bit different. If you want more information or would like to take further actions on these cuts you can contact FREED at (530) 265-4444 or visit the websites of: California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC) Disability Rights California (PAI) A more in-depth fact sheet, detailing the proposed cuts, follows the letters SSI/SSP: If you are on Social Security (SSI) and you are worried about having your income reduced, you may use all or part of the following letter: Dear Legislator: I am a person with a disability who is on SSI/SSP. I am very concerned with the budget proposal to reduce my SSI amount by $40. I know that $40 does not seem like a lot of money, but my current rent in nearly exceeds my SSI amount. If you take $40 a month from me, I may not be able to buy groceries for the whole month, purchase my over-the-counter medications or get transportation to my medical appointments. In fact, I may lose my housing, as well. It is important for me to be able to live in the community. It seems that taking money directly from people who are living in poverty is simply bad policy. Sincerely, Medi-Cal: If you are on Medi-Cal, you can use all or part of the letter below to describe how the proposed cuts may negatively impact you. Dear Legislator, I am a person with a disability who is worried about the proposed budget in relation to Medi-Cal optional benefits. These “optional services” are not truly optional- every single service is preventative. If you cut dental services, I will not be able to go to the dentist. Every cavity will have the potential to become an abscessed tooth. Teeth are very important to my overall health. In addition, optometry services and optical services are crucial to everyone, particular as our society ages. I need to know that when I need glasses in order to see, they will be available. If I am unable to see, I become more dependent on others—to read me my mail, to assist with my banking and to help me write my bills. Becoming dependent on others with my private information also puts me at risk for financial abuse. Podiatry is critical to people who are diabetic, speech therapy assists people who have had strokes in returning to their lives. When services like this are neglected or unfunded, chronic conditions may become more costly emergencies which can only be handled by surgery or extended hospital stays. Preventative health care is critical to maintaining costs and keeping people from enduring adverse health conditions. I urge you to reject the current budget proposal in relation to Medi-Cal optional benefits. Sincerely, IHSS: If you are on IHSS, you can use part or this entire letter to help explain how the proposed cuts may affect you. Dear Legislator, I am a person with a disability who is concerned about the proposed budget cuts for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). I use IHSS to help me live safely in the community. The services I receive assist me in staying in my home, rather than an institution. My care in an institution would cost more money and I would be living somewhere I don’t want to live. Living in the community is very important to me. If you cut domestic services, I will not be able to eat nutritious meals on a regular basis, my house will not be clean enough to be healthy and I may not even be able to get the food I need because my worker does all these things for me. If you cut my IHSS worker’s wages to minimum wage and reduce their benefits, it will be harder, maybe even impossible, to find people willing to work for me. I know that everyone is telling you how important programs are and why you should not cut education, or transportation services, for instance. I know that every program is important, but the IHSS program is all about saving people’s lives and health and keeping them in the community. If we all work together, we might be able to get through this without sacrificing the programs that keep people free and independent. Sincerely, Facts about SSI/SSP, Medi-Cal, & IHSS and the impact of the Governor’s proposed cuts: § There are approximately 429,200 seniors and people with disabilities who receive care through the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program (September 2008 CMIPS data). IHSS is a statewide public program funded by a combination of federal, state and county funds that provides essential personal care and domestic services to aged, blind or disabled Californians who are unable to remain safely in their own homes without such assistance. § There are approximately 407,000 IHSS providers (September 2008 CMIPS data). § There are approximately 1,263,000 SSI/SSP recipients who are elderly, blind, or have disabilities, and who depend on SSI/SSP grants for their subsistence. (September 2008, CDSS data). § Currently, the State has 3.9 million people over the age of 65 - the largest older adult population in the nation numerically. This figure is projected to increase by 172% over the next 40 years with most of the growth occurring in the next 20 years (Source: Dept of Aging). § IHSS is a budget solution – not a budget problem; alternative forms of care such as nursing homes cost six to eight times more than IHSS. California cannot afford the costs that would be associated with undermining this critical program. The annual cost of IHSS is under $10,000 per consumer vs. $60,000-$80,000 to pay for care in a nursing facility. § These IHSS budget proposals are in direct conflict with the 1999 United States Supreme Court Olmstead decision, which affirmed that unnecessary institutionalization is illegal. The IHSS program is, by the state’s admission, the foundation of California’s Olmstead efforts (which to this date fall far short of implementation of the decision). Thus, any erosion of the IHSS program is an erosion of California’s legal obligations to comply with Olmstead. It is likely that IHSS reductions would be challenged. Litigating Olmstead-related lawsuits would bring extra costs for the state. § “Domestic and related services” include preparing food, doing laundry, cleaning, dusting, changing linens, taking out garbage, grocery shopping, planning menus, setting a table and washing and putting dishes away. The Governor’s proposal would permanently eliminate domestic and related services for consumers with functional index rankings below 4. This proposal would cut $23.1 million in FY 08-09 and $71.4 million in FY 09-10. The message from the Governor is this: we know you need the services to be safe in your home but you are not going to receive them. § The Governor’s proposal would cut $12.3 million in FY 08-09 and $37 million in FY 09-10 by requiring individuals with a functional index score below four to pay their own Medi-Cal share of cost, if they have one. Approximately 7,100 IHSS recipients would be required to pay a new monthly share of cost, averaging $427, out of their own pockets. This proposal will jeopardize services to consumers, all of whom are poor and either elderly or disabled. The share of cost buy-out was intended to protect consumers who would otherwise have a much higher cost obligation under Medi-Cal rules. If these IHSS consumers can’t afford the cost, they could lose home care services. § The Governor’s proposal would reduce state funding for IHSS providers to the minimum wage of $8.00 per hour and reduce program funding by $82.9 million in FY 08-09 and $248.8 million in FY 09-10. The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that 98% of all home care workers now make more than the minimum wage. That would mean that approximately 398,000 IHSS providers could have their hourly wage cut to $8.00. The average hourly wage for IHSS providers is currently $9.98 (Source: Legislative Analyst’s Office). Many IHSS providers already live in poverty and are eligible for food stamps, and few have access now to health insurance. Because of the loss of income, many IHSS providers may seek work elsewhere. § The Governor’s proposal would slash the SSI/SSP payment to the federal minimum effective March 1, 2009, reducing the grant for an aged/blind individual by $40 and for a couple by $117. The current SSI/SSP grant is only $870 for an individual and $1,524 for a couple. People who depend on SSI/SSP are supposed to pay for all their needs – food, shelter, utilities, and transportation – out of this amount. This proposed cut would reduce state funds for SSI/SSP by $348.9 million in FY 08-09 and $1.1 billion in FY 09-10. This cut follows cuts that total $3.75 billion to SSI/SSP since FY 05-06. For more information contact Melissa Richard, Systems Change Advocate FREED Center for Independent Living 117 New Mohawk Rd., Ste. A Nevada City, CA 95959 530-265-4444 Voice 530-265-4944 TTY 530-265-4644 Fax