Senior citizens attending adult day health-care facilities are going to be able to go back to their regular routines for the time being, according to a recent announcement from the California Department of Health Care Services.
Earlier this year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in an attempt to cut state spending, proposed limiting Medi-Cal adult daycare benefits from four or five days a week to a maximum of three days.
According to information from the California Association for Adult Day Services, the reduction was set to go into effect the week of Sept. 7, but was halted on Sept. 9 when a federal judge granted a temporary injunction.
In granting the injunction, Judge Soundra Brown Armstrong, a U.S. District Judge in Oakland, further ordered the department to provide “prompt notice” of the injunction to all adult day health-care program providers and recipients. The ruling will enable seniors to get the number of attendance days previously approved by the department.
Alice Reyes, director of operations for the Santa Maria Wisdom Center, said the decision means “business will be back to usual” at her facility. Located on North Broadway, the center provides adult day health-care services, including meals, medical attention, and enrichment activities.
Reyes said this is the third time this year the state has tried to reduce spending and services to seniors.
“They tried to cut spending by 10 percent, but that was given an injunction and overturned. And then they came back and tried 5 percent, but that was ultimately overturned as well,” she said. “So I think, given the history, there’s a pretty good chance this will be overturned, too.”
Reyes said the ever-changing status of available care has been a rollercoaster ride for the recipients and their families.
“The families have been really worried. These people are part of the Medi-Cal population and can’t afford to choose from a lot of different places,” she said. “Some of them were thinking, ‘Am I going to have to quit my job if they won’t give me time off to take care of my loved one?’”
The Wisdom Center currently provides care to 82 people, half of whom were affected by the three-day-maximum cap. Those individuals will now receive their regular four to five days of care.
“They’re ecstatic,” Reyes said. “It takes a heavy burden off of them.”
For more information about adult day health care, contact the California Department of Aging at (916) 419-7545 or visit aging.ca.gov.
This article appears in Sep 17-24, 2009.