Lawsuit Filed to Stop Cuts to In-Home Supportive Services

(LOS ANGELES) (OCTOBER 20, 2009) A consortium of legal aid, public interest, disability rights and a private law firm filed a lawsuit today in San Francisco Superior Court to stop the state from implementing a harsh new state law. The new state law will force 10,000 indigent, frail, disabled and elderly people to pay an additional $250 month toward the personal care services they receive from the a In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). The case titled ADAPT v. Wagner, charges that these cuts cannot be implemented without adequate notice, which the state has failed to provide. The cuts are expected to take effect in early November. Attorneys at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), Western Center on Law and Poverty, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, Disability Rights California, and Disability Rights Legal Center have initiated this challenge.

IHSS services help the frail elderly and disabled remain safely in their own home by providing personal attendant services to help them do their shopping, laundry, meal preparation, dressing, bathing, and even provide for transportation to the doctor. Officials at the state contend that they only need to send a notice out 10 days in advance to recipients. The Department of Social Services (DPSS) did send a ‘notice” on September 16, 2009, however, the law firms enlisted the support of a “readability expert” who determined that the notice was at an 11th grade reading level and also at college level, and is incomprehensible. It also was printed in a difficult-to-read font and incorrectly told recipients they could not appeal the notice even if they received the notice by mistake. The notice violates the requirements in state law concerning the adequacy of notices which must be sent to recipients facing a reduction in their benefits.

The lives of these 10,000 unsuspecting elderly and disabled IHSS recipients will be irrevocably damaged by the state’s action and these recipients have no idea of the gravity of the tragedy that is about to befall them because the state has not adequately notified them of the change in the law and how the new law will impact their lives. They will have no time to plan before they face the immediate loss of attendant services. Many recipients will be forced into hospitals and nursing home because they will be unable to pay the increased costs for their IHSS care and cannot live safely at home without this care. Most of these recipients had a solid work history before they became disabled or retired. They are on fixed incomes and are currently living on $850 and any additional income goes toward paying for their IHSS care.

With the proposed $250 a month increase in the amount the recipients must pay for their IHSS care, these recipients will find out this week or next that they must pay all of their day-to-day living expenses( rent, utilities, food, transportation) on $600 month beginning this month rather than $850 as was previously the case. So many recipients will be forced to make a choice between rent and food and the personal care services they desperately need.

The dramatic $250 a month increase in what the recipients must pay for their IHSS care a month is made worse because these IHSS recipients and their attendants do not know of the $250 increase is in the offering for the current month. They will receive a notice soon telling each about the additional amount the recipient must pay. But since all the recipients are indigent and most have no saving, they are going to be unable to pay the share of cost and as a consequence the IHSS provider will most likely terminate his or her employment.

Why is the State Making This Drastic Cut

The state is implementing this $250 cut in IHSS services in an attempt to save money but this goal will not be accomplished in the long term. Almost all the recipients will not be able to pay the $250 increase in cost for their IHSS services and still pay for food and housing. The IHSS recipients will have to go without IHSS services and the lack of care is likely to increase the recipients number of hospitalizations or will force them into a nursing home which will cost the state far more money per case in the long run.

For more details and comment call:
Marilyn Holle, Disability Rights California, 213-427-8757 ext 3611
Elinor Gilbert for Elena Ackel, Senior Attorney, Government Benefits, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
T. Larry Watts, Justin Wilson, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, (310) 277-7200
Paula Pearlman, Disability Rights Legal Center, (213) 736-8362
Richard Rothschild, Western Center on Law and Poverty, (213) 487-7211 (available as of 10.22.09 only )

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