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"Aging
With Dignity"
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Governor
Davis Proposes "Aging With Dignity" Budget
L.A.O. Analysis of Proposal
Our Response to Proposal
Governor
Davis Proposes "Aging With Dignity" Budget
In-Home Supportive
Services is a lifeline program that affords hundreds of thousands
of seniors and people with disabilities the dignity
of living in their own homes, and active in their communities.
Governor
Davis has announced support for homecare in his new “Aging
with Dignity” proposal.
“Our
approach should be to keep families together by providing the
services older Californians need to remain in their own homes
instead of nursing homes.”
Gray Davis, State of the State speech, January 5, 2000
The Governor’s
“Aging with Dignity” proposal provides homecare workers
with thirty-five cents per hour ($.35/hour) in wage increases
for each of the next five years. The wage would be $8/hour by
2005.
The budget
proposal will not meet the Governor’s goal. By 2005, relative
wages would still be too low and without state funding for health
benefits, vacation or retirement benefits. It is impossible for
many seniors and people with disabilities to continue living safely
in their own homes if they can’t find homecare workers to
assist them.
Click
here to see the full text of the Governor's Proposal
Click
here to read our response to the Governor's Proposal
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L.A.O.
Analysis of Governor's Aging With Dignity Proposal
The California Legislative
Analyst’s Office (L.A.O.) provides non-partisan, economic-impact
analysis for proposed legislation. The L.A.O. report on the "Aging
with Dignity" finds little of Lasting Value.
Click here to see the
full text of the L.A.O. Analysis
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Quality
Homecare 2000: Our Response to Governor's "Aging with Dignity"
Budget
Governor
Davis' "Aging with Dignity" Proposal Is the Right Vision,
but the Wrong Budget
Homecare workers are a lifeline
to more than 220,000 of California's seniors and people with disabilities
allowing them the dignity of living in their own homes. However,
there is something very undignified about the IHSS program: the
low wages and lack of benefits for the workers who provide the
care and assistance to the consumers.
The vast majority of homecare
workers earn minimum wage ($5.75/hour) to $6.25/ hour. These workers
are paid by the state of California with federal, state, and county
funds but they have no health benefits, sick leave, pension, or
vacation. As a result, there is a severe shortage of people willing
to do this work.
Since minimum wages actually
make it impossible for homecare workers to pay for their own health
benefits very often, workers simply don't go to the doctor. In
some cases, they are ignoring life threatening health problems.
This is a totally unacceptable situation.
Seniors and people with disabilities
can go for months without any homecare services because of the
severe labor shortage. This results in many people unnecessarily
moving into nursing homes and/or becoming seriously ill. As long
as state policies keep homecare workers' wages so low and provide
no state funding for any benefits, it will be difficult to retain,
never mind attract workers to this industry.
The Governor recognized the
deficiencies in IHSS in his January State of the State message
in which he announced his "Aging with Dignity" proposal.
Davis said, "Our approach should be to keep families together
by providing the services older Californians need to remain in
their own homes instead of nursing homes."
The Governor has the right
vision but the wrong budget because it would have little practical
effect on improving workers' standard of living or stemming the
labor shortage. The Governor's "Aging with Dignity"
proposal provides homecare workers with just thirty-five cents
per hour wage increases ($.35/hour) for each of the next five
years. The wage would be $8/hour by 2005. The bottom line is that
according to the State Department of Finance, that's worth $6.81
by 2005 after adjusting for inflation. The five-year proposed
budget still keeps wages low and has no funding for health benefits,
sick leave, pension, or vacation.
This neglected lifeline program
needs help and attention. We are urging Governor Davis to confront
longstanding problems in the In-Home Supportive Services program
and support his vision with the right budget. The Federal government
pays its share up to 200% of the minimum wage, so should the State.
For more information: contact
Evan LeVang at Quality Homecare 2000: 916.442.3838 or 916.600.7525;
E-mail: elevang@seiucal.org
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