Blaisin' Access 86 Hochul's Homecare Ax

This is the Blaze and access podcast.

Amplifying disability perspective one story at a time. Today is Wednesday, February 21.

I'm Blaze Bryant.

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For three on trivia Tuesday yesterday.

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On to today where I'm talking about.

Home care it's amazing to me how in 2024, we are having to, as a disability community, continue to advocate for home care worker wages and to save home care in general. Here in New York, the governor, Kathy Holkel, in her 30 day proposed budget amendments, decided to make some drastic proposed changes to home care. The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance program, which.

Allows people with disabilities to self direct.

Their own home and personal care, is a Medicaid funded program. And she has decided to make a very significant change. In addition to budget cuts, where people.

Who have a designated representative, which is.

Someone who manages the care of a disabled person on their behalf, if they.

Have a disability where they're not able to do that, or if there's a.

Language barrier, or maybe they're just not comfortable hiring, training, supervising, recruiting, and, if need be, firing their own home care workers, because that can be a very.

Difficult thing for someone.

I understand it, having been a home care recipient and worked for a home care agency, I totally get it why.

People would want and or need a designated representative.

Well, in some cases, if you're a kid and you're under 18, you have.

To have a designated representative.

So Governor Holkel is trying to get rid of designated representatives, which would force children or people who have developmental disabilities, or, you name it, out of the consumer directed Personal assistance program, which makes absolutely no sense to me.

Let's restrict home care eligibility in 2024.

Even though we have a master plan on aging and disability, even though we have the office of the chief disability officer, which is charged with advocating on.

Behalf of people with disabilities. Let's cut the eligibility.

In what world does this make sense? It's mending. I don't get it. At the expense of quote unquote saving money. Newsflash. Home care is a lot cheaper than nursing home care.

About 30% to 70%, depending on where.

You get your numbers, as a matter of fact. Yet let's cater to the nursing homes where over 15,000 New Yorkers died during the pandemic. Let's leave home care workers on the.

Sidelines who made sure people with disabilities.

Stayed safe during the pandemic. When will they, meaning the elected officials and the people in power, when will they ever learn? It doesn't matter whether it's the current administration or previous administrations. Home care has been largely under attack since I've been in the disability field, working in it for now going on ten years. Why? And also to a similar story that I saw in Texas, where home care.

Workers and advocates are calling for better wages.

Why are we even having to have these conversations and fights? I understand that home care is becoming more popular, and the reason is because over three in four people want to age at home where they've lived for however long, rather than be in a costly institution where their cost is both exorbitantly more in terms of money and quality of life. It really does come down to attitude. And why we have such a terrible attitude about community integration in this country is really despicable. Not to mention, I mean, these policies.

That I've been talking about with cutting.

Home care eligibility violate federal law.

New York state will actually lose money.

If this stuff goes through.

That's a fact. I just don't get it. So what we're going to have to do is advocate like hell and maybe even sue on the basis of violation.

Of federal law at the expense of saving money. In the state's view, it's saving money.

But anyone who works in this space.

Can tell you it costs a hell of a lot more to receive nursing home care than it does home care. It doesn't matter who is in power because the nursing home lobbyists are filling these pockets of the people in power. That's the reality.

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I'm Blaze Bryant.

Thank you for listening to the Blaze and access podcast amplifying disability perspective one story at a time. Have a great day.