US states cut home health services for seniors

LOS ANGELES — Born with cerebral palsy, Jennifer McPhail relies on a home health aide to help her get dressed for work and ready for bed at night.

Her motorized wheelchair keeps her active, working as an organizer with a disability rights group in Austin, Texas, and volunteering to help people find housing and to staff hurricane shelters. She now fears deep cuts in the state's Medicaid spending will prevent her from living independently.

"What it says to me is that the state doesn't value the lives of people with disabilities," said McPhail, 39. "A lot of people are going to be hurt in a very intimate way."

It's a concern facing families across the country as states with gaping budget deficits cut home health services that help keep the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes. States are reducing how much time a nurse can spend making house calls and ending meal deliveries for the homebound. Many also are gutting adult day care programs that give seniors a safe place to spend their days while their relatives are at work.

Aging and disability services in three out of four states have been reduced over the last two years or face cuts, even though demand is increasing.

Texas lawmakers underfunded Medicaid by nearly $5 billion in the state budget, a move that home health advocates say leaves the elderly and adults with disabilities unsure how their care at home will be provided.

California eliminated funding for about 330 adult day centers, a move that will affect some 35,000 seniors who use them for medical care and socializing. Lawmakers are hoping to restore about $85 million to transition seniors into an as-yet undetermined alternate program — about half the amount cut from the budget.

Minnesota is considering cuts to home health aides and a program that allows disabled people to live on their own.

With each cut, the ability to live at home becomes more difficult.

"You end up losing control over your decisions," said Neil Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota HomeCare Association.

About 12 million people receive home health services nationwide, according to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice.