Alzheimer's Patients May Face Cuts

A recent report in the L.A. Times describes the plight of Seniors in California, particularly those afflicted with Alzheimer's:

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to shut down the state's adult day healthcare centers, which provide services to help the elderly continue living at home. Also eliminated would be a program that funds Alzheimer's care at these and other centers. The governor would end home care for all but the neediest, and eliminate programs that help families of the elderly navigate the complicated system of care and get some respite.

"We are talking about a devastation of the safety net for these families that wasn't really robust to begin with," said Debra Cherry, vice president of the Alzheimer's Assn.'s Southland chapter. "Without any community support, these families are going to crumble."

Schwarzenegger said he does not want to hurt patients or their families, but the financial crisis leaves him no choice but to make wide-ranging cuts".

The Alzheimer's Association of America just released a new report-- 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Some of the stats:

• As many as 5.3 million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer’s.
  

• Alzheimer's and dementia triple healthcare costs for Americans age 65 and older.
  

• Every 70 seconds, someone develops Alzheimer’s.
  

• Alzheimer's is the seventh-leading cause of death.
  

• The direct and indirect costs of Alzheimer's and other dementias to Medicare, Medicaid and businesses amount to more than $148 billion each year.

As more Californians enter the 65 and older age group Alzheimer's rates will soar. As reported by the study:

"...between 2000 and 2025, it also is clear that across the country, states and regions are expected to experience double-digit percentage increases overall in the numbers of people with Alzheimer’s. Compared with the numbers of people with Alzheimer’s estimated for 2000, the South, Midwest and West are expected to experience increases that will result in 30–50 percent (and greater) increases over the 25-year period. The increased numbers of people with Alzheimer’s will have a marked impact on states’ infrastructures and healthcare systems, not to mention on families and caregivers".

It is clear that the time is NOW to start discussing options for an aging populace suffering from dementia. Not all solutions will be...or can be...based on government funding. (As our current budget crisis shows us here in California.) Cash- and time-strapped families are going to have to provide more care giving to elderly relatives--with little support. What about dementia patients who don't have families or in-home support?

Like so many of the challenges we are facing these days...not a pretty picture.

Too Much? Obama Tackles Health Care

Those who say the President is taking on too much, remind me of a group of parents from my kid's school a few years back. They complained that the third grade teachers were assigning too much homework because they expected the students to spend at least 20 minutes a night completing assigned work. Of course, these same parents were concerned with reading and math levels at the school, and some even suggested that foreign-born students were bringing the scores down!

There comes a time when you have to get your priorities straight! With my parents, 'too much homework' would have been an oxymoron! Homework came before all other activities and I was expected to complete it...even if I had to stay up late on occasion (of course, this was usually when I left some work to the last minute...I got punished a lot for this :)

Telling the Obama administration to not tackle our health care problem, is like telling a drowning man to stop trying to get his head above water!

Health care challenges are 'killing us' literally and figuratively. Every family is either struggling with this problem, will be struggling with this problem, or knows someone who is.

We can't afford to get sick, and the American economy can't afford for us to get sick... the way the health care industry currently operates.

Money being spent on escalating health care costs, can't be spent in retail establishments, at car dealerships, for college education, to pay mortgages and debt, to buy gas, ...or most importantly, SAVED!

Doing nothing and watching millions more Americans give up on trying to pay for health care, will only cost us more in the future as they show up at hospital emergency rooms.

I am wondering....who are these people opposing health care reform?

Surely not American families who can't afford rising premiums, deductibles, and co-pays.

Surely not employers who are also faced with escalating costs to insure workers.

Surely not the unemployed who are praying for a job before their COBRA runs out (if they can afford COBRA.)

And, surely not our aging boomers and seniors, some of whom have to choose between food and medicine.

Even with everything on his plate, President Obama has to reform health care to prevent an America full of sick and bankrupt citizens.

YOU Solve the Budget Mess

The Los Angeles Times has come out with an interactive widget that lets users solve the budget crisis using suggested cuts or taxes.....I can tell you now...it ain't easy!!

You start with a $24-billion deficit and start cutting programs, benefits, etc., or you add taxes and fees (and we know our Republican holdouts in the Legislature will never go for this).

It's an eye-opening experience and illustrates just how massive the deficit is. For instance:

• Cutting funding for state parks, a proposal that has gotten much media hype recently, only reduces the budget by $70-million. A drop in the bucket when you're up against $24 Billion!
• Eliminating ALL new Cal Grants saves $200-million.
• Closing the ENTIRE community college system...all 100 campuses (affecting 2.6 million students)...will only provide $4.6-billion...there's still over $19-billion left!

Whew!

Let's look at proposed senior cuts according to the widget:

• There are a number of general MediCal cuts that will affect some Seniors (but mostly poor children) that add up to almost $1-billion. I suppose these include the cuts in breast and cervical cancer treatment for Seniors and Immigrants that add up to around $34-million.
• Eliminating in-home services for 440,000 elderly and disabled will possibly provide $5.4-billion, however it would force these people into nursing homes and drive up MediCal costs. So what is the net? Who knows?
• Reducing the wages of in-home service workers to minimum wage saves $115-million. Huh? Why are these state workers being hit harder than other folk -- say legislators and their staffs?
• And, in the truly ridiculous category....the state could save $250-million by reducing SSI- (Supplemental Security Income) to the level used in 1983!!! $830.00 a month!! Now remember, SSI is designed to help aged, blind, and disabled people who have little or no income to meet their basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Who can live on $830.00 a month?
  

So....if I have to pay extra for a Margarita....or to register my car....or to go to an amusement park, then YES I will find a way....However, there will still be cuts!! But before we turn our Seniors to the streets, or warehouse style nursing homes with poor care....let's make sure we've gotten rid of bloated boards, commissions, staffs, and state salaries.

More Proposed Cuts: More Misery For Seniors

Is he serious? Is he calling the bluff of the voters who defeated the propositions, or the Republicans in the Legislature who say NO to new revenue generators?

Schwarzenegger's cuts are Draconian to say the least....and the scariest part is he's right when he says the money just isn't there!

Still....it appears Seniors will be put on the chopping block in larger numbers than other groups. Especially low-income adults over 65.

In the latest round of proposed cuts, Schwarzenegger called for the elimination of Adult Day Care Programs. According to the Sacramento Bee: (Governor says $2.8 billion more is needed)

Schwarzenegger proposed closing Adult Day Health Care, which provides daytime therapy to low-income individuals who do not live in nursing facilities.

"I'm not shocked, but I think it's a very myopic approach," said Jim MacDonald III, a physical therapist who owns the Robertson Adult Day Health Care Center in east Sacramento. He suggested many of his 120 clients would end up in nursing homes at an even higher cost to the state.

So...is he bluffing? I'm sure there will be push-back on some of the cuts, but I'm not sure there will be enough lobbying for the Seniors in California.

Let's get started!

Adults Over 65--The Trends Are Against Them

As Federal and State spending decisions are made in light of current economic conditions, we see evidence of a trend -- Seniors, particularly those over 65, will bear the brunt of some of the harshest budget cuts.

Consider recent revelations:

States across the country are considering reducing, or ending entirely, funding that helps the elderly pay for prescription drugs. (msnbc.com; May 27, 2009: States consider cutting drug help for seniors). Among the massive budget cuts proposed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, many will dramatically impact the lives of Californians over 65, such as:

1. elimination of the Multipurpose Senior Services Program.
2. elimination of senior Community-Based Services programs.
3. elimination of Medi-Cal coverage for breast and cervical cancer treatment for women over 65 years, and,
4. elimination of state funding for the Community Care Licensing program

My initial reaction after reviewing the Governor’s proposed cuts have to do with the Medi-Cal cuts for women over 65 with breast and cervical cancer treatment. This seems especially cruel to older women and makes one ask why Prostate cancer was not included?

Are we as a society ready to put our Seniors out to pasture? This is especially relevant, considering this age group is one of the fastest growing in America.

The Los Angeles times reported on the budget cuts with just a small mention of Senior issues, saying:

"The state could save $34 million by ending, among other services, treatment for breast and cervical cancer for illegal immigrants and women older than 65."

The other question is…who speaks for those effected by these cuts? Their home health care workers have a union to plead their case…but in general who will take to the streets, write their legislators, and flood Sacramento email boxes to protest financial cuts for California's senior population? The Times article continues:

"Outside the Capitol, activists from the Service Employees International Union began their vigil to protest the governor's proposal to further reduce, to $8 an hour, salaries for workers caring for the elderly and disabled in their homes. The effect would be less care and the loss of federal matching funds, the protesters said.

"We're all trying to adjust to the recession, but cutting funds should not be the alternative at the expense of senior citizens' lives and other disadvantaged people," said Ellen Rollins, a home care worker from Santa Clara County.

The union sued the governor in U.S. District Court to block the wage cuts, saying that they would violate various provisions of federal law by discriminating against the elderly and disabled.

Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, said the suit illustrates "how difficult it is to balance the budget when interest groups are willing to sue us to protect their piece of the status quo."

How will adults over 65 protect their well-earned piece of the status quo? The trends don't look good.