The claim that health care reform would harm seniors isn't anything new. In recent months, Republicans have refused to back away from the cynical politics of scaring seniors and claiming reform will make premiums skyrocket for traditional Medicare recipients. A new coalition - Seniors to Seniors -- seeks to provide a clear and concise overview of health reform and what it means for you.

This coalition of senior citizen advocacy organizations (including AARP, Families USA and SEIU) is working to educate seniors about what the current health care reform legislation means for them. The coalition's goal is to help filter through the hype and all the clutter to inform seniors about how health insurance reform will help keep doctors in Medicare, stop physician payment cuts, improve long term care choices, keep Medicare affordable, and close the prescription drug "doughnut hole."

CIR/SEIU Healthcare President Dr. L Toni Lewis, MPO Loretta Johnson and Linda Bock, RN of 1199SEIU Maryland, all appear in the coalition's new video about health reform. Watch here:

The changes Congress is considering would protect Medicare for today's seniors and for future generations, so all Americans can have the health coverage they need when they retire. Learn more at www.seniorstoseniors.org.

More about the House's passage of H.R. 3962, "The Affordable Health Care for America" Act" on Nov. 7th here.

Following a federal court order by Judge Claudia Wilken halting the implementation of severe cuts to home care for 130,000 Californians, new information presented during a Capitol hearing yesterday demonstrates that the Schwarzenegger Administration is unprepared to meet its own Nov. 1 deadline to implement new restrictions on In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program providers.

At least seven California counties have said that the Administration has provided confusing orders and failed to provide funds and materials promised to counties and at yesterday's legislative hearing, counties and stakeholders described how home care providers, and the seniors and people with disabilities who rely on home care have been thrown into a state of confusion due to the lack of preparedness. "It is troubling that with just four days until new job requirements go into effect, the State still has not given us clear information on what these changes mean for our jobs and for the people we serve," said Raul Rivera, a home care worker represented by SEIU 521 in Santa Clara County.

Who's going to be the most affected by Gov. Schwarzenegger's failure to provide adequate time to implement changes and consistent, clear guidelines: the state's approximately 450,000 elderly and disabled care recipients, as well as close to 380,000 providers statewide. What is the Schwarzenegger Administrations' reaction to CA counties' warnings of the chaos and panic likely to ensue, should these cuts go forward on Nov. 1 as planned? Tough luck! (and that's phrasing it nicely). Officials said today that they intend to go forward with the scheduled November 1st implementation date.

More about the specific concerns and obstacles preventing county governments from implementing the changes the Schwarzenegger administration ordered at the SEIU California State Council website and California Progress.

Yesterday, Yvonne Richardson, an 1199 SEIU Retiree, President of the West Palm Beach Chapter and SEIU Retiree Advisory Council Member, participated in a Roundtable on Reforming Medicare hosted by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz at the Sunrise Senior Center in Sunrise, Florida. Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Congresswoman Schultz and heard from a panel of 15 invited guests that work with Seniors in a variety of capacities.

While many of the panelists discussed what they liked about the current legisliation, Yvonne took a more personal approach with her testimony. She explained her long history of working in the healthcare field and how she knew things had changed when they stopped referring to people as patients and started to refer to them as "clients." She told the story of her Mom's recent surgery which brought the bad news of a malignant tumor and how 24 hours after surgery somebody was in her Mom's room asking how their Humana copayment was going to be made.

Yvonne noted that she had been talking to a lot of seniors who were unable to be at the roundtable to share their own story. As she spoke both for herself and those seniors, she proclaimed that the scare tactics of big insurance were not going to work this time.

Home care providers, seniors, and people with disabilities prevailed in federal court yesterday, securing a preliminary injunction to stop cuts to essential home care for 130,000 Californians. We've been following this fight for several months now, and it's such amazing news for home care workers and those they care for that this ruling will put a stop to these devastating cuts.

Watch SEIU's Deb Roth recap the ruling from Judge Wilkins:

The planned budget cuts of $82.1 million in services were scheduled to take place November 1, and would've resulted in 40,000 people losing IHSS services entirely and an additional 90,000 having their services slashed.

SEIU members, disability, senior-citizen rights groups filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court Friday to stop 130,000 people from either being dropped or cut from California's In-Home Supportive Services program as of Nov. 1.

Nearly one hundred thousand people would be part of the group only having 'some' of their services cut--which sounds almost positive compared to those that will lose all of their in-home care, right? Except when you consider the actual breakdown of these services to be lost: food shopping, meal preparation, cleaning, and assistance and accompaniment to medical appointments. These may be defined by IHSS standards as "basic services," but being able to receive help with daily living tasks like these is the difference for frail seniors and people with disabilities between being able to stay in their homes....or having to go into nursing homes or other residential institutions.

Schwarzenegger needs remedial math class, it seems
According to Gov. Schwarzenegger, these cuts are all about balancing the budget. But how can potentially forcing 130,000 people to resort to institutional care really be cost-reducing when it's actually estimated to be four times more expensive to the state than in-home care? "A 2006 study showed that the average... public expenditure on home...based (Medicaid) services is $44,000 less than for a person receiving institutional services," stated Mitch LaPlante, leading disability researcher at the UCSF, in court papers.

Four SEIU locals whose members are IHSS caregivers and attendants are participating in the lawsuit, including SEIU UHW, SEIU ULTCW, SEIU Local 521 and CUHW, whose members are IHSS caregivers and attendants. The lawsuit alleges that IHSS cuts will violate the federal constitutional due process protections, the Medicaid Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. View filed complaint here. More at the LA Times.

Yesterday, members of SEIU Healthcare Florida joined senior citizens from the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans to try to speak to a local Humana executive at the West Palm Beach office of the insurance company. As the area seniors rallied to deliver a letter addressed to the local Humana executive and Humana CEO, they were instead greeted by the scampering of little feet, as the fearful insurance company executive hightailed it to his office in the wake of their arrival--practically slamming his office door in their faces.

Although the exec. did finally emerge from his office and take the protesting seniors' letter, he refused to engage in conversation to address their grievances. So much for respecting your elders, much less the real concerns of these seniors' about Medicare Advantage cuts--concerns which stemmed primarily from misinformation sent out by Humana Inc. falsely warning seniors that health insurance reform would cut their health benefits.

Watch the interaction here:

The West Palm Beach seniors were looking to engage the local Humana executive on the healthcare reform misinformation perpetuated by the insurance company with a scare-tactic mailer they sent out weeks before to their Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. In Florida, some 900,000 seniors are covered by Medicare Advantage plans, which offer services like dental and vision coverage that traditional Medicare does not.

In spite of the fact that months of debate between CA lawmakers on how to resolve the state's $26 billion budget deficit may be finally coming to an end, there can be no cause for celebration when the 'solution' does not reflect the priorities of a vast majority of California voters. Commenting on the staggering cuts agreed upon by lawmakers late Monday night, SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker said this:

"There may be a budget deal, but there's no budget solution."

Walker continued, saying "The governor's refusal to close corporate tax loopholes, eliminate waste in private vendor contracts and make big tobacco and big oil pay their fair share, is another series of bad decisions."

"Making state employees pay what amounts to a 15 percent furlough tax is just plain wrong ... We'll fight in the courts, in the Legislature and in the workplace to have it cut back," Walker said.

The California State Council of the SEIU also released a statement from State Council President Kristy Sermersheim, who declared "Big oil, big tobacco, and the alcohol lobby" the only real winners in this budget deal.

"Approximately 80,000 seniors and people with disabilities will be put at risk of leaving their homes for institutions. Nearly half a million children will lose healthcare. The deal will eliminate tens of thousands of jobs, making our terrible economy even worse. Local communities, which have relied on a responsible and balanced approach to their budget challenges, will now be hit with deep cuts to basic public safety and other services. And millions of school children will have an education inferior to what they could have."

HUGE news for home care workers and those they care for. In response to SEIU lawsuit, a U.S. District Court judge issued an injunction Thursday afternoon ordering the state of California to halt a proposed $2 cut in wages for the state's 400,000 home care workers.

The injunction has the effect of stopping pay cuts in all California counties that were planning on passing the state cut through to their home care workers.

The injunction, issued by federal judge Claudia Wilken, was in response to a lawsuit filed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which has 250,000 home care members in California. The lawsuit alleges the wage cut violates the federal Medicaid Law, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Rehabilitation Act.

"This ruling is bringing hope to hundreds of thousands of home care consumers and workers all across the state," said Mary Harms, a home care worker in Contra Costa County. "We had no choice but to ask the court to help us after the governor and legislature let everyone down and put so many people in danger."

The enjoined state budget cuts would have slashed homecare workers' wages to as low as $9.50 an hour. The wage cuts would have forced thousands of homecare providers to leave their employment to seek living-wage jobs, forcing frail seniors and people with disabilities to enter nursing homes or other residential institutions.

On Tuesday, lawmakers on the California Legislature's joint budget committee refused to cut state worker pay and spared that state's In-Home Support Services the major cut that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed as part of his plan to solve the state's $24.3 billion deficit.

Under the governor's budget proposal, IHSS would stand to lose roughly $765 million, resulting in a near-elimination of services for nearly 400,000 people---or 90 percent of the elderly or disabled persons currently receiving care. Making such drastic cuts to California's IHSS program to make up for budgetary shortfalls would also result in more people having to resort to institutional care (nursing homes or other residential institutions)-- which is estimated to be four times more expensive to the State.

Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, who chairs the budget conference committee, reiterated the counter-productiveness of such large cuts to balance the deficit. Such large cuts would have been tantamount to cost shifting, Evans told the San Francisco Chronicle, as people would receive more expensive services at already-strained hospitals and nursing homes. "The imagination runs wild on what would actually happen to these people," said Evans. In contrast, the Conference Committee rejected the Governor's near-elimination of IHSS and passed cuts totaling $117 million, which would eliminate services for slightly less than 10% of those currently enrolled.

California Home Care Workers Rally at the State Capitol to Save the Services they Provide to California's Most Vulnerable: SEIU has played a big role in the movement to fight these cuts, mobilizing support for a fair state budget and balance budget approach that protects middle-class families, seniors, kids, and people with disabilities. Last week, SEIU released a TV ad arguing for a balanced approach and earlier this week, hundreds of home care workers rallied on the grounds of the California State Capital. "Stop home care cuts" was the message home care workers made loud and clear on the grounds of the California State Capital, as care providers from across the state displayed a 625 square-foot sign made up of more than 75,000 postcards calling for an end to the governor's drastic cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. In addition to the TV ad campaign, SEIU is encouraging Californians to weigh in for common sense budget at www.commonsense4ca.org.

The bottom line: Laying off state workers from their jobs and cutting their pay on top of the 9.2 percent cut those workers have taken through unpaid furloughs days is not the answer to solving this budget crisis. Neither is shredding California's social safety net and decimating state programs like the welfare-to-work program and health insurance for children. To produce revenue for the state, the legislative budget panel instead approved on Tuesday plans to hike up taxes on oil and tobacco, which would produce an estimated $830 million and $1 billion, respectively, in the coming fiscal year. Repealing a corporate tax break approved only a few months ago would produce another $80 million.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said yesterday at their press conference that they "expect that [their] Republican colleagues will be responsible" in helping them pass a "compromise" budget. Lawmakers are meeting with Schwarzenegger again today, and the two Democratic leaders are holding out the possibility that common ground can be reached to put a Legislature-approved plan on how to close the state's deficit by the middle of next week. Highlights of the Legislature's approach to solving the budget crisis at California Progress Report here.

Governor Schwarzenegger gave a speech to the joint session of California legislatures this morning on the state's budget, pressing lawmakers to resolve the state's financial crisis and enact $24 billion in spending cuts. The Governor acknowledged how devastating these cuts will be to millions of Californians, saying "People come up to me all the time, pleading 'governor, please don't cut my program,'" he said. "They tell me how the cuts will affect them and their loved ones. I see the pain in their eyes and hear the fear in their voice. It's an awful feeling. But we have no choice."

To solve the state's fiscal problems, the Schwarzenegger administration wants to slash the wages of people who do some of the most difficult work and help our most vulnerable citizens stay out of institutions. SEIU International Executive VP Eliseo Medina issued a statement in response to the Governor's speech today, explaining why we think his "no choice" budget cuts that punish California's neediest residents are unacceptable:

"Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts to home care would add up to 340,000 people to the ranks of the unemployed, moving California's unemployment rate to 12.8 percent--nearly tied with Michigan for the highest in the nation. This is exactly the opposite of what California needs.

"These irresponsible cuts will cost the state over a billion dollars a year in lost federal funds, and untold billions over the long term, as they push California's most vulnerable residents into expensive facilities.

"Worse still is the human toll. Approximately 395,000 elderly or disabled Californians would lose the services they need to live at home.

"We need shared responsibility to dig us out of this hole. Instead, this Governor has chosen a skewed approach--giving away $2.5 billion a year to large corporations and at the same time eliminating desperately needed care for the most vulnerable Californians.

"SEIU intends to fight the Governor's callous and immoral budget proposals and advance real solutions that enhance state and federal revenue and reduce the amount that must be cut from home care and other vital services Californians need."

Finally, Gov. Schwarzenegger says something we can agree with! "Governor Schwarzenegger offered the public a bad budget deal, and the public said no," said SEIU's Medina. "Now the Governor wants to punish the people of California with senseless cuts that will cost the state billions down the road. It's this kind of failed leadership that has gotten us into this mess; more of the same short-sighted vision will not get us out."

Please send a message to the Governor telling him his short-sighted policies will send California deeper into fiscal abyss--and then ask your friends and co-workers to do the same.

See the full list of proposed cuts by the Governor here. More background on SEIU's fight to stop California home care cuts can be found here, here and here.

They came from across Fresno County, California, the U.S., and Canada with one mission: to protect Fresno County home care.

More than 900 SEIU members and activists gathered on Sunday, May 31st at the Fresno County Fairgrounds to kick off a massive "Get Out the Vote" effort to help home care workers protect their jobs, pay, and union. Rally participants pledged to help keep hope alive for 10,000 SEIU UHW Fresno County home care members, as they fight proposed wage-and-benefit cuts of $1 per hour beginning July 1 and vote in an election to determine their union representation on June 15.

One particularly remarkable Fresno county home care consumer and union activist appeared at yesterday's kick-off: ninety year-old Jessie Lopez De La Cruz, who was UFW's very first female organizer, hired by the notable Cesar Chavez himself in 1964. It was due to the tenacity of supporters like Lopez de la Cruz that the farm workers' cause and crusade for social justice received national attention and helped influenced labor laws.

Ms. Lopez De La Cruz had a special message when introducing SEIU Executive VP (and SEIU UHW trustee) Eliseo Medina at yesterday's event, as both worked alongside Cesar Chavez with the UFW: "The last time I was in these fairgrounds was 1973, when Cesar Chavez and hundreds and hundreds of farm workers were arrested in protests, and they put us in jail. I know the important work you do, and I support SEIU UHW!" Ms. Lopez De La Cruz urged everyone to stand strong for the SEIU UHW members who provide her care.

Cutting Home Care Workers' Wages: the Many Aftershocks
Of the roughly two million home care workers nationwide, more than 20 percent earn incomes below the poverty level. The 10,000 or so workers who provide in-home care for the elderly and those with disabilities in Fresno County might soon increase this overall number, as they end up below the poverty line in the aftermath of Gov. Schwarzenegger's proposed July 1 wage cuts. At any rate, slashing the state's already-low direct care wages at any level will likely force thousands of home care providers to leave their jobs in and cause workers to be more reliant on the state's support services.

"The economy is already devastating California's families, so this isn't a time to be cutting necessary support systems or reducing those already-small wages," said Bernadette Lynch, president of California Association of Public Authorities for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) and executive director for Sacramento County IHSS Public Authority. "The current pay for home care workers doesn't even amount to a living wage at this point, except in one or two counties. Reducing it will end up causing a dearth of providers, which will hurt consumers. It's devastating." Taking money away from California's program to make up for budgetary shortfalls will also result in more people having to resort to institutional care (nursing homes or other residental institutions)-- which is estimated to be four times more expensive to the State.

SEIU Files a Class-Action Lawsuit
Last week, SEIU filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, seeking a preliminary junction to stop the State of California and Fresno County from slashing the wages of home care workers to near-poverty levels and from to reducing the hours of care seniors and people with disabilities receive from going into effect. The suit, brought on behalf of individual consumers and SEIU, charges that the planned cuts put seniors and people with disabilities at risk and violate the American with Disabilities Act and Federal Medicaid Law.

Between now and July 1st - the date the home care cuts are supposed to take effect - home care workers, their families and supporters have much to fight for. Stop the home care cuts in California.

Today, SEIU home healthcare members closed their 48-hour vigil with a press conference on the steps of the California statehouse to protest drastic budget cuts which would drive home care workers into poverty and force seniors and people with disabilities into more restrictive and costly institutional settings, as reported in the Los Angeles Times and La Opinion. "They're talking about limiting the services to the most frail, elderly, handicapped individuals in our state and in our county," SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina told CBS 47.

Read about the ad campaign against the budget cuts to stop the cuts to home care workers' wages and the number of hours of in-home care. And then do something about it: send a message to the Governor telling him you strongly disagree with his misguided priorities.

Photo slideshow from yesterday's candlelight vigil and rally here:

Two years ago, President Barack Obama walked a day in the shoes of SEIU home care worker Pauline Beck.

Today, Pauline and home care workers across California face pay cuts of up to 33% -- from $12.10 an hour down to $8.

Governor Schwarzenegger's belief that solving the state's fiscal problems on the backs of those who take care of the most fragile among us is an absolute disgrace.

Please send a message to the Governor telling him you strongly disagree with his misguided priorities: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/homecare

We're not going to let this happen without a fight.

Starting today, we're running TV ads in California featuring President Obama's day in the shoes of SEIU home care worker Pauline Beck. We also have a new print ad running in today's LA Times, featuring a letter from Pauline to President Obama asking for his help:

[...] I understand that these are challenging times, but these cuts hurt California. They put vulnerable residents at risk of losing their independence and force hard working people like me into poverty.

I know you are a good man and I am proud of the job you are doing. I hope you and the Governor can work together to help Mr. John, me and the 750,000 of Californians just like us. It would make such a difference in our lives.

We need to rally the state to stop these cuts: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/homecare

Make no mistake about it, SEIU will aggressively organize against this unjust and poorly thought-out policy decision.

An ad campaign launched this week begging Illinois lawmakers not to cut home care and child care services funding "to the bone" in FY10 budget. The ad campaign by SEIU Healthcare Illinois--representing more than 35,000 child care providers and 35,000 workers who provide home care to seniors and people with disabilities--includes television, radio, print, online and billboards ads that have begun in Springfield, Ill. and will spread across the state in the coming weeks.

Watch the TV ad here:

If carried out, the proposed budget cuts to state-funded child care and home care services in the FY10 budget would have a devastating effect on workers and the people they care for. "Cutting a few hours of care a week may not seem like a big deal to number crunchers, but for many seniors and our families it determines whether or not we are able to stay in our homes and near our loved ones," said Marlin Hosick, a 73-year-old Pekin resident who is one of the 51,000 Illinois seniors receiving in-home care through the Community Care Program. Even slight cutbacks would require these seniors to reassess their need for constant care--likely forcing many into nursing homes.

SEIU Healthcare Illinois is part of a broader coalition, Campaign for Illinois' Future, that supports an income tax increase to help fill the the estimated $12.4 billion budget gap, rather than cutting vital programs and services. If you live in Illinois, act now to stop devastating cuts to quality care.

Tell Springfield: Don't Cut Home Care and Child Care.

Agreement Hailed as Model of Employer/Employee Agreements that Support American Workers, Enhance Quality Services to Working Families, and Help Rebuild Stronger Economy

CHICAGO -- Labor leaders and home care aides joined Service Employee International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern and Mark Heaney, CEO of Addus HealthCare, Inc. today to sign a renewed national agreement that will further improve home care for seniors and people with disabilities. The new contract now covers 10,000 Addus HealthCare, Inc. workers in 11 states -- California, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Montana, Delaware and Washington. SEIU IS the largest health care union in the country representing more than 1.1 million members in the field, including 400,000 home care workers.

"This renewal is very important to me. Since we established the initial agreement, we have all seen positive results," said Alberta Walker, home care aide of nine years and a vice chair on the executive board of SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana. "Thousands of home care workers have joined SEIU Healthcare as a result. We can lobby more diligently for better federal and state funding to improve the services for our consumers. We can retain and recruit the best home care aides in the industry with better wages and access to health care. And we can help Addus offer the kind of high-quality, in-home care that seniors want," said Walker.

The agreement expands the groundbreaking 2005 agreement between the two organizations which was the first national home care contract in SEIU history. That contract addressed non-economic issues and provided workers with the right to organize nationally, streamlined negotiations, and set higher standards for thousands of home care aides.

"I believe that if you want quality care, you need to make homecare work a quality job. That's why I'm here to applaud the cooperative relationship that has been established between SEIU and Addus," said Retha Landreth, a home care worker from Indiana. "I'm proud to say Addus has worked alongside our union to raise standards."

While the unemployment rate rises, the health care industry continues to thrive -- and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one of the fastest growing areas in the health care is home health aides. Unfortunately, home health aides are still some of the lowest paid workers. Last year a full-time home health aide made an average of $14,000.

Thirty-six percent of home health aides in this country are uninsured and forty-five percent live below the federal poverty level income.

"These are pretty desperate times for working Americans. Now is the time for businesses and workers to come together and stand up for real change," said SEIU International President Andy Stern. "Agreements like this give workers the freedom to join a union and everyone benefits - workers, employers, and most importantly, care consumers," Stern said. "With our economy in crisis, we're sending a message and standing up for real change that works."

Keith Kelleher, president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana, the largest healthcare union in the Midwest which represents 85,000 health care and child care workers, signed the agreement at the event with Addus Healthcare, Inc. CEO Mark Heaney. "The importance of both agreements is the spirit of cooperation between workers and the employer to do the things that promote quality care, raise the quality of life for home care workers," Kelleher said.

"You might not comprehend what this means to a home care aide, but it puts a pep in our step and allows more experienced and dedicated workers to continue to do what we love doing and stay healthy while we do it," Walker said.

SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana unites more than 85,000 health care, home care, nursing home and child care workers across two states in the fight to raise standards across industries, to strengthen the political voice for working families and for access to quality, affordable care for all families.