Those impacted by MassHealth cuts would be people receiving 10 or less hours/week of assistance with activities of daily living (such as assistance with eating and toileting), including people who may also be receiving 10 hours/week of services with instrumental activities of daily living (such as assistance with laundry and shopping). Additionally, they propose to reduce meal prep time from 13 hours/week to 7 hours/week.
MassHealth also proposes to place evaluations for multiple services for the program in a central entity, which could lead to a medical model of service and a reduction of services. Plus forcing people already marginalized to navigate a complex call-center in order to access necessary services.
If enacted these cuts will:
- Leave people without a service supporting independence, health, and dignity.
- Cause declines in health that might require increased health care services or even placement in a nursing facility, in contradiction to the mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Reduce work for PCAs, typically women and people of color—an estimated 4,000 PCA may lose work!
- Burden families that may already be covering gaps in services for those on the PCA program, potentially causing unpaid family caregivers to lose their paying jobs.
On March 21st and 22nd
Call Governor Healey at
(617) 725-4005 or (888) 870-7770
and tell her—don’t change our PCA Program!
and
Sign a petition here: https://seiumass.salsalabs.org/protectpcahomecare
