(The Center Square) – Disabled Californians face a potential $367.7 million budget cut to taxpayer-funded in-home healthcare services, disability advocates said on Monday.
Advocates noted the move from the state could mean life or death for many with disabilities.
In a press conference held outside the state Capitol on Monday morning, those who rely on those services criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom’s cuts to those services in his latest budget. Cuts to California’s In-Home Support Services program would mean many with disabilities would be forced to depend on the care of institutions and facilities or be stranded at home without care, advocates said.
“IHSS is not only preferred by disabled people and our families, but is way less expensive than our alternatives,” Eric Harris, associate executive director of external affairs for Disability Rights California, said at the Sacramento press conference.
The proposed cuts in the governor’s revised budget, released in May, aim to eliminate the in-home support services backup provider program, shifting more costs onto counties, Harris said. The budget cuts would also reduce the asset limit to individuals dependent on in-home care to $2,000, meaning that those with savings, investments and cash would not be able to receive in-home care services if they have more than $2,000 worth of assets.
“Disabled people reject these proposed cuts that will needlessly harm people with disabilities, families and caregivers,” Harris said.
According to the office of Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez, R-Indio, $233.6 million of in-home support services costs would be shifted to counties. The office said cuts include $68 million with the immediate end of in-home care services to individuals when their Medi-Cal coverage is discontinued, $62.6 million by reducing a disabled individual’s asset limit to $2,000, and $3.5 million by ending the Backup Provider System, which provides in-home care patients with a secondary medical provider if their primary in-home caregiver is unavailable.
“Where we’re at today in funding is what we would call the bottom rung,” Gonzalez said during the press conference in response to a question from The Center Square. “We’re talking about caregivers. We’re talking about services. We’re talking about an entire system that needs to be funded.”
Those who rely on in-home care services also told The Center Square during the press conference that cuts to the backup provider system, in particular, would result in more emergency room visits, which are more expensive than current expenditures to maintain that program.
“That costs about $3,000 each,” Kate Laddish, president of California IHSS Consumer Alliance, said, answering a question from The Center Square. “Based on the number of people who had been served by the backup provider system, the savings, the people not going to the emergency room for just those counties [Los Angeles and Yolo], was 70% of what was proposed to be saved by cutting the entire program for the entire state.”
The governor’s press office did not immediately respond to The Center Square’s request for comment on Monday.
