On July 4, Sacramento area Seniors Celebrate Freedom

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Decked out in red, white, and blue, dozens of Sacramento area seniors celebrated their ability to live independently on Independence Day, and called on their local legislators to fund critical programs that enable them to remain safely in their homes. Four days into the new fiscal year and with no budget resolution in sight, the seniors attending the 4th of July parade called on Senator Dave Cox (R-Sacramento) and Assemblymember Roger Niello (R- Sacramento) to come to the table with their Democratic colleagues to quickly find a resolution that will protect the state’s most vulnerable.

They called the budget proposal put forward in May by Governor Schwarzenegger unacceptable, saying it amounts to stripping seniors of the right to live independently and with dignity. The Governor’s proposal would hurt seniors by:

• Slashing funds for adult protective services, which results in fewer investigations of elder abuse and neglect. This will put thousands of seniors at risk. 
• Making devastating cuts to the homecare services that seniors and people with disabilities rely on to stay out of nursing homes and other institutions. These services actually save the state money since the cost of nursing homes is so high. This cut would affect 406,000 aged, blind or disabled individuals who rely on these services to remain safely in their own homes. 
• Reducing funding for a number of senior nutrition programs, meaning tens of thousand fewer home-delivered meals and brown-bag deliveries for seniors. 
• Eliminating cost of living increases for the Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) program, which provides support to the aged, blind, and disabled. 
• Reduce payments to many providers that treat Medi-Cal patients by 10 percent. Lower payments could reduce access to health care.