SACRAMENTO – Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) today issued the following statement regarding the Republican Continuing Resolution Proposal:
"The way to pay the state's bills is to pass a budget, not affix a Band-Aid. It is shameful that Republican legislators use the state's most vulnerable citizens as props when their proposal cuts an additional $1.5 billion for health and human services."
The Senate Republican Plan:
- Imposes a cost of $100/month on low-income seniors and disabled who have annual incomes under about $13,000/yr in order to maintain their Medicare Part B coverage.
- Eliminates podiatry, audiology, and optician services for adults in Medi-Cal. These services are primarily used by the elderly and disabled and are important in maintaining their ability to function and remain in their homes and communities.
- Reduces the SSI/SSP couples grants to 125-percent of the federal poverty level (currently the grant level is at 131-percent). This change is out of step with rising food and other living costs and is exacerbated by the state and federal COLA suspensions also assumed in the proposal.
- Eliminates domestic and related services for In-Home Supportive Services recipients who have a functional index score of 2 or 3 and would impact 83,000 of the 415,589 recipients. These tasks include cleaning, laundry, shopping and errands, meal preparation, and meal clean-up for a population deemed to be health-compromised.
- Imposes a share-of-cost of $427/month for 7,125 IHSS recipients. These low-income, senior, and disabled clients are unlikely to have the disposable income needed to maintain these services and pay the share-of-cost, likely resulting in their provider ceasing services mid-month due to non-payment.
- Cuts the Adult Protective Services program by $6.1 million, harming an already underfunded program that responds to emergency needs for the frail and elderly.
Budget Website of Assembly Democrats: http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/issues/budget/ |