Download this Program 26 min
Evan LeVang and John B. Kelly talk about
what California's people with disabilities
can do to stop the slide toward death and
nursing homes.
Disability rights activists regroup after passage of a criminal California budget that devastated IHSS, Medi-Cal, Cal-Works, cities, regional centers, AIDS programs and more.
John Kelly works with Neighborhood
Access Group (NAG), a grass-roots
organization dedicated to improving
street-level access in Boston. His
writing has appeared in the Boston
Globe, Counter Punch, and the Ragged Edge.
Evan LeVang is Executive Director of Independent Living
Services of Northern California. He is also the founder
of DOGFITE, Disability Organizing Group for Initiating
Total Equality, ”an advocacy group which includes universal
health care, tax justice, immigrant rights and no offensive
military spending among it's goals.
Hosted by Adrienne Lauby and Eddie Ytuarte
photo by John B. Kelly
No Room on this Sidewalk for You!
Neighborhood Access Group
dog cartoon courtesy of D.O.G.F.I.T.E.
No Room on this Sidewalk for You!
Neighborhood Access Group
dog cartoon courtesy of D.O.G.F.I.T.E.
Posts
During the past couple of months our State Governor Schwarzenegger has charged that fraud and integrity was out of control within the In-Home Supportive Services Program. Later this charge had been proven in part, mostly wrong. Yet, because of this initial charge, there has developed a climate that the In-Home Supportive Services Program needs more program integrity and investigating of possible fraud by its users.
ReplyDeleteUnder the disguise of cutting services to the most needy and vulnerable of this State’s population, the elderly and individuals with disabilities, our State legislatures voted to pass Assembly Bill 1x4 as amended by the Senate July 23, 2009. This bill requires reducing assistance to many throughout the State, though some, hopefully, will be able to adjust to not having minimum services such as cleaning the house, meal preparation and cleanup, laundry, and etc. These may seem minor, but they could lead to more poor health conditions than necessary within the elderly and people with disabilities community.
What’s difficult to understand, especially after all the debate about needing to make cuts in the budget that will hurt, our State Legislatures approved to fill 67 positions to work in our Capitol. Twenty-five of these positions to be filled this fiscal year and the remaining forty-two positions to be filled in fiscal year 2010-2011. These positions are to work in the State Department of Health Care Services and the State Department of Social Services to develop program integrity and fraud prevention within the In-Home Supportive Services program.
The funding for these positions will total $3,004,000 (50/50 State and Federal funding.). In addition to this, our State Legislatures have appropriated $10 million for the purpose of fraud investigations and additional program integrity efforts related to the In-Home Supportive Services Program. This is to be distributed to the Counties after they have developed an approved plan to address fraud and program integrity surrounding the In-Home Supportive Services Program of the County.
If our State Legislatures really wanted to curtail fraud and promote the program integrity of the In-Home Supportive Services Program they would not hire the 67 positions planned to be filled in the Capitol of Sacramento. They would invest this funding on top of the $10 million into the In-Home Supportive Services Program at the County level to investigate fraud and develop program integrity.
Our County programs do not need more tiers of management in the Capitol, but need more support on the ground in the County from the State!
Who am I? My name is Charlie Bean. I am a Triplegic, one of those that will more than likely lose my In-Home Supportive Services, which is okay for me. But is it okay for others much worse off than I am Senator Wiggins and Assemblymember Chesbro?