NYS Republicans Want to Force New Yorkers Into Costly Nursing Homes
Posted by , October 29, 2009 at 10:58pm
The State Senate Republicans have proposed cutting all “optional” Medicaid services as a fix to the state’s budget deficit. But for the people who receive these services, they’re anything but optional. For Pamela Bates, having a Medicaid-funded home health aid is the difference between living in her home and being forced into a nursing home.
Bates has congestive heart failure and spinal muscular atrophy, a hereditary disease that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. She gets out of breath moving from her bed to her wheelchair. She can’t use her hands because of advanced carpel tunnel disease. But thanks to the help of a Medicaid-funded home health aid who helps her bathe, cook and dress, Bates is able to live in her own home in Upper Manhattan.
“Why should I sit around a nursing home waiting to die when I can be productive here at home?” Bates said, noting it would cost the state more money to pay for her nursing home than part-time in-home care. Bates, 57, has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and is a fierce activist, taking frequent bus trips to Albany. (See Bates’ video below)
While the Senate Republicans’ cuts are unlikely to be implemented wholesale (Republicans are in the minority after all), lots of options are going to be on the table as Gov. Paterson and the Legislature look to cut $3 billion when they head to Albany on November 10. And cutting just some optional services will be devastating to thousands of New Yorkers who rely on Medicaid. “Optional” medical services, as defined by the federal government, include home health services for those not eligible for nursing home care; clinic services as opposed to outpatient hospital services; dental services; hospice; primary case management and respiratory care for ventilator dependent people.
Although the federal government defines these services as “optional,” people in New York have come to depend on them to live full functioning lives.
“Federal health care reform will likely make major changes to these kinds of definitions in federal law. Meanwhile, the philosophy adopted long ago in New York State is that the services on the optional list are by no means optional when it comes to fully providing for people’s needs. We believe that cutting them would be unconscionable,” said Medicaid Matters New York Coordinator Lara Kassel.
Gov. Paterson hasn’t stated precisely what he wants to cut, but that $1 billion dollars will come from slashing education and Medicaid.
“The Governor’s proposed cuts are so vague, it’s hard to say how many people precisely will lose their care,” said Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled in New York. “We’re sure some agencies would have trouble continuing and that will affect many people.”
Bates, for one, would suffer from any cuts to her safety net. In testimony to the Governor, she said, “If the State cuts back on Medicaid, SSI or home care, my life will change drastically. I will not have a life. I will not be able to get out of bed, function, take my place in my community–I probably wouldn’t be able to survive.”
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