Healthcare Issues now has its own page! Includes reports from the 2010 Families USA Convention

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC POLICY Betty Perry, Director, Public Policy June 2010 Mother's Day at the Capitol on Thursday, May 6 was a rousing success. Our speakers included Assemblymember Jim Beall, who authored our Bill, AB 2114, and Susie Smith from Insight. Both of them gave us a rousing send-off before we participated in our yearly advocacy effort and passed out our annual cards. Aftwerwards we had a delightful luncheon followed by wonderful talks by Gary Passmore, Executive Director of the Cngress of California Seniors, and Beth Abbott, Director of Administrative Advocacy for Health-Access (See the OWL-CA page for pictures.) The Theme was Expanding the Economic Security Initiative. Presently the cost of living index is out of date and only covers food. We also voted on the OWL-CA recommenations for the June Ballot Propostions; see below. In California, our attention has once more been sharply focused on the Budget. Our Governor recently came out with a May-Revise, which is even more awful than the orginal budget. He is attempting to squeeze the IHSS Program even further and to eliminate the Welfare-to-Work Program. We will continue to fight against these terrible cuts and insist on revene increases. Our issues begin with healthcare. Some things seem so clear to me. Having Medicare, I am more than ever aware of the value of a government sponsored heath program. Those opposing any form of government subsidy of health care speak about it with great fear and anger. I am uncertain why they cannot observe a successful program that has been in effect for about forty years. We recipients go to our own doctors and keep healthy with the service from a good program. Some opponents of a government backed health plan seem to ignore the problems of low income people without health care. The crowds in the clinics and emergency rooms go unnoticed. The bankruptcies caused by medical bills are ignored. We certainly are the heirs of the OWL founders, Tish and Laurie; both lost their health care benefits when they lost their husbands. Our work continues. I also cannot get over the state administration hostility shown to the IHSS program. We oppose fraud in any program. But we should work to stop the fraud, not the care giving. The courts have saved IHSS on several occasions, ruling that recipients must be cared for. We are getting ready for more action on the legislative scene. The bills have been introduced. Our Mother’s Day bill of last year on ombudsmen for nursing homes is up again for there was only enough money for one year. I am sure that we have gained supporters for this very good program. There are costs for the administration of the program, but the ombudsmen who go to the nursing homes are all volunteers. They are observers of the way the nursing home is run and they are special friends to the residents. Many of the residents have few visitors. The ombudsman can provide a pleasant interlude in a lonely person’s day. The residents feel comfortable talking to the ombudsman and many problems are solved with this exchange of information. An issue that we continue to work on is labeling of prescription drugs. As we age our vision can change, sometimes quite rapidly. All of this leads to prescription drug labeling. The proposed legislation required size 12 font for prescriptions. If you have prescriptions, look over the label carefully. There are things that I must call the pharmacist about because I cannot read size 10 font or smaller. This measure was voted down, but the issue is not dead. CARA gave an outstanding presentation at the pharmacy board, requesting larger type on prescription labels. There was also the rejection of the option to have prescription labels available in most commonly used languages other than English. CARA will continue this fight and OWL and Gray Panthers will be right there keeping the issue going. The Sacramento chapter had Lennie Goldberg of the California Tax Reform Association speak several months ago. He is an advocate for finding more money for needed programs. He pointed out areas that the present administration avoids taxing. They include the oil severance tax, $1.2 billion dollars, secret corporate loopholes, $1.3 billion, reinstate top income tax brackets. The list goes on to a total of $21.2 billion. We cannot believe that we cannot afford home care for the disabled or other vital services while this possible tax revenue is available. We hope that you will call or write your state legislators about these issues. June 8, 2010 Primary Election OWL-CA Positions On Ballot Measures Proposition 13: NO POSITION Property Tax Exclusion for New Construction on Siesmic Retrofitting. Minor reduction in local property taxes but may encourage seismic upgrades Yes means : Earthquake safety improvements made to unreinforced masonry (such as brick) buildings would not result in higher property taxes until the building is sold. No means: Earthquake safety improvements made to unreinforced masonry buildings would continue to be excluded from property taxes but for only up to 15 years. Proposition 14: NO Elections: Open Primaries. Amends the State Constitution to allow the two top primary vote-getters—regardless of party affiliation and without having to disclose any affiliation on the ballot—to compete in the general election. Yes means that all voters would receive the same primary election ballot for most state and federal offices. Only the two candidates with the most votes—regardless of political party identification—would advance to the general election ballot. No means that voters would continue to receive primary election ballots based on their political party. The candidate with the most votes from each political party would continue to advance to the general election ballot. Proposition 15: SUPPORT Political Reform Act of 2008: Voluntary Public Financing for Secretary of State. Repeals ban on public funding for political campaigns and allows candidates for Sec. of State in 2014 and 2018 to voluntarily participate in a public financing program. Yes means the state ban on public funding for political campaigns for elected offices would be lifted. For the 2014 and 2018 elections, candidates for the office of Sec. of State could choose to receive public funds to pay for the costs of campaigns if they met certain requirements. Charges related to lobbyist would be increased to pay for these costs. No means the state ban on public funding for political campaigns for elected offices would continue. Candidates for the office of Secretary of State would continue to pay for their campaigns with private funds subject to current rules. Existing charges related to lobbyists would not change. Proposition 16: NO New 2/3 vote required for local public electricity providers. (Sponsored by PGE) Amends State Constitution to require voter approval for specified local government actions, thereby potentially lessening competitive pressures on private electricity providers. Yes means local governments would generally be required to receive 2/3 voter approval before they could start up electricity services or expand electricity service into a new territory. No means that local governments generally could continue to implement proposals involving the start-up or expansion of electricity service either through approval by a majority of voters or actions by governing boards. Proposition 17: NO Changes Proposition 103 regulations to allow rates based on driver’s history of coverage. Sponsored by Mercury Insurance, one of California’s largest auto insurance companies. Yes means insurance companies can raise auto insurance rates for drivers who’ve had up to 91-day lapse in coverage. No means insurance companies must continue to set and base rate changes on factors as defined by Proposition 103. Yes and No statements: Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), 2-17-10 Recommendations reviewed and ratified by OWL-CA Council, May 5, 2010, Sacramento, CA Print a copy of our Recommendations

NATIONAL PUBLIC POLICY FEBRUARY 25, 2010
Clare Smith, National Public Policy Rep.

Health Care

Suspense continues…by the time you read this, the health care reform summit convened by President Obama will be over. Although the President’s proposal for reform is less than our ideal – it must be passed! The proposal combines some of both the House and Senate versions and offers among things, the following (short list):
1. Adds to measures aimed at reducing health care fraud and waste.
2. Establishes a government rate board to oversee insurance policy rate increases.
3. Phases out the Medicare Part D “donut hole” by 2020.
4. Raises funding for community health centers by $11 billion.
There is no “public option” even though Americans have voiced support for some type of government-run plan. Insurance exchanges, at the state level, would offer plans through private insurers.
The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (the CLASS Act) is part of the reform blueprint and offers a voluntary, community-based long term custodial care support to families, especially for older adults and people with disabilities.

After over six hours of discussion during the summit, there is still no agreement. The biggest hurdles remain in the areas of insurance company restrictions, such as no higher premiums based on gender, limits on premiums on age or family size and the most contentious – universal coverage with no denial of coverage or higher premiums based on pre-existing conditions (effective 2014). That is, everyone must be covered. Here are a few facts.

According to the Center for Public Integrity, companies and organizations seeking to influence health care reform legislation hired over 4,500 lobbyists—eight for every member of Congress. Health care lobbyists doubled throughout 2009, reaching nearly 3,700 in the fourth quarter (October through December 2009).

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics released figures showing health care special interests have invested over $28 million on influential members of Congress since 2005. The report is thought provoking and sickening. For instance, Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) received over $1.6 million from the industry.

Sources:
Democracy Now! www.democracynow.org
Center for Public Integrity www.publicintegrity.org
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics www.citizensforethics.org

Hey, what a minute, wasn’t it Senator Kyl that questioned the government’s role in knowing what was best for Americans during the health care summit? Yes, I think it was. I wonder who Senator Kyl thinks would be the best decision-maker for our health care… maybe, Anthem Blue Cross?

We must continue to makes calls, write letters and talk with your friends and family. Keep the process moving and to the finish line- passing national health care reform legislation. I’m receiving more attention to my Older Women’s League bumper sticker…“For Profit Health Care Makes Me Sick!”

Housing
As reported last month, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 created the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) for the purposes of creating a permanent source of funding for affordable housing (and not subject to the annual appropriations process), the Senate approved a $15 billion jobs bill this week and housing advocates report that the NHT is not included in its most recent “Jumpstart Our Business Strength (JOBS)” Act.

The plan is to keep contacting Senators to urge that funding is included in any final legislation. According to the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) (http://www.nhtinc.org/):

“The campaign will focus on two avenues to achieve passage of funding:

1. Negotiations between the Senate and the House on jobs legislation, since the House bill passed in December included $1.065 billion to capitalize the NHTF and fund project-based vouchers to be coupled with capital grants.
2. Other “must-pass vehicles” to which the NHTF can be attached.” More information can also be found at the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH) website www.scanph.org.

Older Americans Act Reauthorization

The U.S. AoA (Administration on Aging) to hold Public Input Sessions for the Reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. They will get input from seniors, caregivers and representatives of national network of community-based organizations that will be considered in developing recommendations for the next reauthorization of the Older Americans Act (OAA). The final AoA sponsored public listening sessions will be held in San Francisco, Calif. (March 3). Increasing funding for the existing safety net community-based programs, needed now more than ever, is the top priority!

Send your comments online by visiting http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/AoA_Programs/OAA/Reauthorization/Index.aspx.

More information can be found at the National Council on Aging www.ncoa.org

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Letter from Betty Perry to Congresswoman Doris Matsui: now on our Healthcare policy page

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OWL supports more RT services, not fewer! Randy Hicks in the news:

This story is taken from Sacbee / Our Region / Transportation

RT facing major service cuts
tbizjak@sacbee.com
Published Saturday, Mar. 06, 2010

Sacramento's largest bus agency is about to get a whole lot smaller.

Facing a fiscal emergency – a projected shortfall of $25 million this year and next – Sacramento Regional Transit will dramatically reduce bus and possibly light-rail service in June.

The question over the next two weeks: Which cuts should it make? Who gets hurt the most?

Should the agency simply pull all buses off the road and flick the light-rail switch off every night at 8 p.m.?

Will the blue and gold buses and trains no longer run on weekends?

Or should the agency keep its busiest weekend buses going, and instead eliminate most weekday non-commute-hour bus runs?

"I'm not recommending anything (yet)," RT General Manager Mike Wiley said Friday. "We want to hear from the public. I need to hear from the board. What are the priorities?"

The RT board will hold what is expected to be an emotional public hearing 4 p.m. Monday at agency headquarters, 1400 29th St.

RT officials will mull their options in the following two weeks and vote on cuts at a March 22 board meeting. The service reductions would go into effect June 20.

An RT analysis of its finances makes it clear the agency not only must make service cuts, but faces soul-searching about what its community role will be in the next few years, until the economy and finances improve enough to expand service again.

Some bus routes will disappear, officials said. Other buses will run but not show up as often.

Weekday buses considered for the chopping block include many with hundreds of riders per day, including the #6 in Land Park, the 50E on Stockton Boulevard, and the #74 in Rancho Cordova.

"You might have to walk up to a mile to get to the bus stop," Wiley said.

Talk of shutting down night and weekend service has upset riders who rely on buses to get to evening school, midday doctor appointments and night jobs. The cuts also threaten to create voids in Paratransit service for disabled people.

Rider advocates are encouraging people to show up for Monday's board meeting.

Paratransit user Randy Hicks of North Sacramento said he'll be there to add his voice.

Ironically, Hicks and others say, RT's own board meetings would become off-limits to some riders if evening cuts happen, because there would be no post-8 p.m. service to get them home.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense," Hicks said. "It'll be a drag on the economy. People will have to say, 'Sorry, I can't take that shift anymore. I can't get home.' "

RT and other troubled transit districts in California got some good news late in the week.

Legislative Democrats, led by Sacramento Sen. Darrell Steinberg, are asking the governor to sign legislation freeing up $400 million in state funds for transit by June.

If that happens, RT could get a $12 million boost, cutting its $25 million deficit to a still-sizable $13 million.

RT's analysis indicates that even then, night and weekend service would be considered for cuts, and as many as two dozen routes considered for elimination.

Agency revenues have essentially dropped off a cliff this year after a three-year slide. Local sales tax revenue is coming in millions of dollars below expectations, according to new county projections.

Fare revenue has increased over last year, but not nearly as much as expected, RT budget analysts said. And the governor eliminated all state transit funds in his proposed budget.

In total, the reduced revenues are expected to drop RT's budget from a peak of $153 million in 2008 to $104 million in 2011.

Much of the agency's reductions will come through layoffs associated with the service cuts.

RT head Wiley served layoff notices to 60 employees last month and has notified workers that up to 30 percent of the work force – or 300 people – could be laid off by summer.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

California Budget News

CCS Convention, Aug. 17-18

At the August 17-18 CCS (Congress of California Seniors) convention (www.seniors.org), attendees including OWL members Betty Perry, Ruth Kletzing, Roberta Battle, Debbie Rafter and Margie Metzler watched tributes to Assembly member Mike Feuer and supportive talks by Assembly members Dave Jones, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mariko Yamada, and Hector DeLaTorre, and Senator Elaine Alquist (who told us she is engaged to be married!) The bulk of the sessions were about the latest budget and its consequences for seniors. The following is information from CCS:

Budget Decimates Senior Services
Gary Passmore, CCS (www.seniors.org)

Complete document: http://www.seniors.org/pdf/20092608_Senior%20News.pdf

After weeks of debate and for the third time in a year, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed a revised state budget for 2009-2010. the final budget represents a massive reduction in revenues available for vital state services. The declining revenues resulted from the sharp economic decline, job layoffs, and dropping residential property values. It also follows several years of borrowing, fund shifts and other actions which masked an on-going revenue shortfall. The deficits in the past two budgets total a record $62 billion.

Senior services are hit very hard with some of the largest program cuts in over 30 years being made to get to a balanced budget that meets minority party demands for no tax increases. The newly revised budget has been cut by $23 billion dollars with over $15 billion of that coming in cuts to programs. Most of the large cuts were passed buy the legislative Budget Conference Committee in June after the Governor proposed the wholesale elimination of nearly all programs protecting seniors. In signing the budget, the Governor made additional cuts of $489 million in health and human services programs.

The Governor's budget also cut IHSS service claiming a 25% rate of fraud and abuse. No study of this issue has found fraud nearly that high and the Governor has said he can't substantiate his claim of 25% fraud. To solve the problem, caregivers and recipients will be fingerprinted (the Legislature inserted an exception for recipients without hands!) and the state will hire dozens of investigators.

Major cuts affecting seniors include:

These represent a third round of massive cuts to programs and services in less than a year.

Another aspect of the budget put in at the last minute by the Governor would change enrollment for human services such as Medi-Cal to a computer-based system operated by a private company. This means the layoff of most social workers at the local level who assist people, and it creates a huge hardship for seniors (only 40% of whom have access to computers) and minority people who have even less access to computers to enroll. The budget also directs the state to put all seniors and disabled people under Medi-Cal into HMOs and denies them access to fee-for-service
health providers (in what is being billed as a “cost savings” move). These recipients will have to change doctors and move to managed care. It will cripple the finances of community clinics and public hospitals.

In areas not directly affecting seniors, all of education took very large cuts, but (unlike
senior services) public schools received a guarantee that funding cuts would be repaid in the future. Prison programs were cut, but plans to release 27,000 inmates were delayed until later in August. In one of the most controversial provisions, the state held back billions in funds for local governments in property tax revenues and redevelopment funds. Cities and counties were granted the ability to borrow the lost funds and the state will repay the funds with interest. Several accounting gimmicks
also allowed several billion dollars to be moved into future years.

Most Capitol observers recognize that the Legislature and Governor will face more billions in shortfalls, perhaps as early as this fall. In addition to the accounting gimmicks and borrowing to be repaid, this budget includes $12 billion in temporary taxes and billions
in short-term federal stimulus money.

Shredding the Aging Services Network: Sept. 2008-August 2009

Aug. 3, 2009: Gary Passmore, CCS Executive Director and OWL-CA member speaks out about budget cuts and vetoes:

Governor Schwarzenegger today continued his undeclared war on California’s seniors by vetoing funds for critically needed programs to protect frail elderly individuals. Despite his boasts about being a member of the Shriver family he eliminated all funding for Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Centers (his father-in-law Sargent Shriver suffers from Alzheimer’s disease). He also eliminated funding for domestic home care services for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s as well as those on respirators and with feeding tubes. He cut deeply into the Caregiver Resource Centers which assist with the care of people with traumatic brain injuries and dementia. In spite of his claims of reining in fraud in the IHSS homecare program, the Governor cut money from administration and oversight of these programs which makes it harder for local governments to prevent fraud and abuse in the program. Both IHSS and Caregiver Resources Centers generate large amounts of federal funding, so the cuts in state support means California will turn away millions of federal dollars. Although his so-called reform agenda promotes more care management for the aged, blind, and disabled, Governor Schwarzenegger completely eliminated the Linkages program which provides care management for seniors who need Medi-Cal, Adult Day Health Care and other services. “The Congress of California Seniors (CCS) finds his veto actions to be both heartless and hypocritical,” said State President Hank Lacayo. “Our hope is that vulnerable California seniors will find a way to survive the 18 month balance of his term of office.”

Aug. 6, 2009: Margie Metzler, Gray Panthers Convenor and OWL-CA member, speaks out about budget cuts and vetoes:

Governor Schwarzenegger has dealt a massive blow to California’s seniors by not only signing the state’s awful budget, but by vetoing funds for additional critically needed programs. His vetoes eliminated funding for Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Centers, domestic home care services for people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and on respirators or feeding tubes, and slashed Caregiver Resource Centers. He also targeted money from administration and oversight of IHSS programs. Keep in mind that the IHSS and Caregiver Resources Centers brought in millions of dollars in federal funding, which the state also lost. This year’s budget has been a nightmare to seniors, from start to finish. Gray Panthers and OWL members have been vocal at most of the rallies, hearings, and other events trying to ensure that the budget would be a reasonable combination of revue increases and cuts. Well, we lost this one. But once we get over the shock, we need to get right back into action. There will be numerous opportunities to protest, speak up, write letters to the editor, and contact our legislators. I firmly believe that most citizens have no idea what this budget will do to them personally, and we must remind them as opportunities arise. We must pass on the true stories of what the cuts do to seniors and shine a spotlight on the real faces of those who suffer. We are already seeing instances when citizens are taking up collections to keep pools open or mowing lawns in their parks. This sound good, but people need to be aware that these too are taxes. We all know that nothing has changed and that until we get changes in the budget process, change the 2/3 necessary to pass taxes, and change term limits, we are in the midst of a permanent disaster. In the meantime, we still have national and state healthcare battles to work on!