Advocate for Seniors

Help Save Crucial Senior Services Programs

Governor Brown's 2011-12 budget proposal included the elimination of ADHC as a Medi-Cal benefit as part of the solution to the budget. It also includes the elimination of MSSP as a Medicaid funded program.

About Adult Day Health Centers (ADHC)

ADHC serves 37,000 low-income, medically at-risk adults by providing: skilled nursing, mental health services, social work, physical, occupational, and speech therapy, medication management, dietary services, and transportation. All are assessed by a multidisciplinary team and authorized by Medi-Cal to be at risk of institutional care (nursing facility, emergency room and hospitalization). The management of chronic conditions delays placement in costly nursing home care and decreases the frequency of emergency room use. This translates into significant savings for the state of California.

About Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP)

MSSP serves 12,600 chronically ill, disabled older adults annually in the home instead of in a nursing home. It provides patients with professional nursing, social work and clinically driven direct services necessary to remain safely at home. Eliminating this program will force the poorest and medically frailest seniors into nursing homes and increased utilization of acute care and emergency services which will cost the state of California more than $110 million annually.

How You Can Help: Stay Tuned to Contact Your Legislators!

Call or fax your legislators today. In your own words, please prepare letters on your own letterhead or stationary and fax them to the Governor, to the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees, and to the leadership of each house (sample letters provided below).
Find your legislator www.legislature.ca.gov.

Contact the Governor

To contact the Governor, call (916) 445-2841 and/or fax letters to:
The Honorable Jerry Brown, Governor
Office of the Governor of California
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
FAX: 916-558-3160

Letters to the Assembly

Fax the letters to the California State Assembly to the Speaker of the Assembly (The Honorable John Perez) and the Assembly Budget Committee Chair (The Honorable Bob Blumenfield) with a cc: to the Assembly Members listed below, as well as your own Assembly Member.
John Perez, Speaker: (916) 319-2147
Bob Blumenfield, Budget Committee Chair: (916) 319-2140
Connie Conway, Minority Leader: (916) 319-2134
Jim Nielsen, Vice Chair, Budget Committee: (916) 319-2102
Holly Mitchell, Chair, Subcommittee #1, Budget Committee: (916) 319-2147
ADHC Sample Assembly letter
MSSP Sample Advocacy letter

Letters to the Senate

Fax the letters to the California State Senate to the President Pro Tempore (The Honorable Darrell Steinberg) and the Senate Budget Committee Chair (The Honorable Mark Leno) with a cc: to the Senate Members listed below, as well as your own Senator.
Darrell Steinberg, President Pro Tempore: (916) 323-2263
Mark Leno, Budget Committee Chair: (916) 445-4722
Robert Dutton, Minority Leader: (916) 327-2272
Robert Huff, Vice Chair, Budget Committee: (916) 324-0922
Mark DeSaulnier, Chair, Subcommittee #3, Budget Committee: (916) 445-2527
ADHC Sample Senate letter
MSSP Sample Advocacy letter

The message is simple

Oppose the elimination of ADHC and MSSP - it is based on false savings.

The ADHC and MSSP programs help to avoid higher costs in emergency departments, hospitals, and nursing facilities by managing many medical diseases and conditions such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and dementia, and diabetes. Cutting ADHC or MSSP will not be cost effective and will do harm to the most frail, most vulnerable population while economically wounding the communities in which they live.

ADHC: Key points you may include

• Eliminating Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) will cost more in dollars and in lives than it saves.
• California will lose more than $192.5 million in federal matching funds
• Increased costs are likely with increased hospitalizations, use of ERs, and placements in nursing homes
• Instead, please support legislation to amend eligibility criteria to avoid conflict with federal laws, such as the ADA and Olmstead decision, while targeting services to those most in need.

MSSP: Key points you may include

Read the MSSP Fact Sheet and cost impact document for helpful information you may want to include in your letters.
MSSP Fact Sheet
Direct Cost Impacts of Proposed Program Elimination

Spread the word

Please share this information with your family, friends and community partners. Thank you for your support!