(OAKLAND) -- Hundreds of home care providers, seniors, and people with disabilities rallied in Oakland today outside the Northern California Federal District Court in support of the lawsuit to stop cuts to essential home care. The rally preceded a hearing at which home care consumers and providers sought a preliminary injunction to stop the Governor’s cuts to vital home care. A decision about whether to grant the preliminary injunction could come as early as today.

“Home care is a lifeline that allows people who rely on it to stay in their homes instead of being forced into more expensive institutions,” said Stacey Leyton, attorney for caregiver plaintiffs. “The cuts violate federal protections for Medicaid recipients and individuals with disabilities, and will cause severe injury to consumers for whom these services are critical to their ability to remain safely in their homes, and in the long run will cost the State’s taxpayers more money.”

Advocates have requested the Court to issue a preliminary injunction as part of a class action lawsuit filed on October 1st on behalf of five low-income Californians who need IHSS to remain safely at home.

“This legal action must be taken and is another example of our commitment to do whatever is necessary to preserve home care in California and protect those it serves,” said Laphonza Butler, Trustee of SEIU-United Long Term Care Workers. “These cuts to the IHSS program are shortsighted, and if not stopped will place the lives of parents, grand parents and children with disabilities in jeopardy.”

“Our state has failed the test of compassion and the test of common sense,” said Mary Harms, a home care worker in Contra Costa County. “These cuts mark a departure down the wrong path, and we are committed to turning this around.”

“A lot of times people who are developmentally disabled tend to be looked down upon and not given choices. But I feel they are people, like you and me, equal in society, and they should not be singled out because of their disabilities,” said John Hernandez, a high school sophomore, whose 11 year-old sister Patricia is developmentally disabled and receives full-time care from their grandmother. “My grandmother takes care of my sister full-time, and I am very worried about what could happen if cuts mean she isn’t able to in the future.”

The home care consumer and provider plaintiffs recently succeeded in stopping the California Department of Social Services from mailing over 130,000 notices informing seniors and people with disabilities statewide that their In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) will be cut or eliminated. The Temporary Restraining Order on the mailings will remain in effect until Judge Wilken reaches a decision on whether to grant a preliminary injunction.

Cuts in IHSS services are scheduled to take effect November 1, 2009. The cuts will result in 40,000 people losing IHSS services entirely and an additional 90,000 having their services slashed. The services to be eliminated are basic human services - such as bathing, dressing, cooking and assistance with transportation to medical appointments - which enable seniors and those with disabilities to live independently. Without these services, many will be forced to move to institutional care that costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more than IHSS.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that the Governor’s cuts violate federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Medicaid Act, and the federal Constitution, because:

• They will put at risk of institutionalization many individuals who have a right to receive services in the least restrictive setting. This is not only be illegal, it's far more expensive than receiving care at home.
• They use an arbitrary measure, the “Functional Index,” which was never designed to measure need or eligibility and which has a particularly discriminatory impact upon children, to disqualify needy consumers from the program
• They discriminate against people with mental illness and/or cognitive impairments, since the Functional Index score is likely to be lower for them as well.

The lawsuit was filed by Disability Rights California, Disability Rights Legal Center, National Senior Citizens Law Center, and the National Health Law Program on behalf of IHSS consumers, and the unions that represent IHSS home care workers -- SEIU/ United Long Term Care Workers; SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West; SEIU Local 521; UDW Homecare Providers Union--AFSCME Local 3930, and California United Homecare Workers (CUHW).

Earlier this year, SEIU and IHSS consumers and providers successfully prevented the state’s attempt to cut IHSS provider wages by $2 per hour. Based on the legal arguments, Federal Judge Claudia Wilken enjoined the State from implementing the state budget law requiring the $2 per-hour reduction in the State’s maximum contribution towards IHSS wages.