Home care workers for seniors could be cut
SPRINGFIELD -- Some seniors who depend on hired "homemakers" to wash their laundry, cook their meals and give them baths might get a little less help around the house.
With a state budget in financial disarray, the Illinois Department on Aging says it might have to scale back the hours some state-funded homemakers spend with seniors.
The Community Care Program helps 51,000 seniors at a cost of $8,000 per person a year. The department wanted $160 million more to handle projected growth. But Gov. Pat Quinn, who is wrestling with an $11.6 billion deficit, increased funding by about $77 million.
"The proposed funding level is tens of millions shy of projected need," Kimberley Cox, legislative chair of the Illinois Association of Community Care Program Homecare Providers, said Thursday.
Officials at Aging expect another 3,000 enrollees next year. They would rather spread existing resources than turn away needy seniors.
Quinn's budget plan includes a 50 percent increase in the income tax to generate $3.2 billion and $1.3 billion in cuts. Those include $390 million in "reductions and efficiencies" -- with $81 million from the Community Care Program.
That upsets workers, who say seniors will suffer.
"Rush in and do your little work and rush out? That's not fair to them," said Joan Campbell a 57-year-old home caretaker in Chicago, who typically spends 34 hours in four days working for seniors. Even the slightest change could mean seniors would have to reassess their need for constant care, and maybe go to nursing homes, she said.
On any given day 19,000 home caretakers scrub dishes, fold clothes, pick up groceries and fetch medications.
Depending on need, seniors in the program receive four to 30 hours with a homemaker each week. The average senior receives 11 hours of home help -- but service reductions could shave off one or more hours per week.
With the tight budget, the caretakers must serve as many people as possible, even if it means fewer hours with each, Aging officials say.
The government should add another $40 million to the program to keep the current staffing level and add new clients, says the Service Employees International Union, which represents 13,000 homecare workers.
"When you peel away the layer of the onion and see what will happen, there's a big hole and people will be forced out of their homes and apartments," said Keith Kelleher, President of SEIU Healthcare for Illinois and Indiana.
It could cost the state $860 a month to care for the elderly under the Community Care Program next year, according to state statistics, a price that shot up 59 percent in four years due to a growing number of eligible seniors and increased homemaker rates.
Quinn proposed his budget in March. The Legislature has until its official May 31 adjournment date to approve it.